Ex EAGLE DON FELDER and DESPERADO'S NICK MELLOR ON STAGE !!

“I was really pleased to be asked to play in the band backing Don Felder for a third time at this year’s Keel/Felder Charity Golf Tournament at Carden Park near Chester. Past years have also seen appearances from Tony Christie and John Miles amongst others. Don’s backing band for this gig draws on some of the best musicians in the North West: Greg Morton is the MD and keyboard player, Jonas Backman on drums, Steve Williams on Bass and Karl Raven. We rehearsed a few days before the gig without Don and then not with Don until the day of the gig at the sound check rehearsal. Don expects the band to know the songs inside out and expects us all to be note perfect-especially the guitarist ( big swallow ).

The format for the gig is basically a cabaret-like setting after a charity dinner ( with all the money going to Christie‘s Hospital in Manchester), the music beginning at around eleven pm. Don usually comes onstage after a few “warm up” acts at midnight and does four or five songs. Since leaving the Eagles in 2001, Don has been doing a few solo gigs around the states and Europe and clearly enjoys the freedom of performing solo, which gives him plenty of space to stretch out in guitar solos.

This year, he sent a short setlist which consisted of: Tequila Sunrise, Take It Easy, Hotel California. The Long Run, Life In The Fast Lane, Desperado. Pride and Joy (Stevie Ray Vaughan), Old Time Rock ’n’ Roll (Bob Seger)

Don’s favourite gear is hired in especially for the night, including an Eric Clapton Signature Strat, a Gibson or Heritage Les Paul for slide and a spare Strat usually tuned to Eb Stevie Ray Vaughan/Hendrix style. A Fender Vibroverb is also hired in as well as a few Boss effects including a chorus and delay pedal which are on most of the time to create the modern “Felder sound”.

Don’s energy and vast depth and experience are clear in his performance and he has a surprisingly good voice for someone who never sang lead on a track while in the Eagles. As mentioned, the setting is essentially after dinner cabaret but beneath the LA tan and 1000 Watt smile, Don brings pure 100% rockin’ blues attitude to the occasion, cranking his amp right up so that he achieves a gritty, wailing sound you might hear in a large arena!. Don likes to play LOUD and likes the band behind him to be quite forceful and aggressive-especially the drummer!

From the opening of “Take It Easy” it is clear that Don intends to take no prisoners. His extended solos later on in the set in Pride and Joy and Old Time Rock’n Roll remind us that he is a veteran blues/rocker who deserves to be mentioned along with Gilmour, Beck, Page and Clapton as one of the true pioneers of 70s rock guitar. In my opinion, only Larry Carlton’s solo in “Kid Charlemagne” and Dave Gilmour’s “Comfortably Numb” solo compete with Don and Joe Walsh’s solo in the original “Hotel California” for the title of Best Rock Guitar Solo of The 1970s.

When Don launches into the intro of The Eagles’ greatest song for the second song of the night-the music for which, of course, was written by Don himself- the audience is on its feet. A twelve string-like effect is achieved by Don using chorus and delay effects. I play the low string melody underneath the intro chords and add chordal and single note support throughout. For the epic solo at the end, Don plays both his solo and Joe Walsh’s-a solo which he kept pretty much note-for-note from his original mid-1970s demo-parts. I play the lower harmony for the end section. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in the room with goose bumps; the feeling of being onstage playing the end of “Hotel California” with the guy who wrote it is quite something-the thing you’re most aware of is that one wrong note will sound like a complete train-wreck! Fortunately, everything is note perfect and I breath a huge sigh of relief at the end. (Note for musos: Don changes “Hotel California” from B minor to the slightly lower key of A-this makes it sound a bit heavier and darker!)

Don straps on an acoustic for “Tequila Sunrise”, leaving me on electric to play the “Hell Freezes Over” version of the solo in unison with him. Next up is “The Long Run”, with Don playing slide on a Heritage Les Paul and Karl Raven doing his best David Sanborn impression, Karl has plenty of room to wail away at the end of the song.

Tim Healey joins us onstage for Desperado, which he sings with great conviction and passion. The set is wrapped up with a couple of rocking bluesy numbers-“Pride and Joy” and “Old Time Rock and Roll“ - which are essentially vehicles for some extended jamming. It’s all over too soon-us guys in the backing band would have been more than happy to do over an hour’s worth of Eagles songs and Blues/Rock numbers of Don‘s choosing, but the restrictions of the occasion mean that this would be impossible.

Here’s to next year!” (The photos that accompany this article are mainly a few “snaps” quickly taken at this year’s sound check/rehearsal). Thanks to Jonas Backman and Greg Morton for getting me on the gig ( and keeping me on it! )

Nick Mellor