I've covered concerts at Springfest, Sunfest and now Bikefest, so now my trifecta here in town is complete. After seeing Don Felder in early June opening up for the Foreigner/Styx summer tour, I knew it would be a longer set and was curious what new songs he'd play. The band took the stage first, a well seasoned group of musicians with many accomplishments featuring Shem von Schroeck on bass, Timothy Drury on keyboards, Greg Suran on guitar and Scott Devers on drums. Finally Don Felder comes out with his signature double-neck white Gibson SG and starts right in on the intro to "Hotel California," the song that he had closed with on the Foreigner/Styx tour in the summer with Tommy Shaw helping on the song. Then it was "Already Gone" and "One of These Nights" after which he asked the crowd if they were into hearing a blues song, bringing on a rousing applause as the band broke out a Stevie Ray Vaughan cover of "Pride & Joy." Felder, who wrote a tell-all book after the Eagles fired him, kept referring to his old band through the night as "The Seagulls." and I wish I had a clue on this one. He did a great job of playing their old hits such as “Victim of Love," "Peaceful Easy Feeling" and "Tequila Sunrise," a song he said was written from a night of drinking "Cuervo Gold." Felder then told us that "Seven Bridges Road" was a song that they used back stage as a vocal warm up before Eagles shows and  that got just about the biggest applause of the night.
        He next played "Those Shoes" with the "talk-box" guitar lines and a heavy dose of bass making this sound just as it did in the late ‘70s. And from Felder's 2012 solo album, Road To Forever, came "Girls In Black," and from the animated film of 1981 was "Heavy Metal" (Takin' A Ride) to which, surprisingly, most people sang along. Now as Felder says "Let's Keep this Party Rocking," "The Long Run" and "Witchy Woman" which he dedicated to Tiger Woods for unknown reasons. Felder looked great and had a smile from ear to ear all night long with a good responses from the crowd, even though the night had been dampened by some nasty rain storms moving through our area. Then it was "Heartache Tonight" and "Life in the Fast Lane" to close out their first set. As the crowd was cheering for one more - one more, they got just that as the band returned to end their 75-minute set with "Take it Easy" to bring OC Bikefest Saturday night to a close. I hope Don Felder and band do tour more often as this and the June show I saw was the first from when I had last seen him with the Eagles on their "Hell Freezes Over" Tour at the world famous Spectrum in Phila., Pa. This guy sounds great and with such a great touring band that he deserves more than he got from his old bandmates, "The Seagulls."
– Gary Crouthamel - Concert Photojournlaist