“Day on the Green” was a yearly concert series held by promotor Bill Graham and his company Bill Graham Presents. The Concerts were held at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California.
The Eagles appeared at “Day on the Green” on June 29, 1975 and August 3, 1976. This is the story of their appearance at “Day on the Green” on Memorial Day weekend in 1977. They headlined on May 28th and May 30th. Also on the bill for the two-day concert were The Steve Miller Band, Heart, Atlanta Rhythm Section and Foreigner.
Saturday, May 28th
More than 50,000 were in attendance for Saturday’s show.
Beyond the canopy is what the Eagles saw as they performed.
“Most of the crowd sang on the Eagles numbers. It was a particularly happy throng, sun-baked and energetic.”
-San Francisco Examiner, May 29th, 1977
“For the Eagles’ Saturday and Monday shows, [Bill Graham’s] crew built a huge replica of the Hotel California album cover to frame the stage. The band members liked it so well that they asked to take it with them on other outdoor dates this year.”
Robert Hilburn ~ Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1977
Sunday, May 29th
“The Eagles had a day off between the two concerts so they played baseball against Bill Graham (concert promoter) and staff members of Radios Y93, KYA-AM, KSAN, KFRC, and KTIM, and some recruited record company people. The Eagles, their road crew, manager Irving Azoff and Boz Scaggs played against Bill Graham and the radio people. The radio gang proved to be too much for the musicians. The final scores were: Radio 12, Eagles 5; Radio 21, Eagles 11.”
-Radio & Records Magazine, June 10, 1977
Bottom L to R: Don Felder, Randy Meisner, Boz Scaggs, Don Henley and Robert Lamm, keyboard player for Chicago.
(Thank you to Tokiko Noboritate for her translation of the photo caption on the bottom right which enabled identification of Robert Lamm.)
Monday, May 30th
(Memorial Day)
The Eagles start the day with a volleyball match:
All five Eagles lay it down at the Oakland Coliseum.
© Gary Morgan
Randy chose to wear his Harley Davidson t-shirt for Memorial Day.
Homemade banners made an appearance at the concert. One, a salute to the Eagles, borrowed from a line in one of Steve Miller’s songs: “You’ve got to fly like the Eagles.”
Boz Scaggs joined the Eagles for one of the encore songs, Chuck Berry’s “Oh Carol”
The “Day on the Green” concert series began in 1973 and continued into the early 1990’s. The last “Day on the Green” held by Bill Graham took place in 1991. This was the same month as his death in a helicopter crash.
Further Reading
