In Long Run, Eagles Reunion Worth Wait : Pop music: The band’s return after 14 years brings fans from ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ to life in the memory lane.

They flew in from as far as Kentucky and Alaska. Some came prepared to drop $500 for a seat. And just about everyone was stoked for a trip down memory lane as the Eagles launched their historic reunion tour Friday at Irvine Meadows, their first show in 14 years.

“Their lyrics have just keyed in to special times in my life. I’m a big music fan, but no other band seems to have that connection for me,” said Julie Gregory, 33, a Kentucky attorney who flew thousands of miles to make opening night and considered the journey a pilgrimage of sorts.

“I wanted to do opening night. I figured if there was going to be something magical, tonight would be it,” she said. “My mother thinks I’m crazy, but my boss is about 45 years old, and he wishes he were here.”

Amid special effects of thunder and lightning, the Eagles opened to the cheers of 15,000 fans with a rendition of “Hotel California.”

“Big time rock ‘n’ roll, just like I remember it,” said Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey during a pause early in the show.

Frey noted that he wore his loose-fitting orange shirt in honor of Orange County. He and the other Eagles were typically dressed down, most of them wearing jeans, boots or sneakers. They played against a set depicting a desert with rock outcroppings and with props that appeared to be rusted girders of an abandoned mine.

For fans, the familiar sounds were the stuff of nostalgia.

Eagles time began for Gregory at age 15, cruising the streets of Henderson, Ky., and blasting “New Kid in Town.” When she got word of ticket sales, she placed an emergency call to a friend in Santa Monica and told him to spend as much as five bills to get her in. To her relief, she got a decent loge seat for $190.

To Gina Glidewell, 30, who left home in Playa del Rey for the concert at 4 p.m. with her husband, Jeff, and found two scalped tickets for $250 for both, the 1970s rock fixtures are a soothing reminder of what life used to be.

“First boyfriends, eight-track cartridges--that’s exactly what it brings back for me. Life was simple and there were no traffic jams,” she said of her early Eagles memories.

The Eagles’ concert was the band’s first touring date since its 1980 breakup. The first of five shows at Irvine Meadows, it launched the five members on a lucrative return flight that is scheduled to continue until Oct. 8, when the Eagles will return to Southern California for a concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

The concert snarled traffic on the San Diego Freeway, and a crowd of thousands hovered outside the gates as early as two hours before show time, clutching sleeping bags and finishing off six-packs of beer.

Leslie Rex, 26, of Mojave, came prepared with a cardboard drink holder poised to haul four beers up the hill to the general seating area, and pair of binoculars to train on the heroes of her teen years.

“It’s the concert to end all concerts. We love the Eagles,” said Rex, who dialed her phone so frantically in the 10 minutes after tickets went on sale that she says it went dead and she had to run to a friend’s house to keep trying. “My ultimate thing is to see Don Henley sing ‘Boys of Summer.’ ”

Robert Berman, 30, flew in from Seattle with his friend, Mike Contreras, 30, to hook up with Steve Acosta, an old friend.

“We’re on a mission,” Berman said.

“The Eagles are so happening that I’m getting my aunt a shirt, and she’s 47,” added Acosta, 29, of Victorville.

At 6:50 p.m., the long line of people waiting to be let onto the lawn of the Irvine Meadows were allowed to make a dash for a spot.

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The crowd spanned several generations.

“I’m here to see the Eagles because it’s their first concert in 14 years. My parents listen to them all the time,” said Aaron King, 14, of Newport Beach, who came with his parents and a group of friends.

Ticket prices for the Irvine shows are unprecedented for a non-charity rock concert: $115 for orchestra seats, $75 for loge and terrace seating, and $35 for a spot on the lawn (Barbra Streisand, whose roots are in the Broadway-style pop-diva tradition and not rock ‘n’ roll, commands ticket prices of $350, $125 and $50 on her current tour, which resumes Thursday at The Pond of Anaheim).

High prices didn’t prevent the Eagles from instantly selling out their five shows at Irvine. Playing to 15,000 people each night, they figure to gross $1 million per night from ticket sales alone during their stand at Irvine.

Founded in 1972 by original members Don Henley and Glenn Frey, the Eagles were one of the ruling rock bands of the 1970s, with hits including “Desperado,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” “Hotel California” and “One of These Nights.”

Band members have cited such factors as burnout, drug abuse and the pressure of trying to top themselves commercially and creatively as reasons for their breakup.

The Eagles dubbed their return tour “Hell Freezes Over,” a reference to how unlikely it once seemed that the rifts that split the members apart would ever heal. As it became apparent Friday night that the 1994 Eagles were able to render sharp versions of the hits that made them one of the leading bands of 1970s rock, one pleased onlooker was the band’s manager, Irving Azoff.

A longtime proponent of the reunion, Azoff strolled the isles and could be heard gleefully saying, “They sound amazing.”

* SOARING MUSICIANSHIP

The Eagles easily pass Test One Friday night in their reunion campaign. Robert Hilburn reviews. B14