October 12, 2024: Life in the Sphere, Everything All the Time

Sphere
Las Vegas

In 2022, while heading to the Venetian resort for my company's annual conference, my cab ride took me past a new building under construction. It's odd circular shape led me to ask my driver what it was. A new 360-degree concert venue was his response, and I thought "Wow, cool and that place is huge!" Clearly it was going to be a venue for major acts. Fast-forward a year, and it's announced that U2 will be the first performer to take up residency at the Sphere. I considered getting a ticket to that show, but just couldn't bite the bullet on the ticket price and a weekend hotel rate in Vegas. In June of this year, my company conference was once again at the Venetian as usual, but this time our CEO's keynote and the "celebration" event were both going to be held at the Sphere. Alas, we could only send one support person and I didn't get to go this year, and had to settle for watching the keynote speech streaming at my desk and wait for pictures and stories from my colleagues who attended and got to see the Dead and Company show. The keynote looked cool for a corporate event and everyone raved about the concert and shared some great photos and video.

When the Eagles announced their residency, I took a look a the dates and saw they were playing the weekend before and the weekend following my birthday weekend. Since October 12 is my sister-in-law's birthday, and she and her twin sister usually go to Las Vegas for their birthday, I asked her at a family dinner if she'd be interested in going to the show. She said she and her sister had decided to skip Vegas this year, but thanks for asking. My mom overheard our conversation and said "Can I go with you?" Well, sure! So, I made arrangements to get tickets for the show and since Mom hadn't been to Vegas since the mid-1970s, looked for something fun we could do either the night before or after.

I'll skip my usual ramble about getting to Vegas and Mom's impressions 50 or so years since her previous visit and start with some general information about the Sphere experience beyond the show. Should you plan to see a show at the Sphere and use the Venetian walkway tunnel, know that it's about a 10-15 minute walk from the casino floor to the entrance of the arena, plus any time it may take you to get from your room to the casino floor should you opt to stay at the Venetian. The whole trek is indoors, and one I am particularly familiar with due to attending my company conference (though it was rather odd walking through the convention hall with nothing happening, I'm used to it being much more hectic.) The security is a little slow, but likely because most of the people attending the show are coming via the walkway rather than one of the other entries. It was otherwise efficient and I had no issues with my small-ish concert purse and the "no-bags" policy. We were able to grab a couple of bottles of water from a self-serve stand that had very friendly staff helping people check out their purchases. A quick stop in the restroom was the only "disappointment" as it was very poorly lit -- way too dark -- but otherwise clean and efficient. Off we went to our seats.

Before I purchased the tickets, I did some online research into where the best seats might be. I knew sitting on the floor would be great for seeing the band, but likely not the best viewing point for the immersive video. The general consensus was the 200 or 300 sections, but from the pictures I saw (plus reports from my work colleagues) both seemed to be miles from the stage and the band would be ants. Thus, I opted for section 106 which came with a note of "limited screen" (despite being dead center stage) since I wanted the ability to also see the band and not just "watch TV." (More on that later.) As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, the "limited screen" meant things were cut off a bit on the side, but otherwise the view was terrific. Mom and I got to our seats and were just amazed. The screen showed assorted historical music venues from Los Angeles and other key moments in time from the history of the band. Every so often a blurred car would roll along the screen making it look like someone was driving down the Sunset Strip. The whole thing was amazingly crisp and Mom and I were both dazzled just by this "simple" opening.

This scene would move down
the table and through the door

Shortly before the show started, we discovered we were in the wrong section, so we promptly hustled over to our seats to settle in for the show. Here's where this review gets challenging. It's now six days since I was as the show and I still don't know if I have the words to aptly describe what I saw and heard. The show kicked off with "Hotel California" and as the screen morphed from a misty, foggy background to an animated car driving down a hill in a canyon my jaw dropped wide open and my eyes popped out of my head (and everyone's phone was up taking pictures and video.) Even though it was an animation, it felt completely three-dimensional as the car moved down the hill and then slowly turned a corner to the driveway of a small motel. The doors of the hotel opened and it was as if you were walking down a hallway and kept moving forward through various doors and scenes. I don't think I blinked for the duration of the entire song. I did have enough brain power left to manage to snap a few pictures and grab a few snips of video, but I wanted to stay in the moment as much as I could because it was such an amazing experience. During the ending solo the video became a swirling aurora with the various band members highlighted in the middle.

The next few songs are a bit of a blur. I rather felt like a country bumpkin wandering in the big city for the first time. There was animation of driving along the California coast and it felt like I was in the car along for the ride. I typically get a little queasy on windy roads, so imagine my surprise when I found myself feeling queasy "riding" along the animated coastal road!

