Tommy Wilson: Life's been good - take it easy

Joe Walsh stole the show during The Eagles performance. Photo/Supplied.

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Yes, it truly was one of those nights last Wednesday night in Tamaki Makaurau - the land of many lovers, and in the long run, The Eagles gave us the best of their love, in an epic 160-minute concert that will go down in my mind as the best concert since June 21, 1975.

June 21, 1975, is when a group of us Mounties who were camped up in Shepherds Bush in London got all dolled up in rainbow coloured crushed velvet gears - with a head full of happiness, and headed to Wembley Stadium for a star-studded concert.

On the bill was Elton John, The Beach Boys, Eagles, Joe Walsh, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, and Stackridge. It was all on and full on for the 120,000 who filled up every inch of the stands and the pitch, and from what I can remember, it was The Eagles joined by Joe Walsh on stage who gave our rose-tinted spectacles that little extra glow.

Fast forward 44 years – yes I know that is just after Woodstock and years before Sweetwaters, and there we were, back in front of the Eagles at Vector Arena last Wednesday for one of those nights, taking it to the limit one more time.

Only this time there was a new kid in town on the Eagles stage.

Deacon Frey is the son of Glenn Frey who has joined all the other flying Eagles on the other side of the album of life. The kid was cool and warmed to the crowd as they did to him when he played his father's signature song Taking it easy. It was an ovation in itself, something of a singing eulogy to his father, and fitted in with the flock so seamlessly it felt and looked like he had been there for the long run and beyond.

Sitting seven rows back and looking right on to the stage from the side, it was Joe who stole the show. It's not so much he stole it but more he took it to the limit, just that one more time for all of us in the audience who had never left the Hotel California.

Even though many of us had checked out from time to time over the last four decades.

You only had to look at the diverse range of punters rocking into Vector to see the casualties of life in the fast lane. Some were still up for anything and kind of buffed up, but many more were puffed out with barely the lung capacity for a latte and a lie down afterwards, let alone lines on the mirror or pink champagne on ice.

I guess I could identify with the long run Joe had journeyed through life and to see him standing on stage, clean and sober for the last 20 years, was a tautoko to my own life lived in the fast lane.

What some may not know about Joe is he lost his little girl at 3 years old in the mid-70s, and it took its toll, turning him into a full-blown alcoholic and addict.

Walsh never meant to take a 20-year break but in his words "Well, I needed to get sober. I was frightened and, I needed to get clean."

How that happened was a miracle in itself when he had an epiphany at the footsteps of Mount Hikurangi, when visiting his friends, New Zealand band Herbs, and a Māori whānau he had come close to on previous tours.

At that time Joe was in the full grip of substance addiction, and in his words "on a journey to hell".

"This is a special place, and it is very special to me. It was here on a visit many years ago, up on the hills, that I had a moment of clarity. I don't understand it, but I reconnected with my soul, and I remembered who I used to be … I admitted I had problems and I had to do something about it.

"It was the beginning of my recovery from my addiction to alcohol and drugs, and when I got back to America, it gave me the courage to seek help. Methamphetamine is evil. If you are involved in bringing it into the country, or selling it, or manufacturing it, your ancestors are not at peace with you. You will eventually be responsible for people's deaths, and when you go to meet your God, it will be a burden on your shoulders.

"But you can come back, as hopeless as it will look. It was the hardest thing that I have ever had to do, but it can be done."

Now those are wise words, coming from a koro who has soared with the Eagles.

"Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?"

June 23 this year the boys are back in Wembley, almost 44 years to the day when we were Desperados living life in the fast lane.

Who knows, with the British Open just up the road soon after, one may have to follow the yellow brick road back to the Hotel California - and take it to the limit one more time?