The Eagles In Chicago, August 1975

In early August 1975, the Eagles arrived in the Windy City for a concert and took a series of photos on Lake Michigan.

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Summer Of Stars, Washington Park,
August 9th, 1975

On August 9th, the band, along with Linda Ronstadt, played Washington Park racetrack in Homewood, IL, a suburb of Chicago. It was part of the “Summer Of Stars” series of outdoor concerts. The racetrack was closed for summer racing and a stage was built in front of the grandstand, with the windows removed, so the performers could have more direct contact with the audience.¹

The Eagles drew 20,000 fans, the largest crowd of the series. Randy sang “Midnight Flyer” and “Too Many Hands.” The latter from their 4th album, One Of These Nights, which had been released earlier in the summer.

Review from The Daily Calumet (Chicago), August 13, 1975. Randy’s name is misspelled as “Randy Musner.” “Soul Of The Midwest” might be “James Dean.”

Rolling Stone Cover Story

Journalist Cameron Crowe followed the Eagles for much of their 1975 tour. He was gathering information for a cover story for Rolling Stone magazine. He brought along his best friend and roommate, Neal Preston, as photographer for the assignment.

“Neal and I spent a lot of time on the road with the band, shooting candid shots of the members and planning the cover shoot with them. There were a few memorable group portraits that could have been used, particularly one taken outside their dressing room at the Day on the Green concert — it’s the band at their mugging best. Later, Frey had the idea to get out on a boat, put some oxygen into the mix and take some shots out at sea. Just the band, relaxed, eyes on the horizon, with a lot of blue sky.”

“Cameron Crowe Looks Back on His 1975 Eagles Cover Story,” Rolling Stone, August 17, 2015

The photo shoot aboard the boat on Lake Michigan took place while the band was in town for the Washington Park concert. In the Rolling Stone article, Crowe mistakenly refers to the venue as Chicago Stadium.² The same night of the concert, the Eagles won Best Song (“Best Of My Love”) and Best Group on the Rock Awards, which was televised nationally. Joe Walsh, not yet an Eagle, accepted the awards for the band.

“The Eagles return from a record crowd at the Chicago Stadium [sic] to find their Holiday Inn’s front desk covered with phone messages, telegrams and flowers. With One of These Nights in its fifth week at the top of Billboard’s LP chart, the group has just won in Best Song (“Best of My Love”) and Best Group (over Led Zeppelin, Elton John and the Rolling Stones) categories of the nationally televised Rock Awards. On the phone upstairs with Glenn Frey is Joe Walsh, who accepted the awards for them and, in the process, kissed presenter Raquel Welch.”

“Eagles: Chips Off The Old Buffalo,” Rolling Stone, September 25, 1975

Neal Preston Photo Shoot

This photo of Randy was originally published in a December 1975 issue of Circus magazine. It was flipped the wrong direction, with the flag on the right and his pearl buttons on the left. Sadly, this version is often seen floating around on the internet. Below is the corrected view.

In some of the photos, Randy, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey are holding cans of Meister Bräu beer, which was brewed in Chicago by the now-defunct Peter Hand Brewing Company.

Below: The only pose with part of the Chicago skyline in the background (at right, behind Bernie).

Alternates to the Rolling Stone cover:

The following photos were taken the same day (on land) by Preston.

See more photos from the shoot below:

Photo Archive: Eagles by Neal Preston, August 1975

Notes:

¹Chicago Tribune, June 1, 1975
²Crowe refers to two separate Chicago concerts in the Rolling Stone piece. The first are the Arie Crown Theater shows, which took place on May 10th-11th. The second is Chicago Stadium, which is really the Washington Park show. The band didn’t play Chicago Stadium until 1976.

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