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On this day, 25 June 2006, American country rockers The Eagles. played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on their Farewell I tour.
Formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in North America and the rest of the World.
The Eagles have sold more than 200 million records, including 100 million sold in US alone.
They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and were ranked number 75 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
Review - South Wales Echo
Eagles take it to the limit one more time
IN the hot and sticky atmosphere inside the Millennium Stadium, supergroup The Eagles would surely have felt at home.
They were a long way from California and this was their last venue on their Farewell 1 European tour. The good news was they were in high spirits and the audience loved it.
The set opened with standards from their early 1970s albums. Take It Easy, Witchy Woman and Peaceful Easy Feeling. They were so harmonically meticulous you could have been listening to the recordings.
For one moment I was back in Spillers Records in the '70s buying their album Desperado and having to ask my father what the title meant.
Once the Welsh audience heard the sultry introduction to One Of These Nights they were in fine voice and by the time we had the key change in the middle of New Kid In Town and then Take It To The Limit they were standing and swinging in the aisles.
Even The Eagles, with more than 30 years of touring under their belts, must have been pleasantly surprised by the community singing.
What worries me is how we all remember lyrics like "My Maserati does 185, I lost my licence, now I don't drive" - if only I could have learned history O-level to the same degree.
The band themselves seemed to have escaped the ravages of the rock star lifestyle.
Jo Walsh, the free-spirited guitarist, had surfer-dude yellow hair and enjoyed fooling around with front man Glenn Frey.
Glenn was dressed in a shocking pink jacket which clashed nicely with Walsh's orange trousers.
Drummer Don Henley was in great voice, looking like a slightly chubby Bill Clinton, and new boy Timothy Schmidt on bass was the only one who looked like a rocker, his long brown hair half way down his back.
The whole affair was professional and sincere. The neat smart-casual audience of baby-boomers were well behaved even though many had had to make circuitous journeys, because of the M4 closure, to get to Cardiff.
Lead singer Glenn once said that The Eagles would only do another tour "When Hell Freezes Over," citing the group's most famous album title.
But while it might be chilly in hell, music fans enjoyed a balmy summer's day as they looked forward to seeing the global superstars play.
It was the Millennium Stadium's second high-profile gig in a matter of days as Take That rocked there earlier in the week, proving its credentials as a top-rate venue.
The Eagles are calling this series of concerts the Farewell Tour 1, and with a 50-something average age who could blame them if they wanted to retire after this.
But they have also been cracking jokes in the press about being the "only band to tour when dead" leading to speculation that we haven't seen the last of them yet.
The Eagles have been standard-bearers for the more refined, slow-burn style of rock in an era when songs are increasingly geared to two-minute singles slots on radio and TV.
On this tour they have been playing three-hour gigs - never ones to compromise. But they still sing like angels and evoke the mystique of the dusty, exotic Californian desert and coastline.
Judging by the mix of youngsters and older fans in the crowd, it is a heady concoction that inspires and keeps them coming back for more.
Who'd bet against The Eagles one day returning to these shores for another shot at saying farewell?
Setlist
Take It Easy
Witchy Woman
Peaceful Easy Feeling
(Jack Tempchin cover)
One of These Nights
I Can't Tell You Why
Lyin' Eyes
The Boys of Summer
(Don Henley song)
In the City
(Joe Walsh song)
The Long Run
Tequila Sunrise
Love Will Keep Us Alive
No More Cloudy Days
Hole in the World
Take It to the Limit
Walk Away
(James Gang cover)
Sunset Grill
(Don Henley song)
Life's Been Good
(Joe Walsh song)
Dirty Laundry
(Don Henley song)
Funk #49
(James Gang cover)
Heartache Tonight
Life in the Fast Lane
Encore:
Hotel California
Rocky Mountain Way
(Joe Walsh song)
All She Wants to Do Is Dance
(Don Henley song)
Already Gone
(Jack Tempchin cover)
Desperado
