When you’re due to be in Sin City for a sporting occasion and realise that the stars are very much aligned, meaning your visit coincides with one of the weekend dates of the residency by Eagles at Sphere at the Venetian, well, it represents an opportunity not to be missed. That is, of course, having secured the required second mortgage in order to buy the tickets.
Eagles have been in residence at Sphere, on and off, since 20 September 2024 and this has become Sphere’s longest-running residency. The band does Friday and Saturday nights and the residency is currently due to end in April 2026. The show I saw was show # 51, on Friday 27th February 2026.
The Sphere residency forms part of The Long Goodbye which started with an arena tour in 2023 (Act I), followed by Act II across 2024 and 2025; the Las Vegas residency sets the band up for Act III, a series of stadium shows in the U.S. due later in 2026, which is intended to see the conclusion of the band’s live performances. Of course, the band has been known to previously playfully describe its tours with impending finality, as in the Farewell I tour which resulted in the release of a live video filmed at performances in Melbourne, Australia in November 2004.
If you’ve been to Vegas during the last few years, or have watched, say, the TV coverage of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, then you are likely to have seen the Sphere, which is a 360 foot tall dome, covered by the largest screen in the world and attached to the Venetian Hotel. The venue opened in September 2023, its construction costing some $2.3 billion. Nothing you’ve seen on the outside prepares you for what you’re greeted with when you enter the auditorium, where there are 18,600 seats, a screen that covers the entirety of the walls and extends across the ceiling and 167,000 speakers, hidden behind the screen, which allow targeted audio to each individual seat.
The seating is set in four tiers and in a concert setting, there’s a trade off to be had between the lower levels, which are closest to the stage but don’t really get the full benefit of the visuals, which make use of the entire screen, and higher levels which get the full benefit of the visuals, indeed some of the lower tiers’ views are restricted by an overhang. Our seats were in the Upper Mid-Level (300-level), and offered a great view of the visuals and a clear (if quite distant) view of the stage, all for a more ‘affordable’ price.
For the Eagles show, pre-gig, the wall behind the stage displayed a number of landmarks from the environment that the band were operating in around the early to mid 1970s, including the Capitol Records Building, Chateau Marmont, Sunset Boulevard, Whisky A Go Go and The Troubadour and references to specific points along the band’s career, such as the Beverly Hills Hotel (site of the cover shot for the Hotel California album) along with tour posters and the band’s album covers.
As showtime edges closer, the unmistakable sound of Elvis Presley singing Viva Las Vegas fills the auditorium while a blimp appears on the ceiling showing the countdown to kick-off (8:30pm). Viva Las Vegas gives way to Frank Sinatra’s Summer Wind and anticipation builds as showtime approaches. As the countdown clock reaches 0:00:00 the screen changes to display stormy skies, the seats vibrate (well, 10,000 of the seats vibrate, the ones that include haptic technology) to signify thunder and the band enters the stage. Straight into Hotel California, accompanied by stunning visuals that cover the walls and ceiling, there’s a lot going on from a sensory perspective.
The setlist is what you would expect, hit after hit after hit, you don’t attend an Eagles show these days with the expectation of hearing deep cuts. The precision required to perform at this venue, with the accompanying visuals, doesn’t lend itself to changing up the setlist very often, nor much spontaneity, which probably suits Eagles and their current approach. One spontaneous, quite heartwarming moment occurred early in the set, before Vince Gill had been introduced to the audience, Lyin’ Eyes started and Gill was the featured vocalist; as Gill started singing and his face appeared large on the screen, spontaneous applause emanated from the audience and elicited a genuine grin from Gill in response. Others in the 21 song setlist include One of These Nights, Take it to the Limit, Peaceful Easy Feeling, I Can’t Tell You Why, In the City, New Kid in Town, Seven Bridges Road, Life’s Been Good, Take It Easy, Rocky Mountain Way and concluding with Heartache Tonight. Of particular note was Witchy Woman, as the band now play it differently to the recorded version, with a completely different introduction and a slightly harder edge.
In terms of personnel, the core band of Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh remain, augmented by Gill, Deacon Frey and Chris Holt, who replaced Steuart Smith on guitar recently, when Smith retired due to the onset of Parkinson’s Disease. Smith was a great guitar player, but so is Holt, whose credentials are not in question, having played with such musicians as Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Stevie Nicks, The Doobie Brothers, Derek Trucks, Chris Stapleton, Lyle Lovett, The Chicks and Steve Earle; he is also a member of Mike Campbell’s band The Dirty Knobs. Other musicians involved are Scott Crago, Will Hollis and Michael Thompson.
What is noticeable is how Deacon Frey has matured and has well and truly stepped out of his father’s shadow. In addition to singing, he now demonstrates his electric guitar playing, contributing the solos on I Can’t Tell You Why (the ones which his father Glenn played on the original recording of this song). He also traded licks with Joe Walsh at times. Walsh has been ill recently, causing him to miss a show at the end of January. He’s clearly not yet back to full fitness and kept leaving the stage for songs where he wasn’t a featured singer or guitar player.
So what is it like, seeing Eagles at the Sphere? It’s a simply magnificent show, leaving you awestruck; the visuals are fantastic and they really add to the experience. What of the much vaunted sound? Well, it’s mostly excellent, there wasn’t a word sung, nor a note played, that wasn’t easily audible and that made the harmonies really standout. That said, I noticed a slight harshness to some of the vocals and occasionally on guitar solos, that made me wonder if these were the result of digital audio processing artefacts. Additionally, some odd effects were used at times, such as backing vocals which seemed to swirl around you, emanating from a ‘choir’ of images displayed on the ceiling, these didn’t work for me.
It’s also fair to say that not all of the songs have stunning visual accompaniments, some have to make do with projected images of the live performance, although these are still excellent and provide an opportunity to see what the band members are up to when you’re so far away from the stage. Songs such as Hotel California, Lyin’ Eyes, In the City and Rocky Mountain Way were particular highlights in terms of the visuals, making excellent use of the capabilities of the venue. It’s possible to find examples of video recordings on video sharing platforms of the concerts at the Sphere, but they can’t do justice to the quality and scale of the offering, nor can they provide anything like the jaw dropping experience of witnessing a performance at the venue.
One last thing….it may have been nudging 30 degrees C outside during the day, but the air conditioning within the venue made it quite chilly; if you’re planning a visit, I’d suggest taking a jacket.
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