Elton John’s Mid-Summer Music at Wembley Stadium, June 1975

Mid-Summer Music was a day-long festival organized by Elton John at Wembley Stadium on June 21st, 1975. Get all the details below, as well as audio from the Eagles’ concert and Meisner family home movie footage, shared here exclusively.

_{Original poster for the concert, framed by Dana Meisner}

Elton handpicked the artists for the show himself, which included the Beach Boys, the Eagles, Joe Walsh, Rufus (with Chaka Khan), and Stackridge. The compere (aka host) was British disc jockey, Johnny Walker.

Of the Eagles, Elton told Record Mirror:

“I love the Eagles, they’re the best band I’ve seen onstage the last couple of years.” (Record Mirror, June 21, 1975).

This was the Eagles’ first time playing Wembley Stadium, which is a different venue than the indoor Wembley Empire Pool (or Arena) that the band played two years later in 1977.

Stevie Wonder had originally been slated to appear, but canceled due to health issues. The Beach Boys were booked instead.

Elton John donated a portion of the concert’s proceeds to the Watford Football Club, an organization he had supported since childhood. He currently serves as the club’s Honorary Life President, and several years ago had a section of renovated stands named after him.

_{Elton with members of the Watford team, 1974}

Elton was debuting a new band at the Mid-Summer Music concert. Both drummer Nigel Olson and bassist Dee Murray, who had been with him since his early days, had been let go. They were replaced by drummer Roger Pope and bassist Kenny Passarelli, formerly of Joe Walsh’s Barnstorm. Other new members included Caleb Quaye on guitar, James Newton Howard on keyboards, and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, from the Doobie Brothers, who joined as guest guitarist just for the Wembley show.

_{Elton and his new band}

TV COMMERCIAL

Probably filmed at Elton’s rented mansion in Los Angeles,¹ the commercial, which aired on British television, featured performers from the Mid-Summer Music concert, including Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys, Joe Walsh, Chaka Khan from Rufus, and the Eagles, who were posed next to Elton’s gold Rolls Royce.

PROGRAM

Selections from the program are shown below. See all 30 pages here.

Jennifer Meisner, Randy’s first wife, recalled being backstage with Elton at Wembley Stadium and trying on his glasses: “We exchanged glasses. He couldn’t believe we both had the same terrible eyesight.”

She also took this photo of Elton with members of his entourage, which included Maxine Feibelman Taupin, wife of Bernie Taupin, who was the inspiration for the song “Tiny Dancer.” ²

_{L-R: Elton, Maxine Taupin, drummer Roger Pope, Bernie Taupin, and sound engineer Clive Franks.}

The Eagles were on the heels of a recently released album, One Of These Nights. Three days prior to the Mid-Summer Concert on June 18th, they performed at the Rotterdam Ahoy with Joe Walsh, who was not yet a member of the band. These were their only two concerts during this short, weeklong trip abroad.

At the Wembley show, the Eagles were the fourth act to perform, following Stackridge, Rufus, and Walsh.

_{The stage at Mid-Summer Music during Joe Walsh’s performance. Photo ©Nigel Watts.}

EAGLES CONCERT

Performing before an audience of more than 100,000, the Eagles opened with “Take It Easy.” The song’s co-writer, Jackson Browne, accompanied on piano. They followed up with songs from their first three albums, including “Train Leaves Here This Morning,” “Doolin-Dalton” and “Already Gone.” Only two songs from their recent album One Of These Nights were included in the set: the title track and “Too Many Hands,” co-written and sung by Randy. Joe Walsh joined the band during the encore for a version of Chuck Berry’s “Oh Carol.” He was rolled out to the stage in a giant trunk and leapt out as if popping out of a cake.

_{Joe Walsh onstage with the Eagles}

For the concert, Randy wore a black t-shirt with a drawing of a nude woman on the front. It was a gift from his wife, Jennifer:

Jennifer: “I had it made in a little t-shirt shop on Hollywood Blvd we frequented. You picked out the decal and they printed it on a shirt. I went there many times, as did Dana and Randy. Most of his car t-shirts came from there.”

AUDIO

Below are Randy’s lead-singing performances at Mid-Summer Music:

“Midnight Flyer”

“Too Many Hands”
Featuring some wild bass playing by Randy

Listen to the entire concert below.

Setlist
Take It Easy (with Jackson Browne)
Outlaw Man
Doolin-Dalton/Desperado Reprise
One Of These Nights
Train Leaves Here This Morning
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Blackberry Blossom
Midnight Flyer
Already Gone
Too Many Hands
James Dean
Good Day In Hell
Witchy Woman
Oh Carol (with Joe Walsh)
Best Of My Love

HOME MOVIES

The clip below shows the Eagles performing on stage at Mid-Summer Music. It was filmed by EMI representative, Jennie Halsall, with the Meisner’s Super 8 video camera. At the end you can see Jackson Browne sitting in on piano during “Take It Easy.” A number of people can be observed watching from the side of the stage, including Randy’s wife, Jennifer, Joe Walsh & members of his band, Irving Azoff, and Eagles’ road manager, Richie Fernandez (in white hat with black trim.)

