Eagles main man Don Henley announces NZ tour

Don Henley performs three shows around New Zealand next year. Photo credit: Danny Clinch, supplied for the Herald.

Classic rocker Don Henley has announced he will play a series of shows around New Zealand next March.

Henley, who co-founded 70s rock titans The Eagles, acted as the group's figurehead before embarking on a successful solo career in the 80s.

As well as setting the famed gentle Eagles groove as the band's drummer, Henley also voiced many of their biggest hits, including Hotel California, Witchy Woman and Desperado. Their country-tinged rock proved incredibly popular, seeing them sell over 150 million albums and marking them as one of the biggest bands of all time.

After the Eagles disbanded in 1980 Henley enjoyed a successful solo career, winning a Grammy in 1990 for 'Best Male Rock Performance' for The End of Innocence. His other hit songs include Dirty Laundry, New York Minute, All She Wants to Do is Dance and Boys of Summer.

With The Eagles reforming in 1994, Henley began splitting his time between the band and his solo endeavours.

Indeed, he was here with the group for two nights and a three hour set at Mt Smart just last year.

This time around Henley will perform with a 15 piece band. Fans will be pleased to hear that he promises to play all the hits from both his solo albums and those with the Eagles.

Internationally the gigs are receiving rave reviews with the LA Times declaring it, "a revelatory and rewarding journey".

Playing support on the tour is the multi-Grammy award winning singer/songwriter Jewel, most famous for her 1995 breakthrough hit Who Will Save Your Soul.

Henley kicks off the tour at the Horncastle Arena, Christchurch, Tuesday March 21, before heading to Auckland's Vector Arena, Thursday March 23 and winding up at TSB Bank Arena, Wellington, Saturday March 25.

Tickets for all shows go on sale Monday 28 November at midday via ticketmaster (0800 111 999) for the Auckland show or ticketek (0800 842 538) for Wellington and Christchurch.