‘They embraced it’: Eagles Sphere producer delivers band’s message

Most Eagles fans have followed the band for decades. Many have seen performances dating to the 1970s. But the man who directed their most ambitious show is not one of them.

Baz Halpin’s first Eagles show was this past November in Raleigh, N.C.

“I saw wanted to see them as on their ‘Long Goodbye’ tour, and I sort of thought, ‘OK,’ it’ll be a classic rock ‘n’ roll band playing some songs,’” Halpin says during a recent phone chat. “But they blew me away. Partly because you still know every single song, and partly because their performance is just so unbelievably memorable.

“I didn’t want the concert to end.”

Ah, but it was just the beginning. Halpin, who has directed Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” and the Super Bowl halftime show starring Usher, was about to become part of the Eagles’ legacy.

As founder and CEO of renowned design and production company Silent House Group, Halpin has since conceived a spellbinding experience. The show is a success by any measure. On Wednesday, the band added March 7-8 and 14-15 to its Spherical Las Vegas engagement.

A wily veteran

Halpin is familiar with Las Vegas shows, and productions internationally. He designed Cher’s show at the Colosseum in 2007-2008 and Katy Perry’s “Play” at Resorts World Theatre, which ran from 2021-‘23.

Halpin’s ongoing Vegas spectacular, “Awakening” at Wynn, underwent a retooling last year. The show is still being tugged, tailored and tweaked.

“Awakening is doing great as it continues to go from strength to strength, and we’re always adding and evolving the show,” Halpin says. “We’ve gone out to find some incredible acts. We’ve had what we call housekeeping improvements. This is not a show that sits and festers. For anybody who’s seen it in the last six months, when they see it again, it’ll be totally different.”

The long(er) run

The Eagles’ extension is not exactly shocking. Sphere Entertainment Executive Chairman and CEO James Dolan says, “Look, they can play as long as they want.”

Halpin has not directed an Eagles show before Vegas, but he has a lengthy relationship with longtime Eagles manager and entertainment power player Irving Azoff. A showbiz exec over the past six decades, Azoff today operates Full Stop entertainment company with his son Jeffrey. The company has delivered U2, Phish and Dead & Company to Sphere.

“I have a long relationship with Irving that stretches back to about 2003. The first artist of his I ever worked with was Christina Aguilera, back when she was doing the ‘Stripped’ album,” Halpin says. “Irving and Jeffrey called me and said, ‘We’re thinking of doing the Eagles at Sphere. Why don’t you go and see them on tour?’”

Halpin was sold immediately. Zoom meetings with the band turned into in-person meetings, focusing on the music while developing the “pretty pictures” Don Henley refers to during the show.

“They were very good at getting the set list together, understanding the complexities of Sphere, which is as complicated and highly technical as you would expect,” Halpin says. “They really embraced it.”

The “Hotel California” opening “was basically, almost verbatim, out of Don’s lips,” Halpin says. “He said, ‘I want to start here, I want to see car in the distance. I want to see a hotel, and it should be dilapidated.’ He was very specific, down to how the wallpaper should look.”

Even the car that cruises the dark desert highway needed to have the right look and feel. It seems to be a ‘67 Chevy Impala Super Sport convertible.

Joe Walsh explained how he wanted “In The City” to be presented. The rock legend explained the song was about optimism, that there is something else out there beyond towering walls.

“I sort of said, ‘Like light at the end of the tunnel?’ And that’s when I got this idea to wrap the city around and rise up through this enormous sort of prison of skyscrapers,” Halpin says, “and then breaking through, and seeing this of Utopian nature outside of the city.”

The peaceful and whimsical Eagles show is a different vibe than the other event Halpin has produced at Sphere. His company also produced UFC 306. This was just a week before Eagles unfurled “Peaceful, Easy Feeling” to sold-out crowds at Sphere.

“It was just wild. To do one right after the other was kind of insane,” Halpin says. “The UFC, for me, was a new paradigm in sports entertainment, without a doubt.”

The show drew a capacity crowd of 16,024, a UFC-record $22 million gate. Merch sales were the most ever for the organization.

“You need someone like Dana White who has a vision for something like this, and you’re going, ‘Holy cow, I never would think of that,’ ” Halpin says. “It was so unbelievably powerful, and well-received, and just a great experience.”

Can UFC return? The sense is that even for the adventurous White, this was a one-and-done experience.

“Can it come back? Yeah, practically there is no reason not to do it again,” Halpin says. “But I have no idea if Dana would want to. It was a very special thing. I would certainly love to do it again.”

Cool Hang Alert

Las Vegas mainstay and the world’s most famous juggler, Penn Jillette, will introduce the screening of “Night of the Living Dead,” at 7 p.m. Oct. 23 at The Beverly Theater in downtown Las Vegas. Jillette is a massive Romero fan, and the classic horror film is being presented in 4K restoration. Magic, humor, classic-zombie action and Skittles at the snack bar. Go to thebeverlytheater.com for intel.

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John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.