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For my old man, who I took with me to see The Eagles, theirs is the sound forever associated with the blazing summer of 1976.
For me, they're the soundtrack of driving across Florida on family holidays as a kid.
But, to everyone at the Arena for their sold-out gig last night, the Eagles are the sound of musical and harmonic perfection.
They may not all be the lean young rockers they once were, but from the understated outset with Whatever Happened To Saturday Night, through to the epic guitar splutter of the encore Hotel California, they sounded as fresh as they did 42 years ago.
The harmonies have to be heard to be believed: although with Don Henley, Tim Schmidt, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Bernie Leadon there was no shortage of vocalists, their combined voices sounded like a chorus of 100.
Through Peaceful Easy Feeling, Lying Eyes ("this one's for my first wife . . . Plaintiff," as Fry introduced it), New Kid In Town and Best of My Love, there was a melodic melee of guitar sounds, from jangling acoustics to bottle neck electrics, all played through humble 30-watt amps miked up to fill the cavernous venue. There was no shortage of humour either, with Frey describing Walsh as "needing no introduction . . . to law enforcement and hotel staff around the world”.
He duly paid his homage to Liverpool, explaining that without the sounds of this city, he wouldn't have been there last night.
And then went on to play his joyful solo number, Life's Been Good To Me with its blistering guitar licks. Particularly astonishing was that some of the solo lines on tunes like Tequila Sunrise were all done on one six-string fret board, where most musicians would understandably have believed they were played on steel guitar. Such was the mastery on display.
The whole gig was a celebration of life, love and, for the audience of thousands, one of the most accomplished bands ever to take to the stage. The haunting piano of Desperado, the wailing guitar of Hotel California and the sun-baked freeways of Take It Easy made everyone in there want to jump behind the wheel and hit the road.
There's a freedom and abandon to The Eagles' music that no one else can match, and probably never will be able to.
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