Riley Ward
MCY-127
Professor Swanson
11/29/2018
Tequila Sunrise Tour: San Francisco
On September 20th, I went to see the Doobie Brothers, Zac Brown Band, and The Eagles at AT&T Park in San Francisco while on vacation with my parents. It was an outdoor concert and over 40,000 people attended. The age demographic was mainly older, with people ranging from their late 30s to early 70s, with a few kids that parents had brought along with them. There was few and far between of my own age demographic, though I did see some throughout the evening. The venue was selling alcohol, which definitely amplified the fun for the crowd that was over 21. The older crowd were all standing, singing along to the words, and dancing to the music and everyone seemed to be having a great time. There were a few different styles of music playing at this concert, with the Doobie Brothers playing hits such as “China Grove” and “Black Water”, and the Eagles playing their classic rock tunes such as “Take it Easy”, “Life in the Fast Lane”, “Hotel California”, and “Desperado”. Zac Brown Band were playing their own songs along with covering some other country classics, such as “The Devil went down to Georgia” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
The Doobie Brothers were up first at 5:00pm. I arrived early to make sure I could see all three headliners, and do not regret it because it was well worth the wait. The first of the most popular songs they played was “Black Water” which mainly uses the acoustic guitar and has a country rock feel to it. Their second most popular single was next, “Long Train Runnin’”. The drums and the guitar propel this song forward and make it a great song to dance to with such an easy melody to remember. The guitar’s timbre is iconic and after a while feels like it will be ingrained into your head. Next up was “China Grove”, which is my personal favorite of all. The first few seconds have the iconic guitar riff that’s volume is heard across the stadium and carries the melody of the song throughout its entirety. Last but not least, “Listen To The Music” ended their portion of the show. This is a staple of classic rock with an easy melody and a well known chorus that is impossible to forget.
Next up was Zac Brown Band, which are some of the most famous American country music legends of this generation. I had seen them before locally at the Tortuga Festival in Fort Lauderdale and knew their music quite well going into it. If one ever gets the chance to see them live and enjoys country rock, this is the band to see. They started off the night with their hit “Homegrown” which emphasizes the violin, guitar, and drums. The volume is loud in this song, and has a great chorus and a fast melody. Next up was “Knee Deep” which Zac Brown sings the unforgettable memory that has a very fast melody. After this, he covered “The Devil went down to Georgia” by the Charlie Daniels Band, which if you have ever been to a Zac Brown Band concert this cover is a regular. This was well liked from the crowd because it is a country music classic, with a very fast paced melody and tells an amazing story about a boy and the devil’s golden fiddle which he bets his soul for in a duel. The next song that I knew was “Toes” which came a bit later in the performance near the end. This song is very calm and tells a great story with a clear melody and an excellent use of timbre with the guitar. After this, the band covered the legendary “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen which drew a wild reaction from the crowd. I loved Bohemian Rhapsody because of the different changing speeds throughout the song and how vocally different it is from all the other songs that the Zac Brown Band performed. The band ended with their most popular hit of all time, “Chicken Fried”. The audience went wild when they began playing this song as it has as nationalistic feeling to it and pride for being American. It was a perfect way for them to end their performance and a great introduction to bring in the Eagles, which finished off the evening.
The main headliner was the Eagles, which everyone had been waiting hours for to perform. Before this concert, I only knew a few songs by them and did not really know much about the band itself. Earlier in the day before, I did some research on the band and was astounded by what they have accomplished. They played every song from their best selling album of all time, “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975”. What I find interesting about them is that they go between both rock and country music but still dominated both fields in their respected time. The first song that they played was a fan favorite, “Take It Easy”, which was led by the guitar and Deacon Frey as the lead singer, Glenn Frey’s son. When the song came on, the whole crowd began to scream and get up out of their seats. From then on, nobody sat down and everyone was having a good time singing along and dancing in their respective areas. The next song was Tequila Sunrise, which was sang by Vince Gill who is new to the band for touring. It has a somewhat Spanish feel to it, which has to do with the lyrics about drinking tequila. The melody is quite simple and has a very slow feeling to it, like a love song. After this they played the Rock classic, “Witchy Woman”. The song has a very country and western feel to it, rather than a hardcore rock and roll song. Still, it seemed to be well received from the crowd with the heavy bass guitar leading the song throughout its entirety. The melody on the guitar is very complex and the chorus almost mimicked the guitar riff. The next hit they played was “Peaceful Easy Feeling”, which has the iconic Eagles feel with the relaxing vocals followed by a simple guitar riff that makes you feel at ease throughout the entire piece, which had Deacon Frey sing the main vocals. After this, they played “Lyin’ Eyes” which is one of their best Country hits, and received a Grammy award for Best Pop Performance by a Group and took the number 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. I like this song because the chorus talks about a woman who is a golddigger and she knows it. After this, they played “Already Gone”, which has a country rock feel with a long electric guitar solo which was very interesting to watch because it was my first time at a real rock and roll concert. Their big finale was with their hit “Life in the Fast Lane”, which is my second favorite Eagles song, and had a great reaction from the crowd. After this, the crowd began to scream for an encore to which in response they played “Hotel California”, their biggest hit of all time. This is by far my favorite song by the Eagles, and the crowd reacted the same way. After this, they played a second encore with “Rocky Mountain Way” and “Desperado”. What I was amazed with was that nobody left until after the last song. Usually when I go to a concert most people leave a little early so they can miss the traffic. The strong majority of people did the opposite, and actually stayed until after they had left the stage and the lights on the stage went out.
Personally, I enjoyed the concert because I am a moderate fan of both rock and country music. My parents grew up around listening to the Eagles and the Doobie Brothers, so it was interesting to take in a perspective of reliving their childhood. I think the concert overall was successful due to the sheer number of people that turned out for the event (40,000+) on a Thursday night. This was also the first time that the Eagles had performed in San Francisco since their singer, writer, and band member Glenn Frey died in 2016. People verbally responded well on social media about this concert, citing that the Doobie Brothers need to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and that the Eagles are without a doubt the greatest rock band of all time due to two of their albums being in the top three most selling albums of all time. There was a general consensus on all of these facts when searching through social media. Having these three legendary touring bands under one roof was an amazing feat enough, but to have them perform all of their hit singles drew an unbelievable crowd in a night that I will surely never forget. After the concert had ended, I went from being a moderate fan to truly interested in the genres of rock and roll, country rock, and classic rock in general.