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Eagles and Dixie Chicks a well-matched double bill
10/19/2007 8:00 PM, Reuters
There was an audible
grumble traveling through the Nokia Theatre about 15 minutes
into the venue's inaugural headlining set Thursday. The Eagles
had just played their fourth consecutive new song to open the
show.
"They'd better stick to the old ones," an unsmiling woman
groused.
While awaiting the catalog onslaught, she and others likely
missed something: Those first two songs were pretty good. "How
Long" -- the country-rockin' lead single from the band's first
album since the Carter administration, "Long Road Out of Eden,"
due October 30 -- and the cautionary "Busy Being Fabulous" had
a vintage Eagles vibe and came off well.
All four rookie tunes featured different lead vocalists.
But those last two new ones? Well, the crowd likely had
forgotten about them halfway through the opening guitar riff of
"Hotel California," which followed. Surprisingly, it was the
last they heard of the new record all night.
From then on, opening night at the Nokia was a nonstop
flight to hitsville. Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy
B. Schmit and an eight-piece band delivered two hours of Eagles
hits sprinkled with solo material and a James Gang nugget.
Henley and Walsh's distinctive voices still have enough
edge to drive a decades-old radio staple. Henley, for example,
pulled off the falsetto chorus of "One of These Nights" with
aplomb, and the typically playful Walsh fairly nailed "In the
City." Henley even added a few gratuitous drum fills on the
latter song.
The Eagles can still deliver, and by the time they dusted
off the participatory "Heartache Tonight," a quick look around
the venue showed wide smiles on faces throughout the all-ages
crowd.
As L.A.'s unofficial spokes-band, The Eagles were an
inspired choice to christen the Nokia. So was opening act the
Dixie Chicks, the huge-selling and politically polarizing
country trio that swept the Grammys in February across the
street at the Staples Center.
The double bill's six-night run represents the Chicks' only
concerts of 2007. But they didn't seem so much rusty as a
little disinterested -- likely because of their unfamiliar role
as openers and a subsonic crowd response. The show started
about 20 minutes late, giving singer Natalie Maines a chance to
rib the locals. "Only in L.A.," she said, "would people pay
$300 a ticket and be half an hour late."
The Chicks' banjo-guitar-fiddle base is enjoyable enough
that the six-man backing band feels extraneous, providing more
polish than depth. One wonders how the trio might sound with
just a drummer. The set would have benefited from heavier doses
of pickin' and grinnin' -- as on "White Trash Wedding" -- and a
little more punch.
But the Chicks never can go wrong with "Goodbye Earl," the
he-needed-killin' sing-along that has to rate among the country
gems of the '90s. The biggest crowd response was for Grammy
favorite "Not Ready to Make Nice," the band's "comeback" single
in response to the beating it took at country radio in the wake
of Maines' anti-Bush comments in 2003.
Nodding to that controversy, the Chicks had taken the stage
to the haughty strains of "Hail to the Chief." But rather
surprisingly for a pre-election year, that was the only whit of
political statement that came from the stage all night from
either act. Even Henley kept his normally vocal activism to
himself.
Meanwhile, with a pair of megaplatinum bands as its first
test, the 7,100-seat, $120 million Nokia lived up to the hype.
With its elevated ceiling, high-tech acoustics, huge stage, HD
video screens and excellent sightlines, the hall straddles the
line between theater intimacy and arena splash. Indeed, two
levels of luxury boxes flank the main floor on either side.
With all that interior room, it was oddly apropos that the
first song played in the joint was "Wide Open Spaces."
Interesting touches include splashy lobby lighting that
changes color and high-capacity two-tiered restrooms.
Snickering anti-L.A. types will enjoy needling the concessions
menu, which features such easy-target buzzwords as organic and
gourmet.
Traffic could be dodgy when there are simultaneous Staples
Center and Nokia Theatre events, but it seemed under control on
opening night. The Nokia -- the first element of AEG's mammoth
L.A. Live project -- certainly is a splendid addition to the
local concert scene. Bookings in the coming weeks include Neil
Young, Mary J. Blige, Queens of the Stone Age and John Fogerty.
The Eagles and the Dixie Chicks return to Nokia on
Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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