Many thanks to Jennifer Meisner and Dana Meisner for this incredible footage, which has never been shared publicly. The film is silent.

Footage ©Jennifer Meisner. Do not republish without permission.

Seen watching from the side of the stage: L-R: Joe Walsh’s keyboardist David Mason (not to be confused with THE Dave Mason), Joe’s girlfriend Jody Boyer, Jennifer Meisner, Joe Walsh, unknown woman, Joe’s bassist Bryan Garofalo, who would later play bass for Randy’s solo band the Silverados, and Eagles manager, Irving Azoff.

REVIEWS

Below, I have provided a handful of pertinent reviews. Since this was an Elton John event, and he was the headliner, most reviews focused on him. However, some critics were not very kind. For the second half of his show, Elton had decided to perform his brand new album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy in its entirety. The crowd at Wembley, who wanted to hear the hits, became restless sitting through an hour of songs that were unfamiliar to them. The critics felt that the Beach Boys, who preceded Elton, and had the audience singing and dancing along to practically every song, stole the show. Hence the headline below:

Birmingham Evening Mail, June 26, 1975

Record Mirror, June 28, 1975
Perhaps the best review of the Eagles’ set.

Music Week (the British version of Billboard), June 28, 1975.
“The general impression with the Eagles seemed to be, how long before they attain any success of note in Britain? The answer could we be soon, following their success in the Mid-Summer Music bill.” The review mistakenly mentions that “Tryin'” was performed.

Rolling Stone, July 31, 1975. This is mostly a review of Elton John’s set, however it does begin with a rather raunchy quote from Glenn Frey describing a British audience.

The Eagles returned home following Mid-Summer Music and embarked on a summer tour of the U.S. On June 29th, they performed at Day On The Green in Oakland, CA. Elton John, who was not scheduled to appear, surprised the audience by joining the Eagles on stage for their encore, “Oh Carol.” He also sat in with the Doobie Brothers. Read more about the show here.

_{Road manager, Richie Fernandez, right, greets the Eagles as the walk off stage at Wembley Stadium.
Photo © Andrew Kent (Rolling Stone, September 25, 1975)}

Another Elton John Connection

The Eagles met up with Elton again in 1977 during their European tour. He joined them onstage for their final night at Wembley Empire Pool. A few nights later, the Eagles were invited to his performance at the Queen’s Jubilee (see Randy’s invitations here). Randy and Jennifer would eventually have another connection to Elton, their former nanny, Janice Heilbrun. Janice, a high school student at the time, was hired by the Meisners in 1970 to watch over ther newborn twins, Heather and Eric. Later, in 1973, she accompanied them to Europe to help with their son, Dana. Eventually, she went to work for John Reid Enterprises, who managed Elton John, as a tour coordinator. She even had keys to his house. She later worked for Queen, who was also managed by John Reid.

_{Janice, left, with Rick Nelson, c.1971, at his Nichols Canyon home (the home Randy & Jennifer would later purchase). At right, in London in 1973, in a still shot from the Meisner’s home movie footage, shot by Randy.}

After Randy left the Eagles in 1977, Jennifer arranged, with Janice’s assistance, to have Bernie Taupin come to their house. They were now living in Rick Nelson’s Nichols Canyon home.

“After he left the Eagles, I kept trying to find something for him that made him happy. My friend Janice, who worked for Elton at the time, invited Bernie Taupin to come up to our house and he did.”

Following Janice’s stint with Elton, she went to work for Queen, who was also managed by John Reid Enterprises. In later years, Janice (now Janice Brown) ran her family’s business in Scottsbluff, NE, Heilbrun Manufacturing. She currently lives in Arizona where she is battling Parkinson’s Disease.

Below, Janice with the Meisners at the Nichols Canyon house, late 1970s.

_{L-R: Janice, Marianne Meininger (wife of Randy’s cousin Tony), Jennifer, Randy, and his cousin, Bea Chadwick. In the pool are the Meisner children, Dana, Eric and Heather.}

On Randy’s third solo album in 1982, he covered an Elton John song called “Strangers,” co-written by Elton and lyricist, Gary Osborne. It was from Elton’s 1978 album, A Single Man, his first without his longtime songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin. In a phone conversation in 2010, Randy told Jennifer that “Strangers” was one of his favorite songs. Listen to it below:

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My sincere thanks to the following:
Jennifer Meisner for her generosity, friendship, and trust.
Doreen Feeney, my dear friend and Elton John aficionado, for her help with information and photo IDs.

NOTES

1. This was also the house where Elton, two days prior to legendary concert at Dodger Stadium in October 1975, tried to kill himself with an overdose of Valium and jumped in the swimming pool. ↩︎
2. Rolling Stone, August 16, 1976 (Interview with Elton John & Bernie Taupin). Shortly after “Tiny Dancer” was written, Elton mentions that it’s about “Bernie’s girlfriend” in this clip from 1970 (starting at :08):
   Click here ↩︎