About three songs in, the screen changed to a calm star field and Don Henley welcomed us to the Sphere by saying "You'll see a lot of pretty pictures tonight. Some of them will be moving. Hope you brought your Dramamine." Which got a laugh, especially from me after the queasy car ride a few minutes before. He also shared that what the band was enthusiastic about -- the sound system! He informed us that "there are 164,000 speakers. You can hear all our mistakes." I didn't notice any mistakes, but the sound was excellent, though I must admit the quality of the sound was a bit lost among all the stunning visuals.

I don't want to spoil the show too much for people who may be planning to see it soon because it's really an incredible experience, but I do need to highlight a couple of my favorite moments. The first was the trip through space during "Take it to the Limit" -- planets, nebulae in vivid colors with Vince Gill appearing on some of the planets as he sang. "Tequila Sunrise" was a quieter scene of a sunrise over a canyon. Beautiful and peaceful.

But the most surreal moment of the show came towards the end of "In the City." The screen had started off as a bunch of black and white tenement buildings, invoking the feel of a cramped, crowded, dirty city. Towards the end, the scene turned to color and started rotating and moving. Sitting in my seat, I felt like I was slowly rising and floating above the scene. I looked back towards the stage at the band to try to re-center myself and even they looked like they were floating upwards. It was completely surreal. I looked over at my mom and she too was stunned by the feeling of motion.

Fortunately the show would split up the surreal scenes with ones that were more tranquil and would give you a moment to ground yourself. "Seven Bridges Road" was a perfect example with the star field once again behind the band on the screen as they harmonized on that beautiful song, eventually ending with a slow ride down a peaceful river.

Normally, when I'm at a large show I make a concerted effort not to watch the show on the video screens. I want to be in the moment and watch the band. I will often close my eyes to just let the music wash over me. This is absolutely impossible at the Sphere. The full surround high resolution video is so stunning you can't NOT watch it. At a normal show I also try to limit how much of it I take pictures of and record because I don't want to watch it through my phone. That was an extreme challenge at the Sphere. Part of me wanted to have my phone on and recording for the entire thing, but since the only way to really capture everything would be to scan the entire show in all directions I'd be experiencing it through my phone rather than immersed in it. I did grab some photos, but notably most of the video I grabbed was from the quieter sections of the show rather than the visually stunning ones.

One thought kept running through my head as my eyes bugged out of my head -- I've got to buy a video of this, but how the hell do you capture this all in a video that you can watch on a normal television? The small snips of video I captured on my phone did an OK job of getting a sense of what it's like, so I suppose a professional crew could capture it, but I guarantee the feeling won't be the same as seeing it in person.

A few more moments of the show I wanted to highlight. The first was the only time in the show I actually closed my eyes. For "Already Gone" the video screen essentially disappeared and bright spotlights shone through and would rotate out towards the crowd. They were really blinding so I closed my eyes for much of that song. Then later when the band launched into Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good", the screen was filled with archival photos and video of the band over the decades and it was great to see photos of Glenn Frey prominent among them. Some of the photos of Glenn made it extremely simple to see just how much Deacon looks like him. We also were treated to Don Henley's "Boys of Summer" and the video for that one started off with a shot exactly like the opening shot from the original video and got a huge cheer. It took a few seconds of watching the video before I thought "that's not right -- this is a different video using the same look." I was right and that video morphed into something completely different.

After a brief break, the show closed out with "Take It Easy", "Rocky Mountain Way", "Desperado", and "Heartache Tonight." The first three were backed by some of the quieter, peaceful videos, but "Heartache Tonight" went out with full color animation. All in all a great compilation of the experience of the evening.

I'm contemplating getting tickets again and sitting in one of the upper sections and experiencing it again from that angle. I think it will be less overwhelming a second time, but I would also have an ability to appreciate what I'm seeing rather than being completely gobsmacked the entire time. I will definitely go to future shows at the Sphere should the opportunity arise (and I'm extremely curious about my company's plans for NEXT year's conference and concert since I think there will be a good chance I'll get to attend again.)

