March 26, 2024
Star Walsh returns to site of unhooking
Former Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh will hold a concert next month at a Hawke’s Bay pa site where he says he had an epiphany which lead to breaking his addiction to alcohol and drugs.
Local identity Denis O’Reilly, who met the star in 1989 when he was touring with Herbs, says the April 21 concert at Ōtātara Pā above Taradale will be hosted by Frankie Stevens and feature local student artists.
He says when he took Walsh to the site during that tour, kaumatua Tipu Tareha pressed a carved matau or fishhook into his hand.
“We were up in front of Turauwha’s old house on the ātea there and you could look right out over Te Matau ā Maui and I was explaining to Joe about all this stuff. Something happened and this matau became like a talisman to him and when he went back to the States he went to AA and started his long journey to recovery,” Mr O’Reilly says.
On subsequent tours Joe Walsh has combined music with sharing his story of recovery.