When legendary artists hit the road for a tour, skeptics often say, “It’s not as if they need the money.” Most don’t, certainly not the Eagles. But Don Henley makes a good point as to why they’re still doing it.
He tells Newsday, “Even in our advanced years, we are not the kind of people who can sit around and do nothing. I’ve seen how retired persons can go into a steep decline. Humans need purpose; they need to feel useful. Touring gives us structure and purpose.
“We have the privilege of going out there and making thousands of people happy; we provide them with a three-hour break from all the chaos and discord that dominates the headlines, today. In the midst of all the mind-numbing news and the avalanche of information, we give them a chance to feel. If we’re serving up nostalgia, then so be it. There’s no sin in that. Every generation has its own music, some of which transcends its time and lasts well into the future.
“I’ve read, recently, that there’s now a wave of nostalgia for the ’90s. What we’re doing is curating the catalog. The songs are no less relevant because they were written and recorded in the ’70s. As the old French axiom goes, ‘The more things change, the more they remain the same.'”
But he admits that one thing doesn’t remain the same. “The challenge, these last couple of decades, has been for us to age as well as the songs. These months of touring and doing these three-hour shows is a real challenge, for guys our age. But we still love doing it.”
The Eagles’ Hotel California tour is in Columbus, Ohio tomorrow (Tuesday), Buffalo, New York on Thursday, and Elmont, New York, just outside New York City, on Saturday.
REUTERS PHOTO
