My wife and I went to the open house for the BOK center, but this was the first event that we attended. There are two things to talk about, the Eagles and the BOK Center itself.
First the Eagles. There is a calm sort of perfection that comes with a group as 'mature' as the Eagles. Every song feels like it clicks off flawlessly, but certainly doesn't come off as the group being bored with playing the same old numbers. The last Eagles show I saw was in the Myriad in OKC in the late 90's. (Don Felder was still in the group at that time.) The harmonies on this show were excellent, every bit as good as the show back then. Every one wants to hear the old hits, but the music from the new CD 'Long Road Out of Eden' were beautifully done, and warmly recieved by the crowd. But there's no getting past the one man in the group that really gets the crowd going, Joe Walsh. When one of his songs would start and the crowd would stand, my wife would say to me "Is this an Eagles song? I don't remember this one." "No" I'd say, this is a Joe Walsh song (Funk 49 was a James Gang number from the 'James Gang Rides Again' album in 1970!). Desperado was the perfect ending. The only song that I looked for (that's great in concert) was 'Wasted Time', but not to be. This was a great show, starting shortly after the 7:30pm scheduled time and not over until near 11pm! My ticket price was steep, but I got my money's worth.
Now the BOK Center.
Like most, I was concerned about the parking for concert goers in the downtown area. So, in a sense, I punted. We decided to miss the last minute rush and go park and eat downtown early. So, we arrived at about 6pm and parked on a small lot on Cheyenne ($20 bucks) and crossed the street to eat at So Chey's. Good food there. Not cheap but not too extravagant either. Finishing about 7:15, we walked from there over to the BOK Center. At that time there were still some parking spots available close to the center, but very few. When we got inside we were suprised to find that maybe one quarter of the crowd had not yet arrived (10 minutes before the show). We were in section 108, and our entire row had only 6 people seated. I am always amazed at Tulsans. As far back as I can remember, people will arrive at the very last second or after the show has started. The same was true here, it took 45 minutes, but eventually our entire row filled up, and the rest of the seats in the arena as well.
I had heard that during the first Eagles performance that it got very warm. Just in case, I dressed accordingly and am glad I did. I was mildly warm during most of the show. During the intermission, I looked at the US and Canadian flags that were hung from the ceiling and got an idea of what might be causing the problem. For all intents and purposes, those flags were not moving at all. It wasn't that the temp in the place was all that bad, but there was no air flow. You can take a warmer temperature if there is air moving over you, but we didn't feel any air movement at all.
Perhaps my most critical comment was the acoustics. If you were on the floor near the stage you would not have noticed this. But if you were anywhere else, you could not have missed it. There was a terrible echo coming off the 'backside' or other end of the arena. One ear was getting the music from the stage, the other a delayed echo from the back. On some songs, this was so pronounced that the music sounded garbled. Fortunetly for the loudest Joe Walsh guitar bashing numbers, this was not a factor. (Isn't there a way to reduce this? I don't remember this kind of problem in other arenas I've visited.)
Now the GOOD NEWS!
Even though I was worried about it, the parking was not as bad as one would have thought. The arena is 'squeaky' clean, visually appealing, and the areas out front and inside are wide enough that we were not cramped on getting in or out. The seats were wonderful! Very comfortable and no backside stress from sitting for several hours. If you know how to cut through downtown, getting back on I244 or the BA Expressway is quick and easy.
We had a great time and can't wait for our next show - Trans Siberian Orchestra!
