There are a whole host of tribute bands around these days, paying homage to a variety of artistes. One that I have heard good things about, The Illegal Eagles, visited Dunfermline’s Alhambra Theatre as part of there current tour, so keen to check them out I, along with around 500 others, turned out in good time to check them out for themselves.

Now where I have always liked the Eagles music, I cannot be described as a fanatic. I have several early albums, but they are not constantly played, yet the classics such as Hotel California, Lyin’ Eyes and the like are fairly regular radio fair, so it wasn’t like the music was going to be unfamiliar.

Sharp on opening time the five ‘Illegals’ hit the stage, which was ordained with a whole collection of guitars, mandolins, drums, and keyboards and started off the night with quality recreations of oh so many well tried an tested numbers for the first half lasting for an hour. They were so faithfully accurate in interpretation, if one closed one’s eyes you could image you were back in the 1970’s.

The ‘Illegal’s’ are Phil Aldridge, drums and vocals, Darin Murray, bass and vocals, Keith Atack, guitar, keyboards and vocals, Jeff Green, guitars and vocals and new boy Garreth Hicklin lead vocals, guitars, mandolin, drums and keyboards who is undoubtedly a real find for the band given his versatility and talent.

Following the interval Greatest Hits part two took place with hit after hit, classic after classic, even a couple of the ‘solo hits’ as well were presented to the adoring crowd. Seventy-five minutes in the second half was by no means enough for all, and of course an encore was the inevitable conclusion to the evening.

The Illegal Eagles have been together for 14 years, and they hope to continue for a while yet. To check out on their plans for the future why not check out their website www.illegaleagles.com . Also for future gigs at Dunfermline’s Alhambra Theatre their website can be found at www.alhambradunfermline.com