The concert DVD by which others should be measured

The Eagles Farewell I Tour: Live from Melbourne is an excellent new two DVD concert disc from the Eagles. The band that was never going to get back together unless hell froze over, already did a reunion tour on Hell Froze Over. Here is another even better farewell concert by the Eagles. This one is longer and better than their last Farewell Tour. I am not a big Eagles fan, they are just one of the many groups that I like, but I have to tell you, this is a terrific concert album. It was recorded live in Melbourne, Australia and their two and a half hour show features all the best Eagle songs, old and new as well as James Gang songs, Joe Walsh songs, and Don Henley songs. Before I tell you how awesome the show was, you can check out the play list to see if your favorite songs are in the show. I bet they are!

Disc One

The Long Run, New Kid in Town, Wasted Time, Peaceful Easy Feeling, I Can't tell you Why, One of these Nights, One Day at a Time, Lyin Eyes, The Boys of Summer, In the City, Already Gone , Tequila Sunrise, Love with Keep us Alive, No More Cloudy Days, Hole in the World, Take it to the Limit, You Belong to the City, Walk Away, Sunset Grill

Disc Two

Life's Been Good, Dirty Laundry, Funk No. 49, Heartache Tonight, Life in the Fast Lane, Hotel California, Rocky Mountain Way, All she wants to do is Dance, Take it Easy and Desperado

Performance

These guys sounded fantastic! I really enjoyed the Hell Freezes Over Tour DVD, but this one even outshines that. To me, the Melbourne farewell tour shows how rock concert DVDs should be. One; it is long and includes all the best old and new songs of the group and the solo artists that made it famous. Two; everyone is present (with the exception of guitarist Don Felder) Timothy Schmits, Scott Crago, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, even Joe Walsh, (not just one member with a bunch of unknowns like some tours)and Three; they all sounded fantastic. The band obviously had a great time and so did the audience. Glenn Frey kicks things off with "The Long Run" and "New Kid in Town". A four piece horn section back the band, and they really added a nice punch to the sound. Don Henley's first song was "Wasted Time", and his voice still sounds great. Violins end the song with a sweeping flourish. Timothy Schmit's falsetto voice still hits those great highs starting with "I Can't Tell You Why", and several more Eagles classics. If any thing he sounds even better with age. Then "bam bam bam", Scott Crago's heavy drums start in and he sings "One of these Nights". The band still hits all the falsettos for the chorus, everyone is on key and perfectly able to hit the highs of their younger days in this tour. Glenn Frey had a funny line introducing "Lyin; Eyes". He dedicated it to his first wife "Plaintiff". (okay, maybe, because I'm a lawyer, I thought it was funnier than you did).

The highlights for me were songs by my favorite Eagle, marble mouthed Joe Walsh. "Did you ever have anything you loved and had to give up? My favorite thing was drinking alcohol. I was only drunk once, it lasted for twenty years and I had to stop.", Joe states as he introduces his new song called appropriately enough "One Day at a Time". He looked great with a bright blue suit at the beginning of the show and a series of increasingly wild looking pajama type of outfits. For a man that was drunk for 20 years, Joe still sounds just great, and I was pleased that he got to sing quite a few of his songs, including those from his solo career. Although he sounded awesome on "In the City", "Walk Away" and "Funk No. 49" my favorite Walsh tune was his hit single "Life's Been Good." He had his helmet cam on so that he could "be around later on to meet with members of the audience individually." He had fun with the lyrics changing a few here and there, and added sound effects (I'm not going to tell you, go get this DVD and see for yourself) made the song fresh and fun to listen to.

The members solo songs were a lot of fun. Don Henley's Boys of Summer brought a standing ovation from the crowd and "Dirty Laundry" sounded great.

Could I go on and on to tell you how great "Sunset Grill", "Life in the Fast Lane" and "Hotel California" sounded? (for example a beautiful haunting trumpet solo begins "Hotel California") You bet!, but I want to write a review, not a book, so see this concert!.

Sound Quality.

This disc gets a definite "A plus" for sound quality. The DVD offers two tracks, a PCM stereo track (excellent) and a 5.1 DTS soundtrack (totally kicks @ss!) You could really hear the variety of instruments on stage from the big boom of the bass drums, to the saxophone players doing backup. Voices were all crystal clear. When I can fully and clearly understand the words coming out of Joe Walshs mouth, that is a damn good sound mix! The soundstage was well laid out (the stereo track and the surround sound) with only one minor nitpicking complaint by me. On occasion, the multi channel mix surround sound channels would have a saxophone or guitar player behind me, when I could clearly see the saxophone or guitar in front of me on the screen It was a bit disconcerting. Other than that, the DTS soundtrack had the depth, range and soundstage (spatial effects) to truly recreated a live concert sound. If I could have had someone sit next to me and spill a beer on me, the concert going experience would have been complete. (See, sometimes the DVD experience is BETTER than the live concert). The stereo PCM track, although not quite as deep and full as the DTS track, still maintained an excellent sound quality and soundstage.

Video Quality

The video quality on this DVD set was also outstanding. It was shot in 16:9 format in DVD quality, and it looked outstanding on my movie screen. The lighting in the show was fantastic, so everyone could be seen in razor sharp detail. The Eagles huge stage was very impressive looking with giant video screens behind the band and above the stage for various fun effects. Videos of city scenes appeared for "In the City", a giant "OH YEAH" appeared on Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good". Through out the show, various abstract images and images of the band backed the songs. Shots of the audience were either shots showing the vast crowd or close ups of the attractive young ladies in the first few rows. the cameraman seemed quite facinated by one row in particular, because they were shown a few times. Close ups of the band members were frequent, really capturing their mannerisms or facial expressions during songs. Walsh's helmet cam was a rioto to watch.

Summary

To sum up, The Eagles Farewell I Tour: Live in Melbourne is excellent in every aspect. Unless you absolutely hate the Eagles, if you want an outstanding concert for your Home Theater system that you can enjoy again and again, buy this. The Eagles is a benchmark concert by which others will be measured. This is the sort of concert that high end stereo stores put in their systems to show off how good they look and sound.

Review Equipment:

DVD was played on a Pioneer Elite 47A in multichannel mode. Amplification and processing was from a Yamaha AV 5280 100 w/ch surround sound receiver, except the front channels, which were amplified by a dedicated Rotel RB 991 200 w/ch stereo amplifier. Speakers were Polk Audio Monitor 70s Front Left and Right, and Polk Audio Csi40 Center, and R20s for surrounds. Subwoofer was a Velodyne SPL 1000 series II (1000 watts/2000 watt peak) with the crossover set at 80 Hz. Projection was from an Optoma H30 DLP projector onto a 105" Dalite Cinemavision movie screen. Projection was from an Optoma H30 DLP projectoronto a 105" Dalite Cinemavision movie screen.