Music Matters: Celebrating Hotel California

‘Hotel California’ by The Eagles is rated as not only one of the best albums of the 1970s but often features in those lists you see online or on late night TV of the greatest albums ever to be recorded – and rightly so. 

This 1976 classic features the title track with the mystical lyric “you can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave,” – along with other great songs such as ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ and ‘New Kid in Town’.

If you are a fan of the album, then a treat awaits you at the Portsmouth Guildhall on Saturday, 4 July as top tribute band the Illegal Eagles will be playing the album in its entirety as part of their brand-new Hotel California Tour. It is a great chance to hear an epic album played as it was meant to be heard from start to finish.

Fans of 1960’s music, along with anyone of a mod persuasion, can enjoy a tribute to The Who on the same night at Chichester’s Assembly Rooms. Maximum Who will be playing all the band’s greatest songs including ‘My Generation’, ‘Pinball Wizard’, ‘Happy Jack’, ‘I Can See For Miles’ and others. The gig gets underway at 7.30pm.    

My musical gem: I have written before about songwriting legend Leo Sayer touring the UK later this year with his final ‘Can’t Stop Loving You’ tour. A reminder: the nearest dates to us are Worthing Assembly Hall on 10 October and Fareham Live on 16 October. Just ahead of the tour, Leo is releasing ‘Leothology: The Studio Albums 1973 – Now’ which will be available from 14 August. This 18-CD boxset - which has been personally curated by Leo - features 220 tracks recorded over the decades including the previously unheard single from 1984 called ‘Wrapped Up In Love’. It is a must-have for all Leo fans!    

Listen to Duncan Barkes on Nation Easy Radio, Monday to Friday nights from 10pm. Nation Easy Radio can be heard on DAB digital radio, via the Nation Player app and on your smart speaker – just say “Play Nation Easy Radio.”