The Eagles sold out two nights at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday, July 7th and Friday, July 8th, 1977. These shows marked the next-to-last tour stop for Randy Meisner as a member of the band. His last show would be at Jeppesen Stadium in Houston on July 9th, which was also the final date of the 1977 Hotel California tour. Jimmy Buffett opened the Fort Worth shows and J.D. Souther made a guest appearance both nights.

On Friday afternoon, the Eagles and their road crew played Jimmy Buffett and his road crew in a softball game at nearby Eagle Mountain Lake. Buffett’s team won.

Many thanks to Bob Jones, who kindly gave me permission to use his photos from the July 8th concert.


Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 3, 1977

Randy’s departure from the Eagles stemmed not only from an altercation with Glenn Frey in Knoxville a week before, but also the fact that he was singing less with the band. With the exception of a couple of shows early in the tour where he sang “Try And Love Again,” Randy’s only lead performance during the tour was “Take It To The Limit.” 1 In Fort Worth, Randy performed the song both nights, according to Dallas Morning News music journalist, Pete Oppel. 2


Image from the Thursday, July 7th show from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Below is the setlist for both Fort Worth shows, compiled from reviews from the the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Dallas Morning News. The only difference between the sets for both nights was the final encore of Chuck Berry’s “Carol” on the second night, with J.D. Souther making a guest appearance. Souther also joined them onstage for “New Kid In Town” on the 7th. The song was dedicated both nights to Dallas Cowboy Tony Dorsett.

SETLIST
Tarrant County Convention Center
Fort Worth, Texas, July 7-8, 1977

***

Hotel California
Walk Away
Victim Of Love
Doolin-Dalton/Desperado Reprise
Lyin’ Eyes
Take It To The Limit
New Kid In Town (J.D. Souther guests on July 7th)
Desperado
One Of These Nights
Already Gone
Life In The Fast Lane
Rocky Mountain Way
Witchy Woman
James Dean (encore)
Best Of My Love (encore)
Take It Easy (encore)
Carol (final encore on July 8th only, with J.D. Souther & Jimmy Buffett joining in)

Highlights

The Eagles/Buffett concerts were a major event in Fort Worth with a total of 28,000 people attending the shows.

“Bob Shannon, a disc jockey at KZEW, said the morning after the first concert that he received ‘a million requests for Eagles songs’ during his show. At Six Flags Over Texas during the weekend, Eagle shirts were in evidence everywhere.” (Pete Oppel/Dallas Morning News)

Oppel also noted that the Eagles seemed “looser” on Friday and “more willing to take chances and experiment. It was as if they felt they proved themselves Thursday, but this one was more fun.”

Extra security and fire officials were also on hand after an audience member received minor burns from fireworks at Alice Cooper’s show at the venue the week before. Glenn Frey put the kibosh on fireworks before Thursday’s show even started by announcing: “We aren’t going to tolerate any fireworks during this concert.” He received a long and loud applause.

Also during Thursday’s show, Glenn ran into some problems with busted guitar strings that interfered with a couple of songs. All strings remained intact on Friday.


Bob Jones, who attended the Friday, July 8th show, recalled Glenn posing for him:
“I was on the 8th or 9th row, and had a HUGE telephoto lens on my 35mm camera. Glenn Frey saw me focusing my camera and held this pose until I took the photo… I thought that was very cool of him; I was thrilled!”


Show Stealer

Praise for Randy from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Dallas Morning News reviews:

“The crowd went wild for ‘Take It To The Limit,’ and with good reason. Meisner and company do a magnificent job, and were well-deserved for the standing ovation they received for it.”

“Their harmony, with Henley and Meisner leading the way, is better than ever, especially on old hits like ‘One Of These Nights’ and ‘Lyin’ Eyes.’ They make them sound brand new.”

“The Eagles opened with ‘Hotel California’ and Walsh followed with ‘Walk Away’. The band began the show at a high energy level and maintained this level throughout. What followed was every song anyone would want to hear the Eagles perform –‘Victim Of Love,’ ‘Doolin-Dalton-Desperado,’ ‘Lyin’ Eyes,’ ‘Take It To the Limit’ (once again the show stealer, raising the question of why doesn’t Meisner do more of these.)”

“Meisner’s ‘Take It To The Limit’ was a stunner, and earned him a long and well-deserved ovation.”

“Walsh and Felder give life to ‘Victim Of Love’ and other rockers, while Henley and Meisner were in top form vocally on the ballads.”

Randy singing “Take It To The Limit” during the July 8th show.
One of his last performances of the song with the Eagles.

Photos

More photos from the July 8th show, courtesy of Bob Jones.


Reviews

Below are the reviews from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Dallas Morning News. Click on each to enlarge.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 8, 1977 (morning ed.)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 8, 1977 (evening ed.)
Dallas Morning News, July 12, 1977

Notes

1 The fact that Randy sang “Take It To The Limit” at both Fort Worth shows further debunks the notion that he was refusing to sing the song during the tour. Both the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Dallas Morning Herald reviews also state that it was performed early in the show, not as an encore as the History Of The Eagles documentary falsely claims. I go into these bogus claims and Randy’s departure from the Eagles in more detail below.

2 There are only two known performances of “Try & Love Again” on the 1977 Hotel California tour: War Memorial Auditorium in Rochester on March 19th & the Capitol Centre in Largo, MD on March 21st.


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