Setlist

Hotel California
One of These Nights
Lyin' Eyes
Take It to the Limit
Witchy Woman
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Tequila Sunrise
In the City
I Can't Tell You Why
New Kid in Town
Seven Bridges Road
Those Shoes
Life's Been Good
Already Gone
The Boys of Summer
Life in the Fast Lane

Encore:

Take It Easy
Rocky Mountain Way
Desperado
Heartache Tonight

 

February 21, 2023 - Return to the Hotel California

San Jose, CA
SAP Center

Including last night, I have tickets to six concerts already for 2023. It's been a long time since I've had that many shows lined up so far in advance. With any luck, I'll be adding at least one (and hopefully two) more tomorrow. After 2020 and the year of no concerts, I definitely don't take having shows lined up for granted. My first show after everything opened up again was the Eagles Hotel California show at Chase Center which soothed the soul more than I could imagine. So when it was announced that the Eagles would be back in San Jose with the same show, I jumped at the chance to see it again.

When I looked at the calendar to see if it made sense to take in a show on a Tuesday night, the only thing that stood out was my already purchased tickets for Bruce Springsteen in Portland on Saturday night. Nothing on my boss's calendar nor any of the managers I support, so yep, it should be fine. Buy.

Oh the best laid plans. Last month my boss decided he wanted to have a 2-day meeting with his team leadership for long term planning. The best option -- next week. So with Monday a holiday and Friday me being on plane to Portland, a Tuesday night concert was not the best option. Still, one of the upsides from the pandemic is that my job is now hybrid and I can work from home on a regular basis, so off I went to a weeknight concert knowing I could work from home the next day and thus sleep in a bit.

I went into the office yesterday since it's closer to the SAP Center than my apartment, but whew what a day to be out. It was extremely windy, so there were branches of trees all over the roads along with swirling leaves and other debris. The drive was fairly easy and I didn't even need to get on the freeway, but wow there was a lot of stuff to avoid. Grabbed some dinner in San Pedro Square which was interesting to see. I haven't been down there since before the pandemic and they've turned most of San Pedro street into street dining, which is a terrific idea. Had a yummy Mexican dinner and headed up to the venue where I encountered the world's stupidest bag policy. I bring a pretty small purse to shows, but apparently having a bag that's one-inch too wide (yet at least 4-inches shorter in height and depth) is too big to bring in. My options -- schlep back to my car and leave it in the trunk of my car or pay $10 to check it. I opted for the bag check and WHAT a pain in the rear that was as it required downloading an app which wouldn't work the first three times I tried it. Finally got it loaded, paid my $10 (plus an extra $0.59 in fees!) and put my now nearly empty bag in the locker having moved my phone, wallet, and glasses to my various pockets. Thank goodness it was a chilly evening and I was wearing my multiple pocketed jacket.

Purse frustrations resolved, I made my way into the arena, grabbed a bottle of water (at a self serve concession! Well, something has improved here!) Once I got settled in my seat, I focused on the pre-show music coming over the PA -- lots of Beatles tunes -- and they helped me calm down. At least until I looked at the time and saw the show was about to start, so I'd better pull out my new earplugs I'd bought. Shit. They're on my key chain, and thus in my purse. Fortunately, the opening notes of Billy Joel's "This Is the Time" started over the PA and I sensed that was the queue song before the show would start, so I focused on listening to that until the house lights went down and the Hotel California sign was lowered.

As before, the "butler" walked across the stage to put the Hotel California album on the turntable. The needle drops, curtain rises, and off we go. Don Henley was in good voice, but not as good as last time. Still, he doesn't sound like he's lost much over the years which is more than can be said for many of his peers. It was so appropriate that Vince Gill gets to sing "New Kid in Town." He does a fabulous job on it. As with the last show, my personal highlights were "Wasted Time" and "The Last Resort" which are two of my all time favorite songs and having the additional orchestra and choir just made them sound fantastic.

Once the Hotel California set wrapped up, about 50 minutes in to the evening, Don Henley stepped to the front of the stage and welcomed the crowd and talking about how "albums were only 40 minutes long" followed by a comment that 40 minutes would be too long for today's music, but he's "old and grumpy." I got a giggle since he's been old and grumpy since the 70s! The band then went off stage for a brief intermission.

Once the band returned, they kicked off the second set with "Seven Bridges Road," and though the line up has changed and aged since their 1970s prime, the harmonies are still amazing. We were then treated to a pleasant surprise when Deacon Frey joined the band on stage and sang "Take It Easy" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling." He's officially stopped touring with the band, so it was great to see him once again. It's still scary how much he looks like his dad at the same age. His voice is different than Glenn's, but still quite good. 

Vince Gill continued to impress me, and as he sang "Tequila Sunrise" it occurred to me that I should have that to drink for dinner instead of my margarita! I need to spend some time on Spotify listening to his own material. Joe Walsh had the line of the night as he introduced "Life's Been Good" by saying "it was a lot more fun being in your 20s in the 70s than being in your 70s in the 20s." That got a great response as did the song.

