Is there any bigger flex than opening a concert with your signature hit? Some fans might have expected the Hot 100-topping title track from their 1976 album to come later in the show, or even as the final encore, but as the countdown clock crept toward zero just after 8:30 p.m. PT, the familiar strains of the 6-minute-plus radio classic wafted through the Sphere. The visuals set the tone for the evening, opening with headlights traveling down that infamous “dark desert highway” before opening up to the hotel’s eerie hallways, lined with faceless figures seated at a long dining table and white masks peering menacingly down from the ceiling.

Glenn Frey’s 31-year-old son, Deacon, first performed with the band at the 2017 Classic West concert, stepping in after his father’s passing in 2016 at age 67. Now, more than seven years later, Deacon is a full-fledged member of the group, harmonizing seamlessly with peerless vocalists like Henley, Gill and Schmit and confidently taking lead on Glenn’s beloved signature songs, including “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” “Already Gone” and “Take It Easy.” Most telling is Deacon’s willingness to invert his father’s time-worn melodies to put his own spin on the classics, demonstrating his comfort level on stage with a band full of legends.

The Eagles took a moment on opening night to pay dual tribute to their deceased friends. They opened with Henley’s solo hit “Boys of Summer,” for the late summer king Jimmy Buffett, who died in September 2023 at age 76, and then moved on to “Heartache Tonight” to remember the song’s co-writer J.D. Souther, who died Tuesday at age 78. “I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge a couple of people, some of whom we lost a year ago this month, Mr. Jimmy Buffett,” Henley began the tribute. “We dedicate this next song to him. And then the song that we’re going to do after this next song, I want to recognize the co-writer of that song, who we lost three days ago, Mr. JD Souther. JD, as some of you may know, played a pivotal role in the Eagles. He wasn’t in the band, but he certainly co-wrote some of our biggest hits, including ‘Best of My Love,’ ‘New Kid in Town,’ and the one that we’re going to do after this next song, ‘Heartache Tonight.’ So these songs are for those guys, Mr. Buffett and Mr. Souther. Sing it so they can hear you.”

The way the Sphere screen literally envelops the stage ensures that the audience is transported both musically and visually, and the Eagles’ show took a journey from under the sea to above the clouds (with a few terrestrial stops in between). Some of the most stunning visual displays included the couple’s gorgeous underwater choreography for “Boys of Summer”; a towering cityscape that grows over the crowd before plummeting into the ground for “In the City”; and a bus that drives all the way into the cosmos and is caught in a meteor shower for “Take It to the Limit.”

For “Lyin’ Eyes,” one of the Eagles’ purest country songs, the giant screen emphasized the song’s narrative, isolating each lyric line by line and showering the words on the audience. The focus later shifted to the lyrics, when two lines emerged that seemed perfectly suited to the once-in-a-lifetime residency: “We will never be here again” from “Take It Easy” and “This night is gonna last forever” from the evening’s final song, “Heartache Tonight.”

Like U2 and Dead & Company before them, there will also be a fan experience for Eagles concertgoers at the adjacent Venetian Resort – recreating the vaunted Troubadour club in West Hollywood where Henley and Frey got their start in the early ‘70s. There will be plenty of special treats at the Vibee-created Third Encore fan experience, including Henley’s very first childhood drum kit (emblazoned with the name of his teenage band Felicity), as well as shirts, posters and other memorabilia from the band’s personal collection, and exclusive merchandise only available at the pop-up.

Hotel California
One of these nights
Lying eyes
Go to the extreme
Witchy woman
Peaceful, easy feeling
Tequila Sunrise
In the city
I can’t tell you why
New kid in town
Seven Bridges Road
These shoes
Life has been good
Already gone
Boys of the summer
Life in the Fast Lane

GRANT
Take it easy
Rocky mountain road
Desert rat
Heartache tonight

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