Don Henley has shot down his own suggestion that the Eagles could return with the late Glenn Frey’s son in his father’s place.
And he’s added that he should never have made the comment at all.
The band staged a tribute to Frey, who died in January, at the 2016 Grammy awards the following month. Jackson Brown took the late co-founder’s position.
In March Henley described the show as the Eagles’ “final farewell” and added: “I don’t think you’ll see us performing again.” But in September he said there was a possibility that Deacon Frey could take part in another round of shows.
Now Henley tells the Washington Post: “I don’t see how we could go out and play without the guy who started the band.
“It would just seem like greed or something. It would seem like a desperate thing.”
He says of his recent comments: “It really pissed me off, because I hadn’t talked to the kid about it, or his mother. It’s just another lesson in keeping my mouth shut.”
But Browne hopes Henley might yet reconsider, like he did before the Eagles reunited for their Hell Freezes Over tour in 1994.
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“This is a great band even if it went on without Glenn,” Browne says. “I see how the band could go forward.”
Manager Irving Azoff adds: “I think Henley was the guy that came up with the words ‘when Hell freezes over.’ If Hell can freeze over, pigs can fly – I’d never say never.”
Surviving Eagles Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B Schmit will be honoured at the Kennedy Center in Washington on December 4, along with Frey. Don Felder, Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon will not be included.
