Eagles to perform ‘Hotel California’ 30 miles from where all the madness began in Miami

The Eagles’ made-in-Miami “Hotel California” famously said, “You can check out but you can never leave.”

Apparently, that line proved prescient as 45 years later that song, and its parent album, still has a mighty hold on listeners.

The rock band plans to perform the “Hotel California” album in its entirety at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise about 30 miles from where two of its current members — drummer Don Henley and guitarist Joe Walsh — recorded the classic in 1976 at Criteria Studios in North Miami.

(Co-songwriters Glenn Frey and Don Felder are no longer in the band. Frey died at age 67 in 2016. Felder was ousted from the Eagles after the long “Hell Freezes Over Tour” in the mid-1990s).

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Joining Henley and Walsh in the Eagles lineup are Timothy B. Schmit, who joined the Eagles to replace bassist Randy Meisner in time for its 1978 Christmas single, “Please Come Home for Christmas,” Frey’s guitarist son Deacon Frey and country singer-songwriter and guitarist Vince Gill.

Where are the Hotel California concerts?

The “Hotel California 2022 Tour” has these Florida dates:

▪ Thursday, Feb. 24 in Orlando at the Amway Center

▪ Friday, Feb. 25 in Sunrise at the FLA Live Arena (formerly BB&T)

▪ Monday, Feb. 28 in Tampa at Amalie Arena.

Other dates on the “Hotel California 2022 Tour” are:

▪ Saturday, Feb. 19 in Savannah, Georgia at Enmarket Arena

▪ Monday, Feb. 21 in Charlotte, North Carolina at Spectrum Center

▪ Wednesday, March 2 in Raleigh, North Carolina at PNC Arena

▪ Friday, March 4 in Atlanta, Georgia at State Farm Arena

▪ Thursday, May 19 in Austin, Texas at Moody Center ATX.

What will the Eagles play?

Each night’s concert will feature the nine songs from the “Hotel California” that includes two No. 1 singles, “New Kid in Town” and the title track, which won the Grammy for Record of the Year, as well as “Life in the Fast Lane” and the epic closer, “The Last Resort.”

After the album run-through and an intermission, the setlist will include the Eagles’ greatest hits, which no doubt will feature “Take It Easy,” “Heartache Tonight” and “I Can’t Tell You Why.” An orchestra and choir will also feature, which should give lift to tunes like “Wasted Time.”

Crazy times in Miami

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Trivia: Reportedly, when the Eagles were trying to record the intricate seven-minute “Last Resort” for “Hotel California” at Criteria, Black Sabbath and Andy Gibb were recording their albums in adjacent studios.

Apparently, the heavy metal thud from the recording of Sabbath’s “Technical Ecstasy” album bled through the studio walls and that required the Eagles to have to stop and do more takes. That irritant could not have pleased the notoriously grumpy Henley.

“The Eagles were recording next door, but we were too loud for them,” Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi confirmed in an interview with Uncut in 2015. “It kept coming through the wall into their sessions.”

Which room boasted the greatest use of cocaine?

Call it a draw.

Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler said he wandered into the Eagles’ adjacent studio room at Criteria after Henley, Glenn Frey et al. had split, Rolling Stone reported. “Before we could start recording we had to scrape all the cocaine out of the mixing board. I think they’d left about a pound of cocaine in the board.”

A more harmonious relationship with the Eagles was had by Gibb, who was recording his debut album, “Flowing Rivers” at the South Florida landmark studio. A fan, Gibb popped into the Eagles’ studio and liked what he was hearing. He reportedly wanted a bit of an Eagles sound on his record so Walsh joined in on Gibb’s sessions and put down a guitar track on the hit, “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water” that Gibb cowrote with his eldest brother, Barry Gibb.

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Felder would play on the the track, “I Go for You,” which appeared on Gibb’s second album, “Shadow Dancing,” which was also cut at Criteria and released in 1978.

(Sadly, Andy Gibb died at age 30 in 1988.)

When do tickets go on sale?

Tickets for the FLA Live Arena show, and the other dates, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 3, through Eagles.com or Ticketmaster. A variety of presales are available starting Thursday, Dec. 2 and VIP packages.

Tour presenter Live Nation and promoter Scoop Marketing didn’t respond to a question on ticket prices but Ticketmaster says they could vary based on demand. (Read: expensive. The Eagles, after all, were the first band to top the $100 ticket mark when its members resumed touring for the “Hell Freezes Over Tour” in 1994, a tour that played Miami’s former Orange Bowl.)