Eaton's return to the audience began after this retreat time. In late 1978, he frequently played in the moonlight near Arcosanti, Paolo Soleri’s experimental community in Central Arizona. Interested people collected to listen to these sessions. Eaton's awareness of the acoustic properties of various spaces, which grew out of his instrument building, led him to stage impromptu concerts in a variety of improbable locations. Handwritten signs promoted events at the Arizona Sand and Gravel Building, the Central Arizona Project Siphon Tunnel at Granite Reef Dam, and the Monroe Street Civic Building, culminating in 1980 with the Sunset Moonrise Concert on South Mountain, the beginning of his formal performance career.

For the following 22 years, Eaton has explored the ways people can be brought to interact with music. Venues for his performances have ranged from intimate music settings to concert halls with a full chamber orchestra behind him, to outdoor amphitheaters with audiences of thousands. He has composed, improvised, collaborated, lyricized and scat sung. Solo performances have alternated with group appearances.