(Credit: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Just last month, Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh performed with his legendary rock band at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. But this weekend, Walsh returned to the stage for a very different kind of performance.
At Otatara Pa, a Maori hill country on the Tutekuri River in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, Walsh joined a group of music students and performed in front of an audience of 300 people. That place in particular has a special meaning for the guitarist, and is where he had his inspiration.
While touring with New Zealand reggae band the Herbs in 1989, Walsh realized he needed to quit alcohol and drugs. Since that moment, Walsh’s life has greatly improved and Hawke’s Bay continues to hold a special place in his heart.
During his April 21 performance, Walsh told the crowd: “What happened to me was a kind of spiritual awakening. The spirits of this place spoke to me and told me who I had become.”
“And the spirit that was here gave me the strength to get through everything. I took it back to the States and quit drinking and drugs,” the guitarist added. Ms Walsh also said she started “helping people” with similar problems to her own and soon “started paying less attention to fame and having fun spending money.”
Mr. Walsh lost his “perspective” in the 1980s, but regained it in New Zealand. He said, “I’ve been sober for 30 years now, and that’s because I got here, and there’s such a good energy and spirit where we are now.” Concludes “Revelation.”
The Eagles guitarist has previously spoken about his addiction issues in interviews. signboard. “My higher powers became vodka and cocaine. I burned all my bridges,” he said. “No one wanted to work with me. I was angry. I became this godless abomination.”
Walsh admitted that he turned to alcohol to relieve the pressure of stage fright. After hitting rock bottom and having an epiphany in New Zealand, Mr Walsh went through a period of recovery and quit drinking in 1993.
He admitted in another interview that his addiction was a “disease.” rolling stone He then explained how he had lost several friends to this struggle. “It’s going to get worse than you can imagine, it’s going to crash and burn and it’s going to get worse,” Walsh said. “Many of my peers died before they hit rock bottom. They hit rock bottom before they died.”
