The Eagles opened Saturday night’s concert with a rendition of “The Long Run,” which aptly foreshadowed the three-hour concert filled with Eagles classics and the members’ solo material.

After the opening song, the band played two tracks off of the legendary album “Hotel California,” which showcased the band’s phenomenal backing vocal harmonies and new guitarist Stuart Smith’s tasteful and restrained lead work.

The Glenn Frey-driven “Peaceful, Easy Feeling” brought the crowd to its feet in approval, and managed to inject some life into the audience of nearly 10,000 after a couple of slower numbers.

Frey, wearing a lavender suit and alternating between guitar and piano, sang lead vocals on most of The Eagles’ older country-rock favorites. While Eagles’ captain Don Henley stayed behind the drum kit for the balance of the evening, emerging for his solo tunes and a few Eagles classics.

The comfortable, unadorned stage also made room for a four-piece horn section, with section member Al Garth occasionally demonstrating his multi-instrumental prowess on the violin.

Don Felder’s absence was hard to notice musically, simply because his replacement, Smith, was so good. Jeri Mudgett, a concertgoer from the Quad Cities, said she didn’t miss him at all, and added that the show was “The best concert of my life.” Mudgett, who said she paid $95 on eBay for her tenth-row tickets especially enjoyed the concert because, “They played everybody’s hits too, including the James Gang,” she said.

The focal point of the night, visually and musically, was guitarist and vocalist Joe Walsh. Walsh’s red and white pants were almost as loud as his guitar amplifier, and he turned in a fun and energetic performance. It seemed that Joe Walsh was everybody’s favorite, maybe because he seemed to be having the most fun. Lurched over his guitar, Walsh’s unorthodox posture resembled that of a green guitar student. He played, however, like Johnny B. Goode on steroids.

Frey’s flatly delivered “You Belong to the City” was invigorated only by Walsh’s wah-drenched, flailing outro solo. Not to mention Walsh’s “Life’s Been Good” lit up the place, and seemed to be the one point in the evening where the band members relaxed and enjoyed themselves-especially Walsh. Walsh’s light-hearted silliness, he issued a “Whazzz up!” to the crowd in the middle of the guitar solo – and his abandonment of his stage spot to run around and greet the crowd invited genuine smiles from the rest of the band. Even bassist and vocalist Timothy B. Schmit was inspired by Walsh to join in on the stage goofiness. Walsh’s sunny attitude was a much welcome respite from the sometimes staid delivery of the band.

Just when you thought the real guitar-playing was left to Walsh and Smith, Glenn Frey delivered a scorcher in Henley’s tune “Dirty Laundry,” which also featured some choreographed dance work by the members during the triple guitar solo trade-off.

The first of three encores began with “Hotel California,” which began with a solo trumpet introduction, and was flawlessly executed right down to the guitar solo of guitar solos at the end. The only blight to be found in the encores was Henley’s vapid solo tune “All She Wants To Do is Dance,” which didn’t seem to fit with the other songs.

“Desperado” rounded out the evening, and was a fitting finale for an evening well-spent.