On the heels of U.K. dates and their performance at Stagecoach, the Eagles opened their U.S. tour in in Alpharetta, Ga., outside Atlanta. At the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater at Encore Park on May 14 the performed a show that ventured close to three and a half hours.
Kick-off of the "Road to Eden" tour saw the Eagles playing:

How Long / Too Busy Being Fabulous / I  Don’t Want To Hear Anymore / Guilty Of The Crime / Hotel California / Peaceful Easy Feeling / I Can't Tell You Why / Witchy Woman / Lyin' Eyes / Boys of Summer / In the City / Long Run / No More Walks In The Woods / Waiting in the Weeds / No More Cloudy Days / Love Will Keep Us Alive / Take It To The Limit / Long Road Out of Eden / Somebody /  Walk Away / One Of These Nights / Life’s Been Good / Dirty Laundry / Funk 49 / Heartache Tonight / Life in the Fast Lane / Rocky Mountain Way / All She Wants To Do Is Dance / Take It Easy / Desperado

Special thanks to Jonathan Beacher for reporting.

The Recording Academy will definitely have to strongly consider Alicia Keys' "As I Am" in the album of the year category later this year: It's a rare commercial juggernaut that has received considerable critical acclaim. While the single came out in time to qualify for the 50th Grammys, the album is in the eligibility period for the 51st. Same holds true for the Eagles, who won a country award for the single "How Long." Don Henley issued a statement Monday, noting that he's already looking forward to next February.

“This Grammy win is particularly sweet because of the length of time that has passed since we (the Eagles) won our first Grammy in early 1976.  I was 28 years old then.  I’m 60 now.  I always secretly hoped that we could pull off something like this, but I had almost given up.  This win feels really good — and it’s in a whole different field than we were in before.  Now I’m thinking that we might have a good chance to win again next year because Long Road Out of Eden will be eligible then.  This year, only the single, “How Long,” came out in time to make the nomination process. We’re all very grateful to the Academy members and to our loyal fans.  It’s been quite a ride and it apparently isn’t over just yet.”

The Eagles will play four shows at London’s  02 Arena (March 20, 22, 23 and 26) to kick-off the "Long Road Out of Eden World Tour." 
The O2 Arena concerts will debut an all-new stage production.Tickets are £70 and £85; Golden Circle tickets run £110. Tickets go on sale Friday. No other date shave been announced.
Eagles are also offering an "ultimate fan experience" package.

Pollstar has released its list of the top 100 North American tours of 2007 with the Police, who pulled $133.2 million, at the top and Bill Gaither & Friends at No. 100, having grossed 7.5 million.
Two acts who had their first hits in the 1950s made the list: Tony Bennett, who made $9.1 million from 37 shows, and B.B. King, who grossed $7.8 from 47 concerts.The youngest entrant, Miley Cyrus, grossed $36 million from 49 shows.
Contrary to popular opinion that oldies acts make the most, the leader in terms of decades in which the acts got their starts, was the 1990s. The decade was repped by 23 acts, followed by 20 from the '80s, 15 from the 1970s, 12 from the '60s and 11 from the '80s. Rock 'n' rollers represented nearly half the list (47) and only three R&B performers were on it (Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, Jamie Foxx). Ten acts came in from the country side.
Cirque du Soleil's "Saltimbanco" did the most shows, 132, of any touring act; Trans-Siberian Orchestra had the most for a music act, 109 shows, but there are two editions of that holiday season band. Hinder tops the list of single edition bands (what a strange classification to make up), doing 104 shows and pulling in $10 million.
The cash cow on the list is Bon Jovi, who did 26 shows in 14 cities, had an average gross of $2.95 million, played to crowds averaging 27,000 people and pulled in $41.4 million. The fewest number of shows belonged to Heroes del Silencio, who played four shows, attracted almost 260,000 fans and grossed $9.6 million.
Among English-speaking bands, the double bill of the Eagles and Dixie Chicks played six concerts to open the Nokia Theater in L.A., pulling in 9.1 million; Shakira made $11.3 million from 10 shows; and Aerosmith ($14.8 million), the Who ($10.1 million) and Il Divo ($9.1 million) did 14 each.
The highest average ticket price belonged to the Eagles/Chicks shows at $213.06; cheapest was Three Day Grace and Breaking Benjamin's $23.81.
Acts that averaged less than 30 bucks per ticket: Vans Warped Tour, Fall Out Boy, the Fray, Hinder and 311.
Those that averaged more than $100: The Police, Celine Dion, Van Halen, Genesis, Bon Jovi, Elton John, Marc Anthony & Jennifer Lopez, Neil Young and Van Morrison.
Number of the Top 100 acts I saw: 11
Number I could have seen: 58

