The Eagles played the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on November 12th and De Doelen in Rotterdam on the 13th. The group also received an award and took a set of famous photos.

The reviews presented here are in Dutch. For each, I will provide highlights and a rough translation.

The shows in the Netherlands were preceded by a week-long tour of England opening for Neil Young & Crazy Horse. This was the group’s second visit to the Netherlands in 1973. In March, they played the Concertgebouw, as well as the Popgala event in Voorburg.

Announcement in Dutch newspaper for the Eagles concerts in Amsterdam and Rotterdam,
Tubantia, October 26, 1973

Translation:
(From our pop editors) The successful American pop group The Eagles will perform two concerts in the Netherlands in November . On November 12, a performance in the evening at 8.15 pm at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The next day, the will perform at De Doelen in Rotterdam. Both concerts are organized by the Mojo impressariat in Delft. After “Eagles” and “Desperado,” the Eagles, the most important representatives of country rock in the United States, are in the London studios recording their third LP, which should be released in a few months.

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AMSTERDAM
November 12th, 1973

At noon, on the day of their show, the Eagles were presented with an Edison award for Desperado (the Edison is a Dutch version of the Grammy) at the Hilton hotel. They were also presented with silver Eagle pins by Stance Oort, who was a press promoter for the dutch label, EMI-Bovema. Four years later, in 1977, Oort presented the band with an award before their show in Rotterdam.

Concertgebouw, November 12th, 1973

Concert review, Het Parool, November 13, 1973

Highlights: 

• The article mentions that the group was in England recording On The Border (The review calls it “The Border.”)
  
• The band “interweaved exciting high-pitched screams (Randy Meisner) with melodic guitar playing.”
  
• The band performed Gram Parson’s “Lazy Days,” perhaps as a tribute to Parsons, Bernie Leadon’s former Burrito Brothers bandmate, who had just passed away in September. 

Translation:

Brilliant Eagles: English Group In Amsterdam

The Eagles have come up with an effective way to visit the Netherlands. Every time they record a new LP in England (the third one is called “The Border”) they drop over for concerts, which is why they performed last night in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and tonight in the Rotterdam Doelen.

The Eagles are the world’s strongest vocal group for me. A group with so much talent and sparkling craftsmanship that every live concert almost comes close to listening to their records. Also last night, because with the first twinkling sounds of Bernie Leadon’s guitar, crystal clear versions of “Take It Easy” and “Outlaw Man” unfolded.

The Eagles actually have everything you can expect from a top group. Bernie Leadon, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner and Don Hensley all sing equally well as soloists. And together they create a close harmony, with counterpart choirs, which sometimes make you cold.

But beyond those vocal aspirations, the Eagles are made up of guys, each of whom has a wealth of country rock experience. They are all-round in a fascinating way. And so it happened, that Randy Meisner (bass) took the lead vocals in “Certain kind of Fool,” Bernie Leadon also played the banjo now and then and Glenn Frey crawled behind the grand piano (“Desperado”), stating that they were very grateful for their Edison.

After a number of flawless and movingly beautiful country-rock songs, such as “Doolin-Dalton”, a somewhat heavier part began. For this occasion they even let themselves be tempted to new work, but also in the heavier accented songs they interweaved exciting high-pitched screams ( Randy Meisner) and melodic guitar playing. With one encore the audience was not satisfied. To please they needed a second one, including “It’s a long Day” [Lazy Days] (Gram Parsons) and “Oh Carol”. A long and beautiful concert.

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Concert Review: De Volkskrant November 13, 1973 

Highlights:

• The reviewer felt this appearance was more of a disappointment than the “brilliant performance” they gave in March. The group seemed tired of their songs, with the exception of just one. A new song called, “Don’t Be Mean To Your Daddy.” The actual title of the song was “Bad Man,” which was a tune written by JD Souther and Glenn Frey, and later appeared as the first song on Randy’s first solo LP in 1978. But in 1973, it was a song the Eagles were strongly considering for On The Border. ¹
  
• Randy gets rave reviews for his bass playing, but the reviewer felt his performance of “Certain Kind Of Fool” was weak. He makes up for it, however, with a performance of “Tryin’” that was “delivered brilliantly, both vocally and instrumentally.”

