The Eagles played to 200,000 at the music festival, California Jam, held at the Ontario Motor Speedway outside of Los Angeles. The concert was produced by ABC and simulcast on TV and radio on May 10th, 1974. Jackson Browne filled in on several songs with the band in the absence of Don Felder, whose wife went into labor on the day of the concert.
California Jam from above. Photo by Mark Sullivan.
Two stages were used that were perched on 600 feet of railroad track. As one band played, the other stage was set up for the next act, then rolled onto center stage. The stages can be seen under the striped canopies. The semi-circle of trailers behind the stages were the bands’ dressing rooms.
The Eagles played a 45-minute set (only 20 minutes was televised)
(Not in order of performance)
James Dean
Blackberry Blossom
Midnight Flyer
Already Gone
Take It Easy
Tequila Sunrise
Witchy Woman
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Early Bird
Outlaw Man
Below is a clip of the Eagles’ intro from the radio simulcast on ABC’s KLOS-FM in Los Angeles:
Heading to the stage:
L-R: Glenn Frey (behind the door), Don Henley, Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, and road manager, Richie Fernandez.
Bernie, Randy (blue shirt), Glenn and Don
Randy at Cal Jam.
According to Jennifer Meisner, the eagle on his shirt was hand-embroidered by a fan.
Photo ©Jeffrey Mayer
Photos by Julian Baum
Randy performing “Midnight Flyer” from On The Border, which had just been released:
The footage below includes the five songs that aired in the televised concert on May 10th, 1974:
“James Dean”
“Blackberry Blossom”
“Midnight Flyer”
“Already Gone”
“Take It Easy”
Post-show interview with Bernie Leadon (San Diego Door, May 14, 1974)
Although Bernie talks mostly about the band’s music and albums up to 1974, he did voice his frustration to interviewer Greg Leonard about the band’s mid-day performance at Cal Jam:
“Bernie had just returned from what he felt was a frustrating performance in the mid-day heat. When I met him he was nursing a glass of champagne trying to relax after the tension of playing outdoors, with no prior soundcheck, before nearly 200,000 people.”
Reviews and further reading.
“The Eagles played the most aesthetically satisfying set of the day.”
“A Certain Kind Of Fool”
Learn more about “Certain Kind Of Fool,” co-written and sung by Randy Meisner, from the Eagles’ second studio album, the outlaw-themed DESPERADO.
Interview with the Houston Chronicle, February 1981
Randy Meisner returned to the stage in Houston, Texas in February 1981, following a two-and-a-half year absence. After the show, he sat down for a rare, candid interview with Dale Adamson of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE.
Photo Archive: Eagles, HOTEL CALIFORNIA Cover, 1976
Photographers: David Alexander/Norman Seeff
The cover photos of the Beverly Hills Hotel at sunset, taken at Will Rodgers Memorial Park, and the back cover and gatefold, taken in the lobby of the Lido Apartments in Los Angeles, were taken by David Alexander (read more here)
. The cover was designed by Kosh and Don Henley.
A poster insert was included with first issues of the album. It showed the band posed on a bed. According to photographer, Norman Seeff, this photo was a composite (multiple photos combined to create one image).
“Soon after commencing this session, the band walked out. I had no idea why at the time. A week later, I showed them a poster design I had created by combining a number of individual shots. They loved it and all was forgiven. It became a poster insert for the HOTEL CALIFORNIA album.”
Norman Seeff
Below are outtakes from this session.
Photo Archive: Eagles, ONE OF THESE NIGHTS Cover, 1975
Photographer: Norman Seeff
Location: Los Angeles, CA
This was the band’s first session with photographer Norman Seeff, a former medical doctor who emigrated to the United States from South Africa in the late 1960s to pursue a career as a rock photographer. One of his first assignments was the cover of the The Band’s Stage Fright.
An image from this 1975 session with Seeff appears on the back cover of the Eagles fourth studio album, One Of These Nights. Seeff described the session in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2013:
“This session for their ONE OF THESE NIGHTS album resulted in some striking images where each member of the band was being themselves in a confident way. Creating a moment with several artists at once can be challenging. When you work with 5 artists, if you don’t create a simultaneous relationship with every single person and someone loses eye contact, then they’re not all present.”
Photos
Photo Archive: Eagles, September 1973
Photographer: Henry Diltz
Location: Bernie Leadon’s home in Topanga Canyon.
Photos from this session were used in a rare insert which were only found in original first issues of On The Border (1974).
Photos
Photo Archive: Eagles, Desperado Cover, December 18th, 1972
Photographer: Henry Diltz
Location: Paramount Ranch, Agoura Hills, CA
Photos from this session were used on the front and back cover of Desperado, released in 1973. Additional photos were published in the Desperado Songbook the same year.
“The original concept was to depict The Eagles ‘gang’ alive on the front cover and dead at the hands of the posse on the back –with pictures of the bank robbery and ensuing shoot-out in which they met their grisly fate displayed across a double spread in the middle. ‘Then, at the last minute, without telling anybody, David Geffen scrapped the centerfold,’ Diltz says. ‘He was always doing stuff like that to save three cents on the production costs.'”
Uncut, May 2007
Diltz also filmed the session and a short film showing the band members in a staged gunfight was later shown during the Eagles’ performance of “Doolin-Dalton/Desperado (reprise)” on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert in 1974.
Photos
Photo Archive:
Eagles, Joshua Tree National Park, March 1972
Photographer: Henry Diltz (with assistance from art director, Gary Burden)
Location: Joshua Tree National Park, California
Photo shoot for Eagles debut album cover.
The Eagles wanted the cover of their first album to have a “California” vibe, so Diltz suggested a “secret mountain top” in Joshua Tree National Park “where certain Hollywood actors would take psychedelics.” (Uncut, February 2022)
Bernie Leadon sets the scene:
“We met at the Troubadour at one in the morning and just drank our faces off, smoked all the pot and dope we could find and went out in my Toyota jeep and somebody else’s car and drove off to Joshua Tree. We arrived at four in the morning, before dawn, to the secret spot of all the old time dopers, way out in the back overlooking Palm Springs. They had this old barber’s chair way at the top of the mountain… you could sit there and it was great. We carried some guitars and all the camera equipment in the middle of the night, stumbled up this fucking mountain… made a fire and a camp and began making peyote tea and trying to eat peyote without throwing up… and the peyote was starting to come on and keep us awake… gave you that acid-like speed effect… those pictured are well stoned.”
The Story Of The Eagles: The Long Run by Marc Shapiro, 1995
Photos
“Too Many Hands”
Randy’s tribute to Mother Earth was included on the Eagles’ 1975 album, ONE OF THESE NIGHTS.
“Wait & See”: Randy’s Lost Song & The College Of The Holy Cross
In front of a small audience at the College Of The Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, the Eagles performed a 10-minute epic, written and sung by Randy, called “Wait & See,” which was originally intended for ON THE BORDER.
On The Border (1974)
The inside story of the Eagles’ third album and first with producer Bill Szymczyk & guitarist Don Felder. In the reviews, Randy’s “Is It True” is called the “most beautiful song on the album.”
“Try And Love Again” – Hotel California’s Hidden Gem
Tucked away near the end of Hotel California is the last song Randy wrote during his tenure with the Eagles, “Try And Love Again.” Today, the song is considered a deep track, but in 1976, it was a hit with contemporary critics, who felt it was the highlight of the album.
