Never before in my decades of reviewing live musical performances have I been tempted to write a one word review. That changed last night after experiencing Don Henley’s concert at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton. It was a singular performance by one of music’s all-time great songwriters and performers. And the single word I would choose to write as the opening, body and summation of my review would be the word “exquisite.”
That one word would be more than enough to bring back to mind the atmosphere that was created and the way Henley enchanted the sold out crowd at the SOEC for any of those lucky enough to have attended. It was almost an understated tour-de-force, if that juxtaposition would be permitted.
Henley had strongly requested that no cell phones or cameras be used during the concert, and out of respect to this musical giant, none in fact were used. This created a dark covering over the audience that allowed a subtle tapestry of lighting changes to play out on stage across the set list that drew everyone in to the heart of this musical performance. The interplay between light and sound, song and artist, artist and audience was elevated to the threshold of the mystical.
Henley opened with “Seven Bridges Road,” an old Steve Young tune written back in 1969 and covered by many artists including The Eagles. The band members lined up across the front of the stage and simply sang this gorgeous song that hinted at what would be an extraordinary night of supreme musicality and story-telling. The haunting nature of this song and its presentation gave way to the driving power of Henley’s own “Dirty Laundry” and it was on.
Weaving through material from across 4 decades “because we can,” Henley performed numbers from The Eagles catalogue, his own very impressive body of work as a solo artist, and his 5th studio album, “Cass County,” recorded just last year. Most of the big hits were there, including “Life in the Fast Lane,” “Boys of Summer,” “The End of the Innocence,” as well as “Hotel California” and “Desperado,” which was offered up to the recently departed Glen Frey as a final encore. These hits were placed amongst equally strong but perhaps less well known songs such as “The Last Resort” and most of the material from the aforementioned “Cass County” album.
The quality of the musical arrangements for the songs presented on this tour stop was staggering. Fully honoring the original arrangements while also bringing them up to date and placing them within the fabric of this live performance went beyond the mere masterful into something else completely. Sublime wouldn’t quite capture it, but would approach it.
The playing was superb, the vocals entrancing, everything precise and pristine without losing any of the humanity and humanness contained in the songs and the players. I almost wish I could not attend another concert for a long while after this one and just sit with it. It was that exquisite. It was so very tempting to just write “exquisite” and leave it at that.
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