The Fast Lane Tribute – 1.25.25 Boulton Center

I sat backstage with the band as they continued rehearsing a few songs before they hit the stage. As they warmed up their vocals, I was reminded of the day I sat in Audio Honors class with Ed Mashal. As Audio Engineer for Hotel California, The Long Run and other artists, we were privy to his collection of “track sheets” and quite a bit of other private memorabilia! One day he brought in an album, showcasing behind the scenes and antics of The Eagles. Music Producer extraordinaire, Bill Szymczyk was an avid believer in constantly “rolling tape” and each year he would put together an album consisting of those antics from the studio. Ed put the album on the platter in the studio and played us a track called “Sucking Lemons”. The entire track was nothing but Don Henley and Glenn Frey sucking on lemons as they warmed up their vocals!

Clearly everyone has their own routines; whatever works, right?

The Fast Lane Tribute is the ultimate Eagles tribute band on Long Island bringing the talents of Jo Jo Salucci on vocals, J.D. Leonard on guitar/vocals, Steve Ronsen on guitar/vocals/talk box, David Glatter on Guitar, Matt Miller on Drums, John Carey on bass and comic of the band, Mike Jewell on Keys, but no matter how they warmed up their vocals, it clearly works! Opening their first of two sets was “Tequila Sunrise” followed by a blistering rendition of “Those Shoes” with Steve Ronsen highlighting his “talk box” expertise! It was quickly heating up on this frigid winter night!

The first set lasted nearly an hour before taking a 15 minute break and began their second set with the Randy Meisner classic, “Take it to the Limit” with J.D. Leonard on vocals. Other such classics would include, of course, “Fast Lane”, “One of These Nights”, “Already Gone” and if “Those Shoes” wasnt enough to satisfy our listening palette, Mr Ronsen pulled out his talk box once again for “Rocky Mountain Way”!

The subtlety hidden gem that is the white SG Double neck, worldly recognised as THE Hotel California guitar was brought out from Dave’s arsenal of guitars and began the famous 12-string intro to one of the world’s most popular songs and to close out the second set was “How Long”! As for the encore, Mr Jewell showcased his keyboard talents before segueing into “Desperado” with the night closing out with the timeless classic “Take it Easy”.

Although they played for nearly two hours, and a catalog of such great music, they could’ve easily play for another 2 hours. A few songs that I would love to hear from them are “Lyin’ Eyes”, “Wasted Time”, “The Best of My Love”, and with their perfect harmonies, “Seven Bridges Road”. But what do I know…?

What I do know is that they seem to get better everytime I hear them, perhaps the next time I see them, theyll try the ole “sucking lemons” trick and sound even better!

Here are a few highlights from their performance.