Las Vegas, NV’s Sphere celebrated its one-year anniversary early on Friday with arguably its biggest event to date: opening night of a 20-show Eagles residency.

The state-of-the-art venue, owned and operated by MSG Entertainment offshoot Sphere Entertainment, has already had plenty of big events to date—specifically, 40 nights of U2, four nights of Phish, and 30 nights of Dead & Company. But the owner’s favorite band making its debut in his newest crown jewel—as part of a farewell tour, no less—only happens once. Naturally, James Dolan, the executive chairman and CEO of both companies, was in Sin City on the second-to-last Friday of September, accompanied by his friend and business partner (and the Eagles’ long-time manager) Irving Azoff, to witness the Sphere-ified Eagles.

The show that they and the rest of the 20,000 or so attendees got was nothing short of spectacular.

Related: U2 To Bring Its Sphere Spectacle Back To Las Vegas As A Sphere-Exclusive Concert Film [Watch]

While Dead & Company’s summer stint at Sphere was built around a rotation of visuals that could each be paired with an array of songs, Eagles took a much more curated approach to what figures to be a consistent setlist. Each lightscape across Sphere’s millions of LEDs told a story or set a scene specific to its attendant track—all classic rock staples—and did so in mind-expanding fashion.

That included a bold “Hotel California” opener that doubled as an envelope-pushing demonstration of what Sphere can accomplish as a multimedia canvas. Don Henley’s voice rang true with the words that he and the late Glenn Frey penned together, to the unmistakable melody that Don Felder composed. But never before had the Eagles’ most famous song been cast as the soundtrack to such a rich, immersive envisioning of the dystopian resort that it has described for the better part of five decades. There were mannequins cast in a static scene at a dining table, a garden flourishing indoors, and a ghostly chorus singing along from the ceiling.

Eagles – “Hotel California” – 9/20/24
[Video: audiovidya]

All that preceded a journey through a tunnel lit with reds and purples which ended in a starlit desert scene replete with Joshua Trees. It was “One of These Nights” incarnate, as Henley continued to simultaneously croon the tune and keep the beat on drums—just as he did within a spooky swamp during “Witchy Woman”.

The 77-year-old held it down as the band’s lone continuous member since its inception in 1971. Early on, he joked with the crowd about needing Dramamine for what was to come and how—with 164,000 speakers in the room—they would be able to hear the band’s every mistake with crystal clarity.

But Don, for his part, was on consistently on the mark, whether singing on drums or strumming guitar. That was particularly true when he closed out the main set in the lead on a “Life in the Fast Lane” set to the backdrop of a Corvette cruising along the Las Vegas Strip at night. Come the encore, he more than held his own under the spotlight on “Desperado” in front of a blue curtain that eventually lit up with the shadows of a virtual orchestra.

Don, though, hardly went it alone on lead vocals. As has been the case from the band’s very beginning, singing duties were spread throughout the lineup. Vince Gill brought his own legendary voice to bear on the Eagles’ iconic catalog. The 67-year-old bluegrass and country mainstay, who joined the group in 2017 after Frey’s untimely passing, handled his share of his forebear’s signature cuts to perfection. Whether beneath a shower of streaming lyrics on “Lying Eyes”, soaring into the cosmos for “Take it to the Limit”, or singing sweetly of a “Tequila Sunrise” in front of that very scene playing out inside Sphere, Vince only further affirmed his place in the group’s phenomenal family tree.

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For this Las Vegas residency, that tree includes Glenn’s actual family—namely, his son, Deacon Frey. The 31-year-old showed off a singing voice with much of the same sweet texture that made his late father’s so famous. He gave the audience a “Peaceful Easy Feeling” amid a swirling cloud of doves, belted out “Already Gone” while blanketed by colorful flood lights, and opened the encore with a starring role on “Take It Easy”.

Though Deacon is, by far, the youngest member of the Eagles, the honor of singing lead on “New Kid in Town” fell to Vince, who did so with aplomb while, behind him, film strips flecked with instruments and live shots of the band formed the walls of an expanding room.

Joe Walsh, too, took his turns at center stage, in more ways than one. Beyond playing his perpetual part as the “master of the Stratocaster,” the 76-year-old from Wichita, Kansas powered through “In The City” as tall buildings soared into the sky, busted out his talk box as the interior of Sphere flashed with suggestive silhouettes for “Those Shoes”, and handled both lead vocals and talk box over nature’s soaring scenes during “Rocky Mountain Way” in the encore. Joe even got to pull from his solo catalog with “Life’s Been Good”, which begat a backdrop of Polaroid photos hung on clotheslines that morphed into a vortex.

Eagles – “Rocky Mountain Way” – 9/20/24
[Video: audiovidya]

Eagles – “Life’s Been Good” – 9/20/24
[Video: audiovidya]

Don got a similar privilege with a rendition of his hit “Boys of Summer” dedicated to Jimmy Buffett, who died last year, and J.D. Souther, the songwriter who wrote many an Eagles song before passing away mere days before the band’s maiden voyage at Sphere. As Henley sang of days gone by, the screen lit up with a passionate scene of two beach-bound dancers performing an underwater ballet.

Eagles – “Boys of Summer” – 9/20/24
[Video: audiovidya]

The night’s vocal features extended to Timothy B. Schmit, as well. The longtime Eagles bassist was the main man on “I Can’t Tell You Why” as the rear wall filled up with film strips, and got to join in on a gorgeous, group-wide harmony amid scenes of star-filled skies and less bewitched swamps on “Seven Bridges Road”.

Eagles – “Seven Bridges Road” – 9/20/24
[Video: audiovidya]

To end the evening, Eagles once again joined together on a version of “Heartache Tonight” illustrated by trippy scenes of casino games set among the stars—as if beckoning attendees toward the tables when they exit the building.

Unlike Sphere’s most recent tenants, Eagles aren’t expected to switch up their setlists and accompanying visuals over the remainder of their residency, but that doesn’t mean fans should skimp on seeing these Rock & Roll Hall-of-Famers. On the contrary: the show is so awe-inspiring that repeat experiences seem not only feasible, but entirely appropriate.

However many times any one follower of the Eagles ends up seeing them at Sphere, everyone with at least a passing fancy for these classic rockers and/or an eye for technological developments in live music must make their way to Sphere at least once between now and January 25th, when the band concludes its Vegas. While you’re at it, be sure to stop by the “Third Encore” installation inside The Venetian, where you’ll find a scale replica of The Troubadour—the famed Los Angeles club where Don and Glenn first met—and an impressive array of merchandise, including shirts utilizing every version of the band’s logo and limited-edition posters specific to each of the 10 weekends.

Eagles return to Sphere on Saturday to round out the first weekend of their residency. Find tickets to upcoming Eagles Sphere dates here.

Below, view the setlist and a gallery of photos from the first night of Eagles at Sphere via Chloe Weir and Rich Fury/Sphere Entertainment.

Setlist: Eagles | Sphere | Las Vegas, NV | 9/20/24
Set: Hotel California, One of These Nights, Lyin’ Eyes, Take It to the Limit, Witch Woman, Peaceful Easy Feeling, Tequila Sunrise, In the City, I Can’t Tell You Why, Seven Bridges Road, Those Shoes, Life’s Been Good, Already Gone, The Boys of Summer, Life in the Fast Lane
Encore: Take It Easy, Rocky Mountain Way, Desperado, Heartache Tonight