Tampabay.com
JANUARY 30, 2009

No celeb sightings at the Eagles concert unless...

... you count 10-year-old Justin O'Phelen of Fort Myers, who stuck out like a prepubescent thumb in the crowd of 17,143 screaming Eagles fans. Justin is 10 years old, and many in the crowd probably own hedge funds older than that.

Eagles1
Justin showed off his haul from a backstage visit before the show: guitar picks personalized for Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit, three used drumsticks autographed by Henley, and a whopping bag of cotton candy, proving that backstage treats aren't what they used to be at an Eagles show. Hey, they probably don't get the AARP discount on the recreational stuff.

Did I mention that Frey is Justin's uncle? That helps to explain his treasures. I saw plenty of women who'd still make Frey their daddy if they could.

Pretty good show, if nostalgia is your thing and it is for me. Name an Eagles hit and it probably made the set list.

Favorites: Hotel California, opening with a spaghetti Western trumpet solo and rattlesnake maracas; anything putting Walsh up front (Life's Been Good, In the City, Funk 49, Walk Away); a razored rendition Eagles2
of The Long Run closing the first half; Henley ripping through Dirty Laundry late in the show while a montage of gossip rags and Jerry Springer clips were projected on the semicircle scrim behind the stage; and a soaring version of Take It to the Limit.

My unofficial count was 30 songs, including seven from the band's Grammy-nominated CD, Long Road Out of Eden that sounded like they could've been composed back in the days when Linda Ronstadt was size 2. I don't know how many more times hell can freeze over for these guys but they're still capable of thawing it out.

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About the bloggers

For new movie reviews and movie news, this blog's for you. Steve Persall, movie critic for the St. Petersburg Times, weighs in on blockbuster movies, small-budget movies, the best movies, the worst movies ever and everything in between. Steve was conceived behind a drive-in movie theater his father operated and raised in projection booths and concession stands. He doesn't care how you did it up north.

E-mail Steve Persall:
persall@sptimes.com.

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