The Eagles performed live for the first time in April 1994 after a fourteen-year-long hiatus. Their reunion album’s name was in reference to Don Henley’s quote after the band’s breakup in 1980, when he commented that they would only play together again “when Hell freezes over”. Recorded at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California for an MTV special, the live sessions produced eleven tracks for the album, including a new acoustic version of “Hotel California”.

Eagles: Hell Freezes Over

The show features some great light and sound effects apart from the great music that Eagles is renowned for. The 'five-part' harmony song, "Hole in the World" elicits a great crowd participation with the audience providing a 'clap rhythm' as the band sings. The song "Life's Been Good" features some antics by Joe Walsh and Frey with them staging a mock rivalry on stage and the latter having a hearty laugh at the former. The song also features a 'helmet cam' session where the crowd gets to see what the camera on Walsh's helmet points at. Also, the songs "The Boys of Summer" and "Hotel California" feature the first officially documented use by the Eagles of a drum machine in a live performance; in particular, during "Hotel California", a pre-programmed track is used to simulate the muted guitar strums which provide a steady beat on the original studio recording of the song, and which are absent from all of the previous live performances of it.