The Eagles reminisce, croon, rock and ban cellphones during Monday’s enjoyable ‘History’ tour stop at Van Andel Arena, and credit a West Michigan DJ for helping put them on the road to stardom.
Musicians are storytellers, and The Eagles have spun plenty of yarns in their 42-year history. Could their sold-out Monday “History of The Eagles” show at Grand Rapids’ Van Andel Arena be their final chapter here as far as performing live? It sure felt that way.
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
This story also felt old-fashioned, in the best way, and not only because many of the hits dated back to the Seventies. The band mandated a ban on cell phones and tablets during the concert. No texting. No Instagram. No YouTube. In fact, security was strictly enforcing this rule, tossing out abusers throughout the three-plus hour music marathon.
This may have been a bit jarring for some concert-goers, like cutting apron strings to the mother ship. But the result was an in-the-moment experience that let concert-goers sink into the songs with no distractions. (Although having security bust folks throughout was pretty distracting at times.)
The show was one stop in a wildly lucrative tour, according to Billboard.com, that launched last year in conjunction with the “History of The Eagles” DVD. Monday’s show opened with founders Don Henley and Glenn Frey musing about their beginnings as part of a band that toured with Linda Ronstadt. The two of them strummed together and joined voices on “Saturday Night” before introducing Bernie Leadon and Timothy B. Schmit, who hailed from Poco, a band they admired and wanted to emulate. The four were as relaxed as if they were plucking in a studio or on someone’s back deck, and “Peaceful Easy Feeling” was just like the title sounds. “Witchy Woman,” with its ghostly harmonies, brought Joe Walsh into the fold, plus a five-star, five-piece band.
Sharing inspirations ranging from the Old West to various women (Frey dedicated “Lyin’ Eyes” to his ex-wife, “Plaintiff”), The Eagles showed their smooth, expansive side in dreamy tunes such as “Best of My Love,” featuring Schmit’s far-away vocals. Frey, a native of Royal Oak, explained how a DJ named Jim Higgs of WKMI-AM 1360 in Kalamazoo helped propel the song to #1 in 1974. (See more about that below.)
After a peaceable first set, the longer second half amped up the volume and energy with songs such as “Heartache Tonight” and “Funk #49.” Joe Walsh injected some crackle, spit and hiss in the low flames of Frey, Henley and Schmit, which was fun, if not always totally in sync.
The encore was worth the wait, and probably worth the price of tickets. “Hotel California,” “Take It Easy,” “Rocky Mountain Way” and “Desperado” kept the adoring crowd enthralled. The Eagles didn’t answer whether this is their final tour and last chance to tell their story live. But this band first started saying farewell with the “Hell Freezes Over” tour in 1994 and still plays to packed houses.
MEETING THE WEST MICHIGAN DJ WHO HELPED GIVE THE EAGLES THEIR FIRST NO.1 HIT
While it might seem The Eagles have been eternally popular – with many fans willing to pay a steep price for tickets to attend Monday night’s sold-out show – it hasn’t always been the case.
In fact, The Eagles were still an emerging act in 1974 when they released their third album, with the first couple of singles (“Already Gone,” “James Dean”) faring less successfully than the band might have hoped, that is, until a Kalamazoo disc jockey, Jim Higgs, started playing a track he liked, “Best of My Love,” on WKMI-AM (1360).
The track quickly became the most-requested song in that West Michigan market and, eventually, upon Higgs’ insistence, Elektra/Asylum released it nationally: It soared to No. 1 in 1975, becoming The Eagles’ first chart-topping hit. The rest, as they say, is history as the group would go on to become of one of the best-selling bands of all time. The record label even presented the Kalamazoo DJ and Plainwell High School graduate an autographed copy of the album cover for “On the Border.”
More than 39 years later, after performing “Best of My Love” during Monday night’s show, the band credited Higgs for his efforts, mentioning him by name from the stage, along with WKMI. That came after Higgs and family members got a chance to meet and chat with The Eagles back stage prior to the show, with Higgs’ daughter, Dianna Higgs Stampfler, giving them a copy of a mid-1970s Kalamazoo Gazette article about the song.
“Glenn (Frey) walks right up and shakes my dad’s hand and the two strike up a conversation like they’re long lost friends,” Stampfler told Local Spins. “My dad, who is usually in bed shortly after 9 p.m., was smiling all night – singing along, having an amazing time. About eight songs in, they get to ‘Best of My Love.’ I’m not going to lie: I cried a bit. It’s always been an emotional song for me and to be there, listening to it live, sitting next to my dad, with my kids, was beyond words.”
Higgs, who has spent 52 years in radio and still broadcasts a morning show on WAKV-AM (980) from his home, called it “a great evening and a wonderful experience” on his Facebook page.
“Meeting these guys after all these years was, indeed, exciting,” he wrote. “Completely impressed with all of the Eagles, and especially Glen Frey and Don Henley, who were particularly friendly and gracious, and who spent more time with us than we expected. Special thanks to Glen for the on-stage shout-out as he explained how ‘The Best Of My Love’ became their first No. 1 hit.”
As Higgs’ 22-year-old granddaughter, Mollie, put it: It was a “legendary” night … and one that put West Michigan in the spotlight as the audience that helped propel The Eagles to superstar status.
THE EAGLES: THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Anthony Norkus
(Click on photo to enlarge gallery; disable pop-up blocker if images won’t load)