I got a not-so-peaceful, uneasy feeling as the quintessential '70s southern California rock band The Eagles walked on stage last night at the Molson Amphitheatre. The same fake rumbling thunder and lightning greeted their entrance just like when the first Hell Freezes Over Tour came to the CNE for the first time in 1994.

  Then there were the same cheesy surroundings, right down to the cardboard-looking, planet-like set pieces.

  Then the same first five songs from Hotel California - the title track, Victim Of Love, New Kid In Town, Wasted Time and Pretty Maids All In A Row.

  I was really starting to think it was going to be nothing more than Hell Freezes Over Again and Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Don Felder, and Timothy B. Schmit hadn't thought it important enough to change their act.

  But then they finally did. Breaking away from 1994's set list with Peaceful Easy Feeling - wouldn't you know it? - followed by I Can't Tell You Why.

  And when Walsh played his 1992 anthem, Ordinary Average Guy, wearing a tall, balloon hat, and aided by a slide show on one of the two large video screens which showed him bowling, eating and picking up dry cleaning, it appeared the veteran rockers (Frey is 47 and the rest are 48) were finally starting to have some fun.

  Sure, it was silly but it broke the monotony of the first half-hour. As did the next two songs, Lyin' Eyes and One Of These Nights.

  "Ahhhh, Toronto," said Frey, who did most of the talking throughout the night on centre stage.

  "We just finished eight days in New York City and boy are we glad to be here."

  The sold-out crowd of 16,000 seemed equally happy. Especially since the band had asked that the top reserved ticket price of $100 be dropped to $85.50 shortly after the show was announced.

  But it was during the concert's second half - after a 15-minute break - that The Eagles finally hit their stride, initially with an acoustic set that saw all five members at the front of the stage as they played Tequila Sunrise, Walsh's Help Me Through The Night, Schmit's Love Will Keep Us Alive and Henley's chart-topping solo hit Heart Of The Matter.

  Frey's mother, who took the train up from Detroit and was in the audience (her son announced her early on), must have been proud.

  The five went electric again and so did the crowd for Frey's solo hits You Belong To The City, which started with a long but wonderul sax solo by one of their four backup musicians and The Heat Is On. Henley's The Boys Of Summer and Dirty Laundry also had people on their feet.

  Now if they could just get rid of that cheap-looking set and make some changes to that first act. They might have a future.

  The Toronto show was one of eight North American dates.  

SUN RATING: 4 OUT OF 5