The Eagles were forced to end their New Orleans Jazz Fest performance about 20 minutes early after a band member suffered a medical episode that made continuing impossible.
The audience wasn’t provided an explanation but many longtime fans knew something was wrong when the band left the stage without singing “Desperado,” a set list mainstay.
- The Eagles played the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Saturday (May 2).
- It was their first show outside of the Sphere in two years.
- On Monday, the band announced six new shows for the Sphere in Las Vegas.
After the show, NOLA.com got answers.
What’s Wrong With the Eagles?
The primary members of the band (Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmidt and Don Henley) were not affected. It was the band’s piano player who suffered an unknown episode. He couldn’t continue to perform and …
“Without him, the band had to skip the piano-heavy ‘Desperado,'” the news outlet reports.
Several outlets such as Ultimate Classic Rock note that this concert’s setlist deviated quite a bit from the Sphere set list. For example, they began with “Seven Bridges Road,” not “Hotel California.”
Related: The Surprising Reason the Eagles Don’t Play Any Vince Gill Songs
The last of the 19 songs performed on Saturday was “Heartache Tonight.” That song is a hit but it’s hardly “Desperado.”
The group has four more concerts in May before a break and then return to the Sphere. The next concert is scheduled for Tuesday (May 5) in Atlanta.
The Eagles are certainly not a band without lineup shifts. In addition to changes in core positions (i.e. Vince Gill in for Glenn Frey after his death) the touring band has rotated frequently over the 50 years of their existence.
On social media, no mention of the event that led to Saturday’s abbreviated set was mentioned.
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Nearly one-third of the country artists in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame were inducted in the inaugural class, which means it’s been pretty quiet for 40 years. These 17 artists have cracked the rock code however. In fact two country singers listed are Rock Hall of Famers, but not Country Music Hall of Famers.
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes