With the Eagles on a break, Joe Walsh ventured Down Under to New Zealand for a speaking engagement this Sunday, Joe Walsh Sunday - Celebrating Life with the Legendary Eagles Guitarist.
In 1989, Walsh paid a visit to a village in Hawke’s Bay where he says he had an epiphany that led him to becoming sober.
This is his third visit to the site, and while there in 2015 he said, "I was in trouble.
“When you get successful at something, and you’re young, it’s easy to lose your perspective. It’s easy to forget what you were doing that got you successful. And that happened to me.
“I started experimenting with alcohol and drugs and I got dependent on alcohol and drugs, and very slowly alcohol and drugs will convince you that you can’t do anything without it, and that is what happened to me.”
Denis O’Reilly, a local community leader and friend of Walsh, organized Sunday's speaking engagement.
“It’s a break for him after an intensive year touring," says O'Reilly. He just loves it here. I figure that because of our ages it will be his last visit so I want to make sure it’s a good one.
“There is a crew of recovering or former users who go up Ōtātara every Sunday as a commitment to maintain their sobriety and I want to keep fostering the notion of Ōtātara as being a special place for healing and recovery.”
Walsh, 76, will also perform a few songs.
The Eagles return to the road on May 31st in Manchester, England.