By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
While rain delays are something more common in baseball, fans of The Eagles had to wait an extra half hour before tribute band 7 Bridges took the stage to close out the Bratwurst Festival at the FC Bank Stage Saturday night.
While The Dude from “The Big Lebowski” was nowhere to be found in the crowd, a few people took shelter under umbrellas and awnings to wait for a faux Eagles band which sounded similar to the original.
Mother and daughter Carla and Amy Denton won tickets for the show through a contest during August’s First Friday event. Carla explained that she came along to the show with her daughter.
“She likes the Eagles and she won the tickets, so mom came along,” Carla said.
“She’s my best friend. It is nice when your mom is your best friend,” Amy added. “I always liked the Eagles and I wanted to see them anyway, but winning the tickets was icing on the cake.”
While Hotel California is Amy’s favorite Eagles song, Carla explained that they were a little past her time.
“They were past my era, but when the kids all listened to them I listened to them,” Carla said.
“She had no choice in the car, it was like, ‘Here put it on this,’” Amy interjected. “My kids are the same way though, but they love everything from big band, to rock, to rap. My son plays Donny Osmond and Frank Sinatra in the basement sometimes. We all just have a love of music and we got it from her.”
Terra Davie and Deb Morich were in town to visit family and to enjoy the show.
“We just came back to hang out with our family. My brother is back from Arizona to visit,” Davie said. “We are originally from Galion, but we haven’t been to the festival in a long time.”
With the crowd dwindling down from the rains, 7 Bridges took the stage opening with “Heartache Tonight.” There wasn’t any heartache at the concert, and as the band continued to play, more people started to come out to the stage to hear music from yesteryear.
The band didn’t perform just Eagles covers, as a few of the members’ from the Eagles solo works made their way into the set early on with Joe Walsh’s “Life’s Been Good.” After performing a slower Eagles number, the band dedicated their next song of the evening to all of the witchy women in the crowd, before going into the Eagles’ early hit about Stevie Nicks, “Witchy Woman.”
As 7 Bridges continued into the night they played numerous hits from the band including “Desperado,” “New Kid in Town,” and “One of These Nights.” Closing out the night the band brought the house down with one of the Eagles most popular songs, “Hotel California.” Before 7 Bridges left the stage, the final tune they played wasn’t Eagles related, as they rocked out Ohio’s state rock and roll song, “Hang on Sloopy.”
Opening the show at 7:30 p.m. was the Jessica Hannan band.