Planning on attending the Eagles’ first Australian shows in half-a-decade early next year? Then you’d better make sure you follow the band’s strict concert etiquette guidelines.

In short: no standing, no photography, and keep your damned phone in your pocket.

The concert ‘no-no’s’ come directly from the mouth of Eagles member Don Henley who suggests in an interview with News Corp that the forthcoming Australian leg of their History of the Eagles world tour “could be our last time around,” and Henley doesn’t want fans of the legendary West Coast group to have their experience ruined by smartphones.

“We want people to be in the moment with us and experience the concert through their eyeballs and not a tiny square on a phone,” says Henley, with the band set to deliver three-hour-long, career-spanning setlists to Australian audiences at both indoor arenas and outdoor concerts next February and March.

“We feel everybody who bought a ticket has a right to enjoy the show undisturbed with a view that is unobstructed. We don’t mind people taking a few still photographs but we don’t like people turning the concert into their own personal photo session. We don’t like people texting during the show unless it’s an emergency.” “We want people to be in the moment with us and experience the concert through their eyeballs and not a tiny square on a phone.”

The Eagles drummer/songwriter is hardly the first musician to lament the way that technology is ruining the traditional concert experience but the 66-year-old veteran does admit, “I’m from a different generation, I don’t understand it, it’s not a very pure experience.”

Henley isn’t just opposed to iPhone use “[taking] away from the immediacy of the live performance” but that fan-shot footage turning up on YouTube is a direct act of piracy.

“Videoing a concert with a phone is a violation of our copyright. Google own You Tube. They don’t need any more free content,” he says. “It spoils it for people who are going to come to a show in the future. We’d like for them to experience it for the first time in the audience rather than experience it on a crappy video that sounds horrible. But I don’t think there’s any going back now. People feel so entitled to being able to use their gadgets and post things on the web.”

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So you’re the kind of live music purist that doesn’t have your head buried in your smartphone? Great, but make sure you don’t break the Eagles concert taboo of standing up and rocking out.

“It’s always been puzzling to us that there’s always three or four people in an audience of several thousand who think they have to stand up for the entire show,” Henley complains. “They seem to be completely oblivious to the fact there’s thousands of people behind them who are not standing up because it’s a ballad for Christ’s sake!”

Fans that are up and to-attention during ‘Desperado’ or ‘The Last Resort’ “are a great annoyance to us and to the people behind them,” says the musician. “We have our security people gently tell them to sit down. You pay for your seat, sit in it.”

And you’ll be paying a hefty sum to catch Eagles on their first Australian visit since 2010. Platinum tickets, the best seats in the house, will cost around $670, Gold tickets approximately $260, Silver $165, and the cheapest, Bronze, around $130.

Eagles Australian Tour 2015

Wed 18 February – Perth | Perth Arena (All Ages)
Ticketek.com.au | 132 849

Sun 22 February – Melbourne | Rod Laver Arena (All Ages)
Ticketek.com.au | 132 849

Sat 28 February – Macedon | Hanging Rock (All Ages)
Ticketmaster.com.au | 136 100

Mon 02 March – Sydney | Qantas Credit Union Arena (All Ages)
Ticketek.com.au | 132 849

Wed 04 March – Sydney | Allphones Arena (All Ages)
Ticketek.com.au | 132 849

Sat 07 March – Hunter Valley | Hope Estate (All Ages)
Ticketmaster.com.au | 136 100

Tue 10 March – Brisbane | Entertainment Centre (All Ages)
Ticketek.com.au | 132 849

Sat 14 March – Auckland | Mt Smart Stadium (All Ages)
Ticketmaster.co.nz | 0800 111 999

American Express Card Members pre-sale: Tue 27 May 2pm (local time) to Sat 31 May 5pm (local time) – or until pre-sale allocation is exhausted.
Details www.facebook.com/americanexpress

Frontier Members pre-sale via www.frontiertouring.com/eagles
24 hours from 1pm* AEST Wed 4 June [*start times vary per show – visit site for details] – or until pre-sale allocation is exhausted.

General public on sale from Tuesday 10 June 10am local time.

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