In January 1976, the Eagles embarked on a tour of New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, with a final stop in Hawaii. It was their first tour with Joe Walsh, who had joined the band as a replacement for Bernie Leadon. What follows is an overview of the first leg of the tour in New Zealand and Australia, with photos, audience recordings, and home movie clips.

JOE WALSH

In December 1975, it was announced that Bernie Leadon, an original member of the Eagles, had quit the band.¹ Initially, his departure was publicized as a temporary thing. Leadon was tired of touring and needed a break, but may reappear when they recorded their next album, but this never happened. Joe Walsh, a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, seemed a natural replacement for Leadon. He was a friend of the band, who had joined them onstage throughout 1975. Plus, members of the Eagles, including Randy, had made guest appearances on his last album, So What. The Eagles would use this overseas tour as a way to break Joe in as a new member of the band and work him into their live act.

Below: The first group photos with Joe Walsh, taken c. December 1975.

_{L-R: Don Felder, Joe Walsh, Don Henley, Randy Meisner, and Glenn Frey.
Photo ©David Alexander.}

NEW ZEALAND & AUSTRALIA TOUR DATES

January 18, 1976	Carlaw Park	Auckland, New Zealand
January 20, 1976	Festival Hall	Brisbane, Queensland
January 22, 1976	Hordern Pavilion	Sydney, New South Wales
January 24, 1976	Leederville Oval	Perth, Western Australia
January 27, 1976	Apollo Stadium	Adelaide, South Australia
January 28-29, 1976	Festival Hall	Melbourne, Victoria

TOUR JACKETS

The band had special jackets made for the Pacific tour. The jackets, or hoodies, were given not only to band members, but also to the road crew and family members. Dana described the jackets as dark blue with a logo that had a yacht. Neither Dana nor Jennifer could recall exactly what the wording was below the logo, but it may have been “Pacific Crusade.”

Dana in the tour jacket:

NEW ZEALAND

The first stop on the tour was Auckland, New Zealand. Jennifer recalled the long 18-hour flight, which included a stop to spray insecticides on the plane, a common practice.

Jennifer:

“Everyone was so tired from the long flight. We even had an hour or so stop in Tahiti, so they could fumigate the plane.”

Their opening gig was initially scheduled to take place at Western Springs stadium in Auckland, but due to flooding from recent torrential rains, the concert was moved to Carlaw Park.

Carlaw Park
Auckland, NZ
January 18, 1976

Local musician, Brent Parlane, was the opener. This was the first public performance with Joe Walsh as a member of the band.

Brian Timms from the Christchurch, NZ, newspaper, The Press, wrote the following in his review:

“The beautiful songs flowed past: ‘One Of These Nights,’ ‘Best Of My Love,’ ‘Already Gone,’ ‘Lyin’ Eyes,’ and Joe Walsh’s ‘Turn To Stone,’ and ‘Rocky Mountain Way.’ All the band shared vocals, from the harsh mid-western twang of Joe Walsh to the high country wail of bassist Randy Meisner, but it was best when they all joined in the spine-tingling creamy harmonies of ‘Midnight Flyer’ or ‘Desperado.'”

He also notes that the addition of Joe Walsh in the band was “played down” or minimized.

Eagles at Carlaw Park. For the Pacific tour, Randy played a circa 1972 Fender Telecaster bass.

Sightseeing in New Zealand

The Eagles stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Auckland. Jennifer remembered that it was “hot at night with weird bugs crawling around.” As for the scenery: ” It was beautiful and seemingly untouched…everything was so lush and green.”

Below: Home movie footage of Randy and Dana at the zoo in Auckland.
Footage ©Jennifer Meisner. Do Not Republish Without Permission. Footage is silent.

WEA (Warner/Elektra/Asylum), the distributor for Asylum Records in New Zealand, gave each member a personalized t-shirt as a “thank you.” Randy’s shirt still exists. Below, a recent photo of his granddaughter, Brooklyn Meisner, posing in the shirt. Brooklyn is the daughter of Randy’s son, Eric, and his wife, Stacey.

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AUSTRALIA

“We flew into Australia in the middle of a hurricane.” -Jennifer Meisner

The Eagles flew into Brisbane in the middle of Tropical Cyclone David (same as a hurricane in the U.S.) The Category 3 storm made landfall about 500 miles north of Brisbane around 1:30am on the morning of January 19th. The Eagles flew in later that day.

Jennifer:

“It was insane… plane going from side to side, bouncing around, landed in torrential rain, sand bags along the coast, concert was so close to being cancelled. The hotel was rocking and the carpet was damp, there was baby powder everywhere (because everything was so damp).”

