‘This Is Very Different From the Sphere’: Eagles’ Full Setlist for 2026 New Orleans Jazz Fest
The country rock vets played to a sold-out & sunshiny festival crowd as they returned to the fest for the first time since 2012.
Black News 
It didn’t take Eagles legend Don Henley too long during the band’s day 2 set headlining the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival to acknowledge just how different the environment was to their current home of Las Vegas.
“This is very different from the Sphere,” Henley quipped to laughs and cheers from the daytime New Orleans crowd, who were very grateful to be under blue skies and sunshine on Saturday (May 2) versus the two previous days of rain and muddy fields at Jazz Fest. “We got some sunshine up in here,” Henley added — and unlike at the state-of-the-art Vegas venue where the Eagles have been playing since September 2024, it wasn’t a life-size sun being projected on floor-to-ceiling screens behind them; it was the real deal.
The weather lent itself to the easy, breezy vibes of the Eagles’ greatest-hits set, where fans got to listen to “Take It Easy” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling” from the comfort of the Big Easy.
In a pivot from their Sphere set, the Eagles returned to their traditional opening number of “Seven Bridges Road” instead of the bombastic Vegas opener of “Hotel California,” which instead kicked off the final three songs of the fest. And about those final songs: The most notable omission from the setlist was “Desperado,” the title track from their 1973 album, and when the band wrapped up about 25 minutes earlier than the schedule had promised, fans were hopeful they might return for the Henley ballad — but the gear being broken down behind them proved otherwise.
But rest easy: Fans got a robust 19 songs from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers. “We’ve been playing these songs for you for about 53 years now, and we hope to continue to do that,” Henley said onstage. And most importantly, the sold-out crowd got sunshine.
Below, find the full setlist from the Eagles’ headlining set at the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival — their first time back at Jazz Fest since 2012.
