[Live Review] GLENN FREY

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Civic Theatre, Newcastle
Thursday February 28, 2013

The Eagles have more than one capable vocalist. Don Henley commands the Californian group’s rockier material – ‘Life In The Fast Lane’, ‘Hotel California’ and ‘One of These Nights’. But Glenn Frey has the sweetest set of pipes and his voice is synonymous with the ballads that soundtracked the youth of the Baby Boomers.

On Thursday night, the Civic Theatre was packed full of memory-lane walkers to see Frey sing a selection of Eagles classics. But the rock legend was in the country to promote his After Hours record, a selection of standards from the “Great American Songbook” – tunes that Frey’s parents listened to. So the onus was on Frey to find a balance between the old and new material, and he did so with aplomb.

He softened the blow by opening with some big Eagles numbers – ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’, ‘Tequila Sunrise’ and ‘Lyin’ Eyes’. His nine-piece band were a slick unit, delivering classy renditions of those easy-listening scriptures. Then Frey eased into his After Hours material and the attentive crowd allowed him this indulgence.

The singer and his band gave The Beach Boys’ ‘Carolina, No’ a shimmering elegance and imbued a deft smoothness into Dusty Springfield’s ‘The Look of Love’. Frey also covered Nat King Cole’s take on ‘Route 66’. To maintain a consistently debonair aura, Frey re-worked his ’80s classic ‘The Heat Is On’ into a slinking, jazz number. ‘Smuggler’s Blues’ was given a similar treatment.

Then, to reward the Eagles faithful, Frey slipped in ‘The Girl From Yesterday’ and finished the main set with ‘Take It Easy’. His encore was a double punch of two big classics – ‘Take it To the Limit’ and ‘Desperado’. If the prompt standing ovation was any indication, Frey had ticked enough boxes to make both himself and the Eagles fans happy. The crowd had received the best of his love and, in the long run, that’s all that matters.

Reviewer: Nick Milligan
Photographer: Kevin Bull