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Festival Hall
Brisbane, Queensland
January 20th, 1976

On the day of the Brisbane show, Mike Thies, who worked for WEA Australia, was spotted by Randy wearing an Average White Band tour shirt. Average White Band had toured Australia earlier in January. Randy wanted his shirt.

Mike Thies:

 “I was working for WEA in Brisbane that tour and Randy wanted my AWB (Average White Band) t-shirt I was wearing, so we swapped and he gave me his Eagles US tour t-shirt. Pretty sure it was a ‘One of these Nights’ shirt. I am also sure he wore the AWB shirt that night on stage.” (Comment on “Where Are WEA Now?” Facebook page)

Randy on stage at Festival Hall in the Average White Band shirt. Photo by Vincent Barker.

Eagles in Brisbane:

Sydney, New South Wales

At their next stop in Sydney, the Eagles gave a press conference at Sebel Townhouse and played two back-to-back shows at Hordern Pavilion.

_{The Eagles in Sydney
L-R: Randy Meisner, Don Henley, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, and Glenn Frey.}

Sebel Townhouse, Sydney
January 21, 1976

The Eagles gave a press conference and posed for photographs at the infamous Sebel Townhouse, nicknamed the “Rock and Roll Hotel,” due to its reputation for turning a blind eye, and even catering to, the bad behavior of traveling rock stars. All photos by Trevor Dallen.

The band outside the hotel:

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Hordern Pavilion
Sydney
January 22, 1976

The Eagles were originally scheduled for just one show at the Hordern Pavilion. But due to high ticket demand, another show was scheduled on the same night. They weren’t the only American group forced to schedule second shows. Both Frank Zappa and Ike & Tina Turner, who were touring Australia at the same time as the Eagles, also scheduled extra shows.

The Eagles shows were at 6:00pm and 8:30pm on January 22nd.

I could find no photos of the Sydney concerts. Jennifer recalled that the stage setup was a bit different and that she and Dana were seated in folding chairs “almost behind the band.”

Audience Recording

Although there are no photos, a partial audience recording exists of the second show of the night. This recording was eventually distributed as a bootleg (aka illegal or unauthorized release) in the late 1970s called Crazed & Snake-Eyed (an alternative title was Welcome To The Late Show). The two-record set included thirteen songs, nine recorded in Sydney and five from ABC In Concert and California Jam. The package has all the hallmarks of a typical 1970s bootleg: A solid white cover with a printed sheet glued or taped to the front, and the labels featured a fake record company name, in this case “Worlds Records,” with bogus song titles.

“Midnight Flyer”

NOTES:
-Glenn intros the song by saying “This is a bit of bluegrass music.”
-Randy counts off.
-He adds an extra vocal flourish to the end of “wanted me to be.” Plus a little “woo woo” after “lonesome whistle whine.”
-Randy changes the words “Maybe I’ll go to San Antone” to “Maybe I’ll go to Abilene.”
-New member Joe Walsh is featured on slide guitar (original slide was performed by Glenn.)
-Randy thanks the audience about 12 seconds into the applause at the end.

Full Recording (not the entire concert)

NOTES:
-Glenn says “Welcome to the late show” at the opening, referring to the fact that this was the second show of the night.
-At the end, he sends out “Already Gone” to President “Jerry Ford.” 
Randy-centric highlights:
-His harmony vocals on “One Of These Nights” & “Never Cry Like A Lover.”
-His bass on “Outlaw Man.” 

Recording Setlist
Take It Easy
One Of These Nights
Turn To Stone
Outlaw Man
Doolin-Dalton/Desperado Reprise
You Never Cry Like A Lover
Midnight Flyer
Already Gone

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Sightseeing in Australia

Watch Randy & his son Dana petting a kangaroo at a nature preserve. Also, Jennifer Meisner holding a koala (filmed by Randy). The film is silent.
Footage ©Jennifer Meisner. Do Not Republish Without Permission.

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WEA advertisement in the Sunday Telegraph (Sydney) thanking 2JJ, a Sydney radio station, on their first anniversary.

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Apollo Stadium
Adelaide, South Australia
January 27, 1976

Eagles at Apollo Stadium

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Randy with Steve Hands from WEA Australia in Perth. Photo by Jennifer Meisner.

The Eagles’ next stop on the tour was Japan, where Randy had an abundance of fans. Read more about the shows by clicking below:

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NOTES

All quotes from Jennifer Meisner and Dana Meisner via personal correspondence.

1. Bernie’s final appearance with the band took place at the Sunshine Festival in Anaheim, CA on September 28th, 1975. ↩︎

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