Translation:

“Group Receives Edison: Reunion With Eagles Somewhat Disappointing” by Elly De Waard

The concert that the Eagles gave last night at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw after they got their Edison, was a disappointment in a number of ways. Especially compared to the brilliant performance they gave here in March of this year, and certainly in comparison to their albums. During the previous concert, the LP Desperado had just been recorded and its songs were performed as a try-out with great care. Now it seemed as if the group had already grown tired of this work and the perfection and tension in the performance were kept for the only new song that was now delivered, “Don’t Be Mean To Your Daddy.” This is not to say that the performances were not played brilliantly at times, especially Randy Meisner was fabulous on bass again, Bernie Leadon only got into a bit of steam towards the end of the performance. In the time before, many songs were performed much less sharply and cleanly than is known from the records. without anything else replacing it. “Certain Kind Of Fool” was sung very weakly by Meisner. “Witchy Woman” was downright sloppy and delivered with little spiritual guitar accompaniment and impure harmonies. The relaxation with which various songs were approached made the sentimentality annoyingly noticeable – “Desperado” now became completely disturbing that it resembles the Band song, “Unfaithful Servant,” while it is much, much less telling than that. Towards the end, however, the group slowly took off, partly due to the long instrumental jam to which the rock songs lent themselves. “Tryin'” was delivered brilliantly, both vocally and instrumentally. The encores that were brought afterwards (five in number) made up for a lot. Most of these of were rock and there is little that can go wrong with this group. “Out Of Control,” “Chug All Night,” “It’s A Lazy Day” and especially “Oh, Carol” were excellent. Still, it was disappointing that the group didn’t come across as convincing as last time. which made the weaknesses of their repertoire stand out more seriously. 

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ROTTERDAM
November 13th, 1973

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Ad for Rotterdam show (Amsterdam show also mentioned)
Algemeen Dagblad, October 18th, 1973
Translation:
EAGLES
DE DOELEN, ROTTERDAM 
Mon, 13 November 8.15 pm. 
Tickets at ƒ 10.50, ƒ 12.50, J 15.50 and ƒ 20.50 available from next Saturday at:
Dankers Rotterdam; Caminada The Hague, Hees Popcorner Delft
and the local information offices of the VVV 
Same concert Tues. 12 Nov. Concertgebouw Amsterdam. 
MOJO concerts, PO Box 370, Delft, tel. 015-144343.

Photos by Peter Mazel, November 13th, 1973

Prior to the Eagles’ performance at the Doelen, they were photographed by renowned Dutch photographer, Peter Mazel.² The guys are wearing the same clothing in these photos that they are wearing during the show, including Randy, who is wearing a shirt advertising the Frank Implement Company, a John Deere dealership in his hometown of Scottsbluff, Nebraska. The father of a close friend owned the place, and Randy worked there for a few months in 1970 between stints touring with Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band. 

More photos from this session can be found at the link below:

https://randymeisnerretrospective.com/photo-session-archive/eagles-november-13th-1973/

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De Doelen, November 13th, 1973

Concert Review from Algemeen Dagblad November 14, 1973

Highlights:

• The Eagles’ unparalleled harmonies were the high point of the show.
• Randy is described as the “virtuoso bassist.” 

Translation: 

The Eagles Are Great Musicians

The popularity of the young American pop group The Eagles is measured by the massive interest in their concerts yesterday and the day before yesterday in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. This popularity is of course, to some extent, explained since two of the four Eagles  were previously part of two very renowned pop groups. The virtuoso bassist Randy Meisner comes from the group Poco and guitarist-banjoist Bernie Leadon played with the famous Flying Burrito Brothers. The musical origin of this pair impresses a clear mark on their predominantly country-rock-ish repertoire.

The great class of this formation, however, lies in the unparalleled combination of their voices. Vocally, the Eagles proved to be by far the boss in the crowded Rotterdam Doelen yesterday evening.  It is not only the crystal clear voices of Bernie Leadon and guitarist Glenn Frey that determine the flawless close harmonics of the Eagles, however, because, very unusually, drummer Don Henley and bassist Meisner make an equally important contribution. Especially the warm, hoarse voice of Don Henley was in songs like “Witchy Woman” and “Desperado” masterfully nostalgic. Those romantic singing voices were instrumentally supported with an equal dose. The Eagles reached an absolute highlight with an exquisite version of their hit song “Early Bird.”

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¹“Bad Man” was also considered for the Eagles’ debut album. The song was performed a handful of times on the 1973 tour.

²Mazel also photographed the band on March 9th, 1973 prior to their performance at the Popgala in Voorburg.

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