The Eagles, James Taylor, and Rod Stewart live at the O2 and the RDS

Over the space of a few days, Dublin welcomed three acts who reached the pinnacle of commercial success in the 1970s – and are still wooing the crowds in impressive numbers. The Eagles are undoubtedly the biggest draw of the lot and their RDS show was bathed in warm evening sunshine. Often unfairly accused of lacklustre live shows (“loitering onstage” was the term famously used) it’s hard not to be swept away by the lush harmonies of ‘Take It Easy’, ‘Lying Eyes’ and ‘Take It To The Limit’.

Still, you get the impression that they’re not entirely satisfied with simply trawling through the hits: ‘Hotel California’ was dispatched early on, there was no ‘New Kid In Town’ or ‘Tequila Sunrise’, and the set contained more than a few cuts from their latest album, Long Road Out of Eden. On the other hand, there was still room for Don Henley’s ‘80s solo hit, ‘Boys of Summer’ and Joe Walsh’s satire on stardom, ‘Life’s Been Good’. Other highlights included Timothy B Schmidt’s blue-eyed and soulful ‘I Can’t Tell You Why’ and the laid-back ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’. And when Henley took the lead vocal on the encore rendition of ‘Desperado' it was hard not to feel a lump in the throat.

James Taylor is the classic confessional ‘70s singer-songwriter, and he’s been pretty much doing the same thing ever since first breaking through with Sweet Baby James in (gulp) 1970. He played several songs from his debut, including ‘Country Road’, which featured the legendary Steve Gadd on drums. In comparison, excerpts from his recent covers album were a tad bland. However, he more than made up for it with the gorgeous ‘Carolina On My Mind’, Carole King’s ‘You’ve Got A Friend’, his take on Buddy Holly’s ‘Everyday’ and Marvin Gaye’s ‘How Sweet It Is’. A class act, then, with great between-song banter (his riposte to an indecipherable heckler: ‘What? Oh sorry, I thought you were talking to me.”)

Rod Stewart is the consummate entertainer, and makes pretenders like Robbie Williams seem like pale imitations. Though he hasn’t released a decent album in ages, he somehow manages to get by on charisma, carefully-chosen covers, and that voice. With a cracking band and a trio of sassy soulful, female backing singers, he had the crowd in the palm of his hands for the entire show. There was no room for ‘Reason to Believe’ or ‘Have I Told You Lately’. Still, we got ‘You Wear It Well’, ‘This Ole Heart of Mine’, ‘Twisting The Night Away’ and his take on Tom Waits’ ‘Downtown Train’, while the encores inevitably included ‘Maggie May’ and ‘Sailing’. Rod looked fantastic too – easily a decade younger than his 62 years. Some guys have all the luck.