SoundScan and Billboard have ruined the trivia question I posted the other day by making exclusive releases eligible for the publication's main album sales chart.
With Billboard's policy altered Tuesday afternoon, Nielsen SoundScan paved the way to make the Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden” the official No. 1 album in the country.
The first Eagles studio album in 28 years, which has sold 711,000 copies since its release Oct. 30, had not been  eligible for the SoundScan chart due to its availability only at a single retailer, Wal-Mart, and its associated outlets. SoundScan and Billboard, both of which are owned by Nielsen Co., will now allow exclusive album titles that are only available through one retailer to appear on the published charts, effective this week.
Britney Spears' "Blackout" (Jive), which would have been No. 1 prior to the policy change, will open at No. 2 with first-week sales of 290,000 copies.

The Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden” has sold more than 700,000 copies since it was released Oct. 30,  Wal-Mart reported Tuesday.
The chain broke with tradition of not releasing sales figures of its exclusive offerings; when it had Garth Brooks' catalog items, for example, it stayed mum on sales tallies.
This time is different and the Eagles manager Irving Azoff has been touting the album's success to various media outlets. But the last time the Eagles released an album, 1979, this is how it was done - one retailer listed its sales and a few others reported, some estaimates were made and some airplay tracked and, voila, chart position determined.
Don Henley, one of the two original members still in the band, told Variety earlier this year that he had no idea if the band even had an audience for new music. Azoff gave props to Wal-Mart's marketing and distribution teams in the press release that announced the sales figures.
The chain reportedly purchased 3 million copies of the album. They are selling the two disc set of 20 songs in store for $11.88 or $10.88 in downloadable MP3 format online.
On Wednesday, when SoundScan sales figures for the week are released, Britney Spears' "Blackout" is expected to be the nation's top-sellers. "Long Road" does not qualify as it offered by only one retailer.

Years from now, it may become an interesting trivia question: Name the only American band in the SoundScan era to have a No. 1 album in England and never appear on the U.S. sales chart despite being released day and date in the two countries?
Answer: The Eagles.
Now we might be getting ahead of ourselves as the Eagles first album since 1979 might someday be available in the States at an outlet other than Wal-Mart, where it went on sale last week. In the U.K., "Long Road Out of Eden" was released by Universal and opened at No. 1, besting Britney Spears' "Blackout."
In the U.S., though, the exclusivity of the Wal-Mart situation will keep it off SoundScan's chart and the suburban mega-store is not about to release sales data. (They were mum about Garth Brooks sales figures when his catalog went under their roof). Wal-Mart and Eagles management have already said "Long Road" would be No. 1 were they to report sales figures, but that is, of course, pure speculation at this point.
Hits has the Eagles disc hitting 700,000 in sales in its first week.

And on the fourth night of the six-night run at the Nokia, they did as they had done before, pleasing the Boomers who decades ago got their first kiss with "Peaceful Easy Feeling" playing in the background, debated the SoCal mystique for hours after the release of "Hotel California" and never once wondered what happened to Randy Meisner, Don Felder or Bernie Leadon. Some observations:

1) AEG could not have found a better band to open the venue than the Eagles. They blend the acoustic and the electric, harmonies and solo vocals, and force sound mixers to be on the lookout for inaccuracies in the sound reproduction. Eagles set was balanced from the start; a few tweaks were seemingly made during the Dixie Chicks' set. It's almost a given that every patron has gone home saying what a wonderful sounding hall it is.   

2) It may have a band's name on the marquee but the stars of the Eagles are Joe Walsh - personality, guitar playing and compositions - and the voice of Don Henley. Steuart Smith's job is to make sure every song is re-created note-for-note perfect from the records; this is a crowd that likes what it knows.

3) Given just an hour to display their talents, the Dixie Chicks strike an impressive balance between the old and the new, the pop-rock material and the country tunes. They display their bluegrass chops and vocal harmonies - and they look like they're having fun. They have a welcoming presence yet are still clearly superstars, even if Natalie Maines risked alienating the Eagles fans by telling them they were rich.

