What’s driven Joe Walsh to put on nine VetsAid benefit concerts during the past nine years? “If I didn’t do stuff like this, I’d have to get a job — and that’s terrifying,” he tells Billboard via Zoom from Wichita, Kan., his birthplace – and also where the ninth VetsAid show takes place this Saturday (Nov. 15).
This year’s lineup features Walsh along with Eagles bandmate Vince Gill, Nathaniel Rateliff, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, and Ryan Bingham & the Texas Gentlemen. Taking place at the INTRUST Bank Arena, the concert—which raises money to benefit regional veterans organizations in Kansas—also livestreams via veeps.com.
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VetsAid has raised more than $4 million since its inaugural concert in 2017.
“I’m resonant with all that,” says Walsh, a Gold Star family member whose father, Robert Fidler, died in active duty during 1949 while on air maneuvers over Okinawa, Japan. “Because I play around the country I have consistently bumped into military people, and I just thought, ‘Y’know what? I can make a difference here.’ We don’t have an office in Washington or anything like that; we go to local places that are hubs for vets and we look at what they’ve got going and what’s vet-run, what’s fund-short, and we fund them to keep them going. It’s working it on the streets, but I have made a difference,” he says.
“It’s different in every place we go, but it’s really effective that way. To show up and play for vets, to get them all together and to realize that they’re not alone is huge. And to realize that people care, especially musicians, is huge.”
Walsh was in Wichita on Veteran’s Day, in fact, to make a “profound” visit to meet veterans at the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center. “For somebody to show up and visit is a big thing for a lot of them,” says Walsh, who will have a Wichita street named in his honor on Friday. “They’re just there. They have no choice. (The visit) made a lot of guys happy. We heard some great stories; some of the stuff I heard there’s songs in. This is salt of the earth America, no politics. They put themselves in harm’s way and…whoo! It’s profound.”
In addition to the concert, Walsh will be further funding VetsAid next month by teaming with Julien’s Auctions for Life’s Been Good, selling off more than 800 items on Dec. 16-17 at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. Prior to that nearly two dozen of the pieces will be on exhibit through Dec. 3 at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City’s Times Square. The lots include instruments, amplifiers, cars, stage outfits and more — even Ham radios that Walsh, an avowed enthusiast, has used over the years.
Among the noteworthy items are: the API console from the Record Plant mobile recording truck that’s recorded live performances by Eagles, the Rolling Stones, Metallica, Green Day, Michael Jackson and many more; a 2013 McLaren MP4-12C Spider vehicle; the Moschino-designed brick suit that Walsh wore for Eagles Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1998; and vintage guitars Walsh used on some of his best-known recordings.
“I have too much stuff!” Walsh proclaims. “We all collect stuff. It’s human nature. I have stuff on top of stuff, and that top layer I decided to get rid of. Some of it’s painful to give up, but I don’t use a lot of it. It’s just my stuff. It’s hard to know what to throw out, but I got it done, and we’re gonna auction it. There’s something there for everybody — and you get a good chance to see how nuts I am.”
After a holiday break, meanwhile, Walsh returns to Eagles for another dozen shows at Sphere in Las Vegas during the first three months of 2026. The recently announced March dates have been deemed the “final” shows for the year, but Walsh — who marked 50 years this year since joining the band — maintains that, “I do know we’re not done yet. We’re gonna look at the summer. I don’t know if we can lay anywhere if it isn’t the Sphere, but I think we can. But for the beginning of next year, we know what to do.”
He adds that playing the venue is unlike anything he’s ever done before. “It’s a whole different world,” Walsh explains. “One thing we learned was that everything we know, all of us collectively, has nothing to do with the Sphere. You have to learn it. I asked (U2’s) Edge, and he said, ‘Well, good luck. You’re not gonna like it, but you’ll get used to it. Just give it time,’ and he was so right. It’s an experience I can’t explain. You’re in it. You’re in the show. You’re in whatever’s on the screen — and we can’t watch it. I tried to watch for a little bit, and it’s like, ‘Look how big my nose is!’ and then I was playing the wrong song. So we have to look ahead and focus on it.
“But once you get it, so many people come out of there, and they’re happy. Music is a good thing nowadays; people who don’t agree can sit down and have a great time and go home happy, and that’s what America needs right now.”
Alongside Eagles and VetsAid, Walsh is also serving as a Mega Mentor on The Voice, where he’s enjoying his largely behind-the-scenes role. “I’ve got a great slot there, which is the background,” he says. “Being a judge, I don’t know, but being a mentor and hearing these people get ready to perform and just giving them assurance and a few suggestions, that really makes a huge difference. I can help them go out and kick ass. I know what not to do, and sometimes that’s better advice than what to do.”
He adds that the whole experience “has been really great” and dubs judge Reba McEntire “a monster” – meant as a compliment.
Walsh also has his sights set on making new music in the new year, his first since Analog Man in 2012. “I’ve been writing for a long time,” he says, “but the phone keeps ringing with more Eagles shows. I’ve got stuff, like, three-quarters written. I need a producer to come in and tell me what I’ve done. But I’m gonna put some music out next year.”
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