The Long Goodbye

I wasn't born with an appreciation for pop or rock music. I cultivated it myself.

With (ahem) a little help from my friends.

The transformation from being "un-music'd" to being fully immersed was rapid. It happened during the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in high school - the fabulous summer of '78.

If you want to call me a late bloomer in this regard, that's fair. I'll accept that. Even still, I was fairly pleased at the accelerated self-taught course I completed that summer. And with that being such a transformational summer for me, I've always drawn a line in the sand when it comes to pop and rock music.

There were the songs that were popular before that summer, the songs that came after that summer and the special ones that were on the charts and on the radio during the summer of '78.

The Eagles were at the pinnacle of their career during this period, having just celebrated a great deal of success with the Hotel California album. So, you can imagine, they received a great deal of airplay as I started plugging in(and would, in fact, do it again the next year with the release of The Long Run).

We got a number of wonderful concerts in town during the late 70s and I enjoyed attending a select few, Seeing the Eagles on The Long Run Tour at Stokely Athletic Center in 1979 was a highlight from that era. 

Then, as life became busier and disposable time was reduced, I didn't attend nearly as many shows 

But in recent years, it occurred to me that many of the acts and singers I followed are about to wrap things up. In fact, many of them are telling you straight up. Farewell Tour. Last Run. Sayonara Songs. Etc.

So, Lisa and I have been on a mission to see a few select concerts featuring some of our favorite performers. 

• Jeff Lynne's ELO (fall 2024)
• Al Stewart (winter 2025)
• Rod Stewart (summer 2025)

And that brings me to this past weekend. 

This has been a fairly long intro (~300 words) Much like the title track of the selfsame LP! Anyway, that's the background as to why I was in Nashville Saturday to see the Eagles perform at Vanderbilt University's FirstBank Stadium.

It was the latest stop on the band's current tour: The Long Goodbye Act III. And what a great show it was.

Lisa and I feel blessed to have been able to do such things and, I suppose, that is a benefit of a more flexible schedule. And I can't think of a better way of spending a lovely spring Saturday night than listening to two hours of great music from one of the elite bands from my youth nearly 47 years after seeing them the first time.

Founding member Don Henley, joined by two long-time band-mates Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt were supported by country music legend Vince Gill and Deacon Frey, son of the late Glenn Frey and a host of other great musicians. Vince and Deacon split the Glenn Frey songs. It was pretty cool that each one of the performers had a few moments to shine during the show.

It was a great night. I'm glad we made the effort to attend. And as you can imagine, a multi-generational crowd was enjoying one group singalong moment after another. In fact, during his opening remarks, Henley encouraged us to do that.

I'm not sure how many more must-see performers from our high school era will be doing final tours. Maybe we will see one or two others during this era. 

Whatever the case, I wasn't thinking ahead on Saturday night. Just spending a couple hours in the moment.

JG