As is often the case when I see the Eagles, the crowd was pretty laid back and mellow, sitting almost entirely through the show. It wasn't until the last song of the main set -- "Heartache Tonight" -- that everyone got on their feet, clearly recognizing the show was nearing the end.

It was, of course, not the end. Out for the encore and my absolute favorite Eagles song "Desperado." I will never tire of that song and love that I get to hear it live and have quite a few times now. Deacon Frey came out once again and joined for the final two songs, taking lead once again on "Already Gone." The show closed out with Don Henley introducing "Best of My Love" by saying it was a song written about a couple falling apart, but he wanted to dedicate it to the "Dis-United States of America" as things have come more divisive over the years. With that preamble, the lyrics hit me differently and tears welled as I thought about how "we try to talk it over, but the words come out too rough." We really do need to give the best of our love.

Set list

Hotel California
Hotel California
New Kid in Town
Life in the Fast Lane
Wasted Time (w/ orchestra)
Wasted Time (Reprise) (orchestra)
Victim of Love
Pretty Maids All in a Row
Try and Love Again
The Last Resort (w/ orchestra)

-- Intermission --

Seven Bridges Road
Take It Easy (with Deacon Frey)
Peaceful Easy Feeling (with Deacon Frey)
One of These Nights
Take It to the Limit
Witchy Woman
In the City
I Can't Tell You Why
Tequila Sunrise
Lyin' Eyes
Life's Been Good
The Boys of Summer
Funk #49
Heartache Tonight

Encore:

Rocky Mountain Way
Desperado (w/ orchestra)
Already Gone (with Deacon Frey)
Best of My Love (with Deacon Frey)

 

October 23, 2021: Welcome (back) to the Hotel California

San Francisco, CA
Chase Center

 

Two years and four days. That's what I was thinking all day Saturday -- it had been exactly two years and four days since my last concert. I can't quite remember when I'd gone that long between shows, but it's probably at least 25 years ago. After having all my shows canceled last year due to the pandemic, I was hopeful that this year would go a bit better. Alas, we're still grappling with COVID-19 and what is and isn't open still in flux. 

Granted, things have been a bit more open this year than last -- especially since mid June here in California. There were a few other shows that I considered attending in recent months but either the combination of poor scheduling (e.g. a Tuesday night) or at a venue I know to be cramped as a normal process kept me from buying any tickets. Even before 2020, I never really liked club/general admission shows as I felt my personal space was too invaded most times, so avoiding those now was an easy call.

This Eagles show was originally scheduled for last year and I considered buying tickets when the shows were announced, but that was around March 2020, so I decided to wait until closer to the show date to make a call since things were shutting down and shows were getting canceled left and right. I then completely forgot about it.

Last week I was reading the newspaper and there was a mention of the upcoming Eagles concerts, so I hopped on line to see if I could snag a ticket. Two shows on Friday and Saturday nights -- perfect. I grabbed a great seat for Saturday night and breathed a sigh of relief -- I wasn't going to go another entire year with out a show.

The Chase Center is the new Golden State Warriors arena and opened in September 2019. I was able to get there once to see Elton John that month. It was still in an almost-but-not-quite ready to go state, so I was looking forward to seeing what it would be like after it had been opened for awhile (though with out people in attendance for much of it's life span thus far.) COVID protocols in place for the venue required all attendees over 12 to be fully vaccinated and masks worn indoors at all times. That was another factor in my decision to go. I've been to a few big events in recent months, so getting more accustomed to being in big crowds again, but after 18 months of caution it's still a big leap.

I took CalTrain up to the city, and since trains run on limited service on the weekends, I decided to head up early and grab something to eat near the arena. I wound up going in to the arena and grabbing a chicken sandwich there as the line at Gott's was huge and the seating limited especially as our first rain in ages started coming in and the outdoor seating was uncovered. That meant I was sitting in my seat a full hour before the show was due to start, but I killed the time enjoying the pre-show music piped in through the PA and chatting with a couple of folks sitting nearby.

This tour, the Eagles are playing their classic album Hotel California in its entirety to open the show, and it was a great production. My seat was at the side of the stage, so I couldn't really see the neon sign at the front of the stage curtain with the Hotel California album lettering, which was a little bit of a bummer. The show started with a fellow who looked like an aging butler coming up on the stage and walking across carrying a copy of the Hotel Calilfornia album. Once he got across the stage, he took the album out of its sleeve and placed it on a turntable at the front of the stage. The crowd roars. He picks up the needle to place it on the spinning album, and the crackle of vinyl sounds. Curtain drops, and the band launches in to the title track.