The opening of AEG’s $100 million Nokia Theater is 2½ weeks away and a recent tour of the downtown L.A. venue revealed an impressive building that could take business away from the Gibson Amphitheater, the Kodak and certainly doom the Shrine.
The Nokia has some rather smart design elements working for it, beginning with the full service lobbies — that means bars, food and restrooms — on each floor, much like the Kodak Theater and Walt Disney Concert Hall.
The orchestra level is practically a hall unto itself: 4,340 of the venue’s 7,100 seats are in the the lower level and it actually looks like several hundred more. The upper reaches of the hall can be blocked by curtains to make the room feel like a small theater and not an undersold venue. The back of the balcony, which has only eight rows, is 210 feet from the lip of the stage.
That sort of versatility is key in this day and age: the Nokia is larger than the Greek (5,700 seats) and Gibson (6,200), but by eliminating the balcony, acts that could quickly sell out the Wiltern (2,200) or Kodak (3,100) or not quite fill the Greek have an  option. AEG is anticipating a schedule of 120 concerts per year.
The orchestra level seating area is wide, but does not fan out as much as the Gibson (formerly the Universal) Amphitheater and feels more directed toward the stage, similar to the Greek. Patrons, or at least 90% of them, will be viewing a performer straight on. And no crazy colors like some other venues – this is all dark blue seats.
Stage’s length (180 feet) and width (80 feet) are staggeringly large and an extensive catwalk system will make it possible for a band to stage a full-on arena-size show in the venue. To get that catwalk system in place, though, means an extraordinary amount of air space between the floor and the ceiling.
Sides of the venue are dedicated to large opera-box like spaces. There are six on each side, three stacked on top of three; the view from the unfinished box, looking out at a sea of seats and the stage, makes the place look enormous. Two 16- X 29-foot LED screens will flank the stage.
Backstage has a dozen dressing rooms and a good-sized hospitality suite. Combined, the hospitality and VIP suites total 12,000 square feet.
A double bill of the Eagles and Dixie Chicks will open the building Oct. 18. They load in on Oct. 15 and knowing the Eagles fastidious attitude toward sound reproduction, the room should be pretty well tuned early during their run. (The two bands perform Oct. 20, 21, 24, 26 and 27). To get the hall off to a decent start, every wall is covered with a soft absorbent material, even the walls in hallways near the concert hall.
Sugarland, Little Big Town and Jake Owen follow on Oct. 28, Queens of the Stone Age perform on the 29th; and Oct. 30 welcomes Neil Young. Concerts will have start times of 8:15 while sporting events at Staples Center across the street begin at 7 or 7:30.
The first awards show booked for the Nokia is the American Music Awards on Nov. 18. Company has about 20 other kudosfests targeted for the venue including the Emmys; about the only ones that are off-limits are the Oscars and the Tonys.
Aretha Franklin will perform at the Nokia six days after she is honored as MusiCares Person of the Year at the Recording Academy gala, which has been held recently at the neighboring L.A. Convention Center.
AEG, which is overseeing and will run the L.A. Live complex, will be asking a lot of concert-goers to park east of Figueroa and, more than likely, south of Pico. Other L.A. Live tenants — hotels, restaurants, etc. — will likely offer their own valet parking services.
A year from now, AEG plans to open the 2,300-capacity Club Nokia, which is slated to do 150 events per year, including concerts and private parties.
The concert calendar for Nokia Theater to date:
Video Games Live, Oct. 19
Anita Baker, Nov. 3
So You Think You Can Dance, Nov. 21
John Fogerty, Nov. 23
La Quinta Estacion, Nov. 24
Enrique Iglesias, Dec. 7
Michael W. Smith, Dec. 9
Tori Amos, Dec. 16
George Lopez, Dec.. 26, 27, 31
Chinese New Year Spectacular, Jan. 18-20
Aretha Franklin, Feb. 14
Russell Peters, Feb. 16
Larry the Cable Guy, March 1

A release date of Oct. 30 has been set for the first Eagles studio album in 28 years, "Long Road Out of Eden." The Eagles-owned diskery, ERC, is going through Mercury Nashville and Lost Highway for distribution; album will initially only be sold at Wal-Mart.
The band is releasing its first single to radio, "How Long," this week.

The Eagles and Dixie Chicks have added four nights to their stand opening the Nokia Theater in the L.A. Live complex. Besides the already announced Oct. 18 and 20 dates, the two bands will perform on Oct. 21, 24, 26 and 27. Tickets are already on sale.