Don Henley delivers nostalgia to fans at Mid-State Fair
Photo by Brittany App.
Henley is founding member of rock band, The Eagles
–Don Henley, one of the founding members of the iconic 1970s country rock band, The Eagles, delivered a pure dose of nostalgia at the Chumash Grandstand Arena at California Mid-State Fair. On the warm breezy evening, he kicked off the concert with popular hits “Seven Bridges Road” and “Dirty Laundry” to an enthusiastic, foot-tapping audience.
“It’s good to be here in Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo County,” said the multiple Grammy-winning singer, song-writer with numerous gold and platinum records to his credit. “There’s lots of music spanning four decades,” he said. As he was about to start another song, the sound of a passing train interrupted him. “Soon as the train gets by we’ll start,” he mused, adding that there will be a train song coming later. The song, “Train in the Distance,” an autobiographical ballad was from the 2015 Cass County album, Henley’s first solo album in 15 years.
Henley launched into a flashback of the 1970s and 1980s with such hit songs as “Boys of Summer,” “The End of the Innocence,” “Sunset Grill,” “Witchy Woman” and “The Last Resort,” popular hits that the audience joined him in a sing-a-long.
On stage for almost two hours, Henley came back for two encores and delivered the all-time favorites, “Life in the Fast Lane,” “Hotel California,” and “Desperado,” enthusiastically joined by his fans singing along.
In its heyday, the Eagles had five number one singles, 14 Top 40 hits and four number one albums. Two of those albums — The Greatest Hits (1971-1975) and Hotel California ranked among the ten best albums ever. The band broke up in 1980.
Henley is as passionate about his music as he is about the environment. In the 1990s he founded the Walden Woods Project (www.walden.org). The non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the historic woods in Massachusetts. He is also the founder of the wetland conservation entity, the Caddo Lake Institute in his native East Texas.
