Astonishingly, it’s now more than 40 years since the Eagles released their debut album. The first time around, they made music together for about a decade before famously disintegrating amid much acrimony.

The best-known Eagles tribute band, the Illegal Eagles, told us proudly a couple of times on Saturday night that they’ve been playing for 18 years. Practice makes perfect, as they say, and that was obvious from start to finish at the Regent.

I’ll be honest, tribute bands aren’t really my thing, but I’ll make an exception for the Illegal Eagles. They are superbly multi-talented musicians, seemingly switching from one instrument to another at will. The harmonies – so crucial with most Eagles songs – were superb.

The crowd pleasers just kept on coming, from early hits right up to tracks from the Eagles’ most recent studio album, Long Road Out Of Eden. The biggest cheers, of course, were reserved for Hotel California, but for me the highlight was their rendition of the much earlier, haunting Witchy Woman.

As someone said to me: “If you closed your eyes, it could have been the real thing.’’ Now that really is the ultimate tribute.

Terry Hunt