There's a reason Hotel California is the Eagles most iconic album. It's consistently good from track to track, so listening to the band play it in full was a huge treat. Glenn Frey's role in the band has been handed to his son Deacon and Vince Gill since his death in 2016, and both did a great job filling those shoes. Vince took the lead on "New Kid in Town" and sounded amazing. Side one of Hotel California ends with my favorite track "Wasted Time" and for this an orchestral string section came up on the risers behind the drum kit to play the key melody. Incredible and Don Henley's vocals were in prime condition and he sounded absolutely amazing. Perhaps even the best I've ever heard him.

At the end of the song, everyone on the stage paused as a young woman dressed in Mexican/Spanish style dress crossed the stage in the same manner as the "butler" in the opening. Once she arrived at the turntable, she turned the album over and the string section launched into the "Wasted Time (Reprise)" instrumental. Amazing.

The band wrapped up the album with the string section appearing again for "The Last Resort", this time joined by a choir. Another amazing moment. When they finished, Don Henley introduced these musicians as the "San Francisco Freeway Orchestra" and the choir having been from San Francisco State (my alma mater for better or worse!) All local musicians who did an amazing job.

The band took a break for "a smoke and a pancake" which allowed me time to discover Perry Pal Liz was also at the show and seated one section over from me in the same row! We managed to connect and chat briefly between the sets and it was so great to see her after who knows how many years.

Deacon Frey playing Peaceful Easy Feeling

The band came back out about half an hour later, and kicked off the set with their gorgeous harmonies on "Seven Bridges Road." Then it was hit after hit after hit. So many good songs. This was my first time seeing the band since Glenn died and wow did Vince Gill and Deacon Frey do an amazing job covering his various lead vocals. One of the highlights was Deacon singing "Peaceful Easy Feeling" and looking so much like his dad at the time Hotel California was released right down to the mustache. As the song ended a family photo of Deacon and Glenn popped up on the video screen where Deacon looked to be about 4 or 5. HUGE lump in my throat.

Glenn Frey, circa 1976

Vince Gill took most of the Glenn Frey parts though and just nailed them. I remember seeing him years ago at an ARF benefit and really enjoying his set and his great comment that he would have been a rocker "if I weren't so fat." He definitely was able to rock out -- I was especially impressed with some of his guitar playing. He and Joe Walsh went toe-to-toe during "Rocky Mountain Way" and it was great.

Throughout the show, there were moments I just teared up -- it was so good to be at a concert again and that feel of live music. I've missed it so much. The show was too consistently good to pick one single highlight, but as always the encore of "Desperado" was a favorite. It's my favorite Eagles song and as I said above, Don Henley was in great voice last night so it sounded so so good. They brought the orchestra up for that song too making it sound amazing.

I left the show grinning behind my mask (which stayed on through most of the show until the encore. I've gotten used to wearing a mask for 8-hours on days when I'm in the office, but whew, it was tough for a 3-hour concert!) The rain had gotten heavier while the show went on, so it was a bit of a clog at the exits as people pulled out their umbrellas, but I had opted to not bring one, so just put up the hood of my jacket and squeezed my way out and was able to hop on the first Muni car to the CalTrain station. Muni was packed with people, but I happened to notice a couple of young people standing next to me who had instrument cases on their backs. I tapped the shoulder of one of them and asked if she had been part of the orchestra. She said she was, and I told her how much I enjoyed their contribution to the show -- it was a really great enhancement to all the songs they played. I asked how much rehearsal they'd had for the show and she told me "None." Wow! That made the performance even more incredible. 

It was 1:00 by the time I got home with that tired and wired feeling after so many concerts, but god did I miss that feeling. Right now, I don't have any other shows on the calendar until May, but I definitely got my much needed fix and should be able to make it another seven months if needed. We'll see what else comes up between now and then.

Set list:

Hotel California
New Kid in Town
Life in the Fast Lane
Wasted Time (w/ orchestra)
Wasted Time (Reprise) (orchestra)
Victim of Love
Pretty Maids All in a Row
Try and Love Again
The Last Resort (w/ orchestra & choir)

--intermission--

Seven Bridges Road
Take It Easy
One of These Nights
Take It to the Limit (w/ orchestra)
Lyin' Eyes
Witchy Woman
In the City
I Can't Tell You Why
Peaceful Easy Feeling (Deacon Frey lead)
Tequila Sunrise (w/ orchestra)
Those Shoes
Life's Been Good
Already Gone (Deacon Frey lead)
Funk #49
Heartache Tonight

Encore:
Rocky Mountain Way
Desperado (w/ orchestra)
The Boys of Summer
Best of My Love