Keith Thoma handles Don Henley's duties in the Eagles tribute band 7 Bridges, which performs Friday at Robins Theatre. (Submitted photo / Brenda Long)

The band 7 Bridges was looking forward to playing the Robins Theatre.

This isn’t how the guys imagined it.

“(River Rock at the Amp) is one of our most favorite gigs we get to play every year,” drummer and vocalist Keith Thoma said. “We love Kenny (Haidaris) and all the guys at Sunrise (Entertainment). They always treat us so well. We’ve been excited to play the Robins ever since they opened.”

Instead of playing for the large crowd the Eagles tribute band is used to locally, Friday’s gig will be limited to about 210 people (15 percent of the downtown Warren theater’s capacity) due to COVID-19 restrictions.

It’s one of three cities the band will play this week (Akron tonight and Warren, Pa., on Saturday). Those three dates will be 25 percent of the band’s performances in 2020.

“Normally at this time of year, we’d have played 85, 95 shows,” Thoma said. “We just had a Christmas party postpone, so at the end of the year we’ll have 12 shows. We truly feel lucky that we’re able to be out playing at all. We’re at the size and scale where we’re not playing the big, giant arenas, and the smaller places can still do things with social distancing. We may have to play two shows in a day, but at least we can still play.

“And the people are happy to be there. They’re trying to be as loud as possible and squeeze as much fun out of that 90 minutes that they can.”

The band made a few adjustments — no more meet-and-greets; if someone wants a piece of merchandise signed, it’s brought back to the band and then back out to the customer — but it’s not that much different once the show starts.

“We’d love to have more people, but we have to be respectful of the laws and the mandates right now,” he said. “We’d rather plan for 300 than sitting at home not playing for anyone.”

During the downtime, some of the guys have worked on side projects with other bands, and the Nashville-based act has maintained regular rehearsals.

“It keeps us on our toes,” Thoma said. “If we go 30 days between shows, we want to make sure we’re just as on fire at the next show as the one 30 days ago … We’re making sure we keep our chops up in case we get the go ahead that we can have a show next week. The mandates keep changing, day by day, week by week.”

Thoma has been handling Don Henley’s parts in 7 Bridges since the band started a dozen years ago with former members from Tequila Sunrise, another Eagles tribute act. Former bandleader Jason Manning decided a couple of years ago that he wanted to get off the road, and another member wanted to do other things. There was talk of disbanding, but Thoma and keyboard player Vern Roop, another founding member, decided to continue.

“Vern and I decided people still want to hear this music, and we live in Nashville, home to some of the world’s greatest musicians,” he said. “There’s no reason to quit. We found some new members and kept it going.”

They are joined in the current lineup by Richie Scholl, who handles Joe Walsh’s parts on guitar and vocals; Jay Sweet, who handles Glenn Frey’s vocals and guitar; Brian Franklin, who takes care of Don Felder’s guitar parts; and Brandon Roberts, who plays bass and sings the parts originally recorded by Randy Meisner and Timothy B. Schmit.

While they certainly aren’t the only Eagles tribute act, Thoma said they are the only Eagles tribute act in which the division of labor is the same as in the real band. The drummer keeping the beat also handles Henley’s vocals; the bass player also sings the Schmit’s high harmonies.

“We want it to sound just like the record,” Thoma said.

“New Kid in Town” is one of the songs where that is particularly difficult.

“Vocally, there are so many different parts. Knowing who needs to sing where and who doesn’t need to sing in a certain part to leave space, there so much more to it than just making sure the notes are right.”

WHO: 7 Bridges (Eagles tribute band)

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Robins Theatre, 160 E. Market St., Warren.

HOW MUCH: $25. The show is sold out online, but limited tickets are available at Sunrise Inn, Warren