If you were just itching to check into Hotel California with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra this weekend, you might be a little disappointed to learn you will instead be taking the stairway to heaven.
The orchestra was notified on Wednesday that the Eagles no longer wanted to license their music to other artists, including Jeans ‘N Classics, a Canadian company that performs pop and rock tribute shows with orchestras around North America. The TSO sent a letter to ticketholders Wednesday afternoon notifying them of the program change.
“We did all we could to keep the show in place, but could not afford to pay the new asking price of $10,000 per song,” the TSO said in its letter.
Jeans ‘N Classics has been doing the Eagles tribute show for more than 20 years including a performance in Halifax, Nova Scotia, last weekend, said the company’s founder, Peter Brennan, who added he was caught completely off guard when he got the call from the band’s representatives Wednesday.
“We had heard that they were a bit persnickety about it, but we didn’t realize it had gotten to the point that it had,” Brennan said when reached at his London, Ontario, office.
Instead of the Eagles, the orchestra and the Jeans ‘N Classics rock band fronted by vocalist Michael Shotton will perform the music of Led Zeppelin.
“If someone is a major Eagles fan and doesn’t like Led Zep, I feel bad for them. But the people I feel most badly for is the orchestra players,” Brennan said. “We’ve had the Eagles music down there for months and now they’re going to get the Zep music. They are professionals and they will eat it for breakfast, but I feel badly.”
Instead of leading the orchestra in a cover-to-cover tribute of the Eagles’ iconic album “Hotel California,” conductor Martin Herman will lead them in a program that will include Led Zeppelin classics “Dancing Days,” “All of My Love,” “Dazed and Confused,” “D’yer Mak’er,” “When The Levee Breaks,” “Black Dog,” “Good Times Bad Times” and “Kashmir.” The highlight is sure to be when the band sings the iconic Zeppelin ballad “Stairway to Heaven.”
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10. Tickets are $30 to $77 through ticketmaster.com.
