My home life in the 1970s was dysfunctional, chaotic and oftentimes violent.
To cope I did two things – spend as little time at home as I could, and when home, immerse myself in music.
My first major investment was a Marantz Receiver, perfectly balanced Dual turntable and Advent Speakers (because I liked them better than Bose) that I purchased from Murphy’s Sight and Sound in Gillette. My lifeguarding paycheck went to components and as much vinyl as I could afford.
I would hole up in my room and crank the music, until the invariable shout from my father of, “Turn that music down!” Then the headphones came out and I retreated into my private world.
The Eagles’ “Hotel California” struck a particular chord with me. A song about being stuck in a bizarre place where one had no control echoed my life.
An Eagles concert in the Sphere last Friday forever changed the meaning of that song for me.
The band opened with Hotel California. The song would have been an encore number for other bands. For the Eagles, it’s an opener into two hours of nonstop great music.
Seeing that opening number in the Sphere was like putting prescription glasses on for the first time. Suddenly, I saw and heard things I had never imagined before.
The Sphere is an amazing piece of technology. Standing 366 feet high and 516 feet wide, the Sphere seats 17,600 people (20,000 with floor capacity). Known for its exterior video shows powered by 1.23 million LED pucks, the magic truly happens in the interior.
Inside, there is a 30-plus story wrap-around video screen, occupying 160,000 feet. The screen is the highest resolution largest screen on the planet.
Behind the screen sit 167,000 speaker drivers designed so every seat can be targeted precisely with perfect sound. The beamforming technology allows perfectly transmitted music to reach every chair in the house, no matter which seat the listener occupies.
The Eagles, arguably, are the greatest stadium rock band of all time. I’ve seen them in large venues before.
But nothing compares with a Sphere concert with 20,000 of your closest friends, feeling like one is listening to a tightknit living room serenade.
The sound alone takes the concert experience to a different level.
The visuals also move the experience to a different universe. The Sphere calculates the smallest dot the eye can see at a particular distance, and the technology uses that equation to show images in ultra-high resolution. A person with 20/20 vision has 20/20 vision no matter where he looks on the 30-story overhead arc.
With vivid colors across the entire spectrum and pixelation as fine as the eye can distinguish, the video display is only limited by the imagination of the video artists. Their imagination showed no limits at the Eagles concert.
On the opening number, the room darkened. An eerie 300-foot windstorm engulfed the screen, coupled with the 4D wind rushing toward each of the seats. Then, out of nowhere and everywhere, the initial B minor arpeggio began. Don Henley’s powerful tenor rasped, “On a dark desert highway . . . “
A four-story 1970s red Camaro emerged from the mist and drove us into the hotel. Images surfaced, depicting the banquet hall where you can check out any time you want, but you can never leave.
Thus the two-hour journey began into sensory overload.
Henley, Timothy B. Schimdt and Joe Walsh were all born in 1947. Vince Gill, a newer member and country music legend, was born in 1957. Deacon Frey – late band member Glenn Frey’s son, was born in 1993.
None of the performers showed their age, which was a sign of the true professional dedication of the band to their craft. Eagles are consummate musicians whose collective talent for songwriting and performance has made them a mainstay of American culture for 53 years.
While other acts will come and go in the Sphere, the Eagles in that venue should not be missed. Very few shows remain before they move on to something else.
After the encores, the band stayed on stage and thanked the audience for its love and support.
The best band in the best venue changed my view of concerts forever. No longer will Hotel California remind me of those lonely days of isolation so many years ago. Instead, 49 years later, it will be the song that opened my vision to a new sensory expansion of what music and lights should be.
Tom Lubnau served in the Wyoming Legislature from 2004 - 2015 and is a former Speaker of the House. He can be reached at: YourInputAppreciated@gmail.com
