When the Eagles began their residency at Las Vegas’ Sphere back in September, they also debuted a Third Encore fan experience at the neighboring Venetian Resort. The space allowed fans to go inside a re-creation of the famed Troubadour venue where the California rockers got their start in the 1970s; legend has it that Don Henley and Glenn Frey met at the West Hollywood club.
This year, Live Nation’s travel and music company Vibee expanded the VIP experience to include a Hotel California pop-up, paying tribute to the band’s 1976 album and its immortal title track, which has opened each Sphere show in epic fashion. Just like the Troubadour re-creation, the Hotel California installation includes memorabilia from the band’s archive, including Joe Walsh’s personal collection of hotel keys, a neon sign from the original Hotel California Tour, and unseen photos from the era.
A hotel lobby desk in the space also doubles as a bar — serving pink champagne on ice, of course — with the “Manager on Duty” listed as Irving Azoff, the band’s real-life manager for the past 50-plus years.
The most interactive piece of the space is three hotel room doors that open to three different moments in the song, with each room number representing the time code of the corresponding lyrics. Room 052 takes you to a “dark desert highway,” with a circa-1970s car dashboard leading the way; room 118 has a “mission bell” hanging above the doorway; and room 354 leads to a spooky mirrored hallway in search of “the passage back to the place I was before.”
On Thursday night (March 20), Dead & Company return to Sphere for their second-round residency, and their own Vibee space has popped back up on the floor above Third Encore. But Eagles fans can make their way back to the Troub and Hotel California when the band returns next month for four more dates.
Earlier this week, Eagles announced even more Sphere dates, with four concerts set for this September — marking their one-year anniversary of first playing the venue. Other Sphere concerts coming this summer: the first residencies for country star Kenny Chesney (starting in May) and pop all-stars the Backstreet Boys.
For more information on Vibee VIP travel packages that include Third Encore access, which also allows fans to buy exclusive merch not available at the concerts, click here. And for your first look inside the Hotel California pop-up, see the photos below.
