The Eagles’ ongoing residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas is one of the most anticipated musical events of the year, but in a recent interview, iconic singer and guitarist Vince Gill admits that while the show is jaw-dropping, it’s not necessarily his personal cup of tea.
The show features the extensive multi-media elements that are the 20,000-seat arena’s hallmark, in a striking contrast to most Eagles shows, which generally focus on the music over visuals. Gill says he finds the visual elements distracting, to say the least.
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Gill tells American Songwriter that the stage is very small in relation to the content walls.
“Then all the stuff goes to the sides and up to the ceiling. The ceiling is 15, 20 times bigger than all of that,” he states. “It’s staggeringly massive.”
The country legend — who joined the Eagles in 2017 after the death of Glenn Frey — says he even started “getting loopy” during rehearsals when he first experienced the scope of the show’s visual content.
“I was getting kind of where I felt like I was going to fall over because things are tilted, and you think you’re moving, but you’re not,” Gill states.
“It’s a trip. It’s the most people I’ve ever been ignored by when I’m playing. You’re playing, and they’re all staring at all the stuff on the ceiling. They’re not paying any attention to you. It’s kind of fun, really.”
Though Gill concedes the Eagles’ Sphere residency is a “great show,” he also says the visual content is “the whole point” of the venue.
“I never wanted to see anybody running around on the stage and yelling at me and being aerobic and bombs going off and pyro and whatever,” he states.
Gill’s idea of a good time is watching an artist like Merle Haggard simply stand and deliver one great song after another, more like what Gill does in his solo shows, or the Eagles do in their performances outside the Sphere.
“It’s still what I want to hear when I go to hear music,” he said. “I don’t necessarily go to see it.”
Gill will join the Eagles for more dates at the Sphere in 2025, but before that, he and his wife, Christian singer Amy Grant, will undertake their annual series of Christmas shows at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in November and December.
Eagles Sphere Las Vegas, Opening Night, Sept. 20, 2024
Band began Las Vegas residency in resounding fashion.
Gallery Credit: Corey Irwin
