Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2004 | 8:23 a.m.
But his self-deprecating comments are cast with a comic's wit. At one point he spoke fondly of Al Green; but his patter was more like Shecky Greene.
"If there's anyone bootlegging tonight, go ahead," the 57-year-old Frey said during his show at the Club at the Cannery on Sunday night. "It's the only way I can get anyone to hear my music."
And, in announcing the Eagles' hit, "Take It to the Limit": "This is what my wife calls, 'The Credit Card Song.' "
And, after performing the casual "Lyin' Eyes": "I've got to take a real short nap. You know your old when you get tired playing 'Lyin' Eyes.' "
And, after one interactive-minded (or, maybe, drunk) fan shouted, "James Dean!": "If we played all my hits we'd be here until, like, 9:30."
The two-hour show started at 8 p.m.
Frey refers to the between-song repartee as, "The segues that keep me off the Strip." But if he stripped the music he might well wind up on the Strip -- doing stand-up.
As it was, the remarkably fit Frey played the full complement of his hits and those from his years as an Eagle for a crowd just a shade under 2,000 at one of the Las Vegas Valley's more under-appreciated venues. The Club was configured for an inside-outside show -- the first 20 rows were set inside the hall, and the back wall opened up to seat the remaining several rows, which led to bleacher seating at the back of the hotel's courtyard.
Onstage, Frey's 10-piece band was flanked by two giant screens and backed by a pair of flashy signs reading "The Cannery." This was no bleacher-in-the-parking lot show; it was a well-lit, comfortable, nicely mixed concert on a pleasant late-summer night. It was a watershed event for the Club, which touts an Eagles tribute act -- Hotel California -- among its headliners.
"It's great to be here in North Las Vegas," Frey often said, emphasizing "North" to indicate he new precisely where he was. "I like it here. It's kind of like playing off-Broadway."
Except that, in this case, up the road from off-Broadway is a Pawn Plus.
No matter.
In a show in which the star's voice seemed to ebb near the end, fans were treated to Frey's best work. From his Eagles days, he performed, "Peaceful Easy Feeling," "Tequila Sunrise," "Heartache Tonight," "Take It Easy," and "Desparado," along with the previously mentioned "Take It to the Limit," and "Lyin' Eyes." His solo offerings included the hits, "You Belong to the City, "The Heat Is On" and "Smuggler's Blues."
The performance was also a rare chance to catch Frey in concert as a solo artist -- in fact, it was his only solo concert in the U.S. this year. As Frey mentioned from the stage, his appearance was to keep a promise he made earlier this year to Dan Chandler, the former Cannery Casino Resorts executive (and son of the late Major League Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler) who personally asked Frey to play at the Club. Although Chandler died in April, Frey kept his word.
And there was another promise of an Eagles reunion tour -- though Frey said nothing about the band playing in the United States.
"I'm going on the longest tour I've ever been on as a member of the Eagles, 57 cities in Australia and Asia," he said. "That's a long time to be with (Don) Henley, (Joe) Walsh and (Timothy B.) Schmit. They're great friends and I love them, but they are so (bleeping) intense."
Frey said he once read a story in a medical publication that said humans use only 10 percent of their brains.
"I showed the article to Joe Walsh," Frey said, pausing to sip from a coffee cup, "and he said, 'What do we do with the other 40 percent?' "
Ba-dum-bum.
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