This live recording archive features songs that Randy sang lead or co-lead on between 1972-1977, during his tenure with the Eagles.
The Eagles opened for Jethro Tull at Fairgrounds Arena in Oklahoma City, OK on June 14th, 1972. Listen to an audience recording of their set below.
“How Long”
Randy sang co-lead on this J.D. Souther song with Glenn Frey & Don Henley.
Full Concert
The Eagles performed the rare “Get Up, Baby” during their set. The only known recording.
Recording setlist
Take it Easy (fade in)
Witchy Woman
Train Leaves Here This Morning
Peaceful Easy Feeling
How Long
Get Up Baby
Nightingale
Earlybird
The Eagles opened for Yes and Edgar Winter at Denver Coliseum on August 3rd, 1972.
Several members of Randy’s family traveled from Scottsbluff to attend the concert.
Many thanks to Jennifer Meisner for the photos and remembrances.
Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner back stage (man on right unknown). Photo by Jennifer Meisner.
Jennifer Meisner:
“It was a strange show. Everyone around us smoking pot, passing a joint around. Randy’s mom and dad were there. His sister, Carol, and husband Art with daughter Jana, his cousin Jodene, her husband Doug and daughter Cori Chappell, my sister Ann, husband Bob and kids, Bobbi and Doug, his aunt Lydia and daughters Nan Jill and Normanda, my mom, etc. The audience was there to see Yes and Edgar Winter. Horrible rainy night .”
The band poses with Randy’s cousin, Nan Jill, at the Travelodge hotel in Denver.
L-R: Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Nan Jill, Randy, Bernie Leadon.
Randy with his aunt, Lydia Ohlund, sister of his mother, Emilie.
Another group shot with Randy’s son, niece, and cousin.
In front (L-R), Randy’s eldest son, Dana (with Glenn’s hands on his head and arm), his niece, Jana, and cousin, Cori.
Randy with his son, Dana, his mother, Emilie, (getting the rabbit ears) and father, Herman, at the hotel in Denver. Randy is wearing a “Carlo Sound” t-shirt. Carlo Sound was a Nashville sound company, who worked on some of the Eagles’ early tours.
Review from the Straight Creek Journal (Denver), August 10, 1972
The Eagles and Gentle Giant opened for Yes.
The Eagles at Fairgrounds Coliseum. Photo by Neil Sharrow.
The Eagles and Edgar Winter opened for Yes.
This show was originally slated for August 14th, but had to be rescheduled due to rain.
Randy wore a t-shirt with the anti-war slogan: “War Is Not Healthy For Children & Other Living Things.” The shirt matched a sticker he added to his gold Fender bass in 1971.
Photo ©Robert Corwin.
On July 6th, 1972, the Eagles opened for Procol Harum at Golden Hall, which was located at the San Diego Community Concourse facility. It was the second of two Southern California gigs. The first was two nights at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, also opening for Procol Harum. Following the San Diego concert, the Eagles were interviewed backstage by a young journalist named Cameron Crowe.
A photo of the band was taken backstage at Golden Hall by Gary Elam, a friend of Cameron Crowe, who interviewed the band in their dressing room for the underground paper, The San Diego Door.
In 2015, Crowe recalled attending the concert and meeting the Eagles backstage. However, he mistakenly recalled that the concert took place at the San Diego Civic Theater. He also states that the Eagles opened with “Seven Bridges Road.” I can find no evidence of the Eagles performing that song until 1976. He probably meant the folk ballad “Silver Dagger, ” which was an early a cappella opening for “Take It Easy.”
Cameron Crowe:
“‘Take It Easy’ had only been out a few months in the summer of 1972. I was a big fan of the song, and was still in high school when the Eagles came to the San Diego Civic Theatre. They were the opening act on a bill with Procol Harum and Cold Blood, and the Civic Theatre was a few blocks from my house. I bought a ticket, and brought my tape recorder. The idea was to slip backstage and talk the band into an interview for the local underground paper, The San Diego Door.
The Eagles opened the evening without an introduction. The lights lowered, and they began with an a cappella version of ‘Seven Bridges Road,’ quickly adding instruments and swinging into ‘Take It Easy.’ They were fierce and joyful, playing with all the piss and vinegar of a young band hitting its early stride. I slipped backstage with my photographer friend from high school, Gary Elam, and asked their road manager if I could interview the band. They were eager to talk. Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner all hung out in a tiny dressing room and spent hours detailing their history and their dreams of hitting the big-time. ‘If you like us, you should check out our friend Jackson Browne and John David Souther,’ Glenn Frey said excitedly, clutching a long-neck Budweiser. They posed for a photo by the amps, arms around each other, and we exchanged phone numbers. I stayed in touch with them. (Little did I know, that fuzzy group shot would be one of the only known photos of all four original members hugging each other. Looking at it today, it has the same slightly surreal quality of one of those photos of the Loch Ness Monster.) –“Cameron Crowe Looks Back On His Eagles Cover Story,” Rolling Stone, August 17, 2015.
Below is the interview from the San Diego Door, November 3rd, 1972. Randy is not quoted, except to tell Crowe that he “liked to listen.”
“Meisner kept silent throughout the following conversation, choosing to remain quietly attentive. Later he responded with a ‘“’I like to listen.’ Hopefully, it was sincere.”
“Movin’ Up With The Eagles” by Cameron Crowe
The Eagles opened for Procol Harum.
Ad for the concert from the Los Angeles Free Press, June 30th, 1972.
Note the order of the band members’ names with Bernie and Randy mentioned first.
Eagles at Santa Monica Civic. Photo by Sam Emerson.
L.A. Times review by Robert Hilburn:
Linda Ronstadt and others visit the band backstage. Randy is not pictured. Photos by Sam Emerson.
The first major tour date for the Eagles. The band opened for Joe Cocker. Although, they are not mentioned in any ads or reviews for the concert, they were photographed backstage after the show.
The photo below was published in the May 13th, 1972 issue of RPM, a Canadian trade publication. The caption referred to the band as “Eagle,” which is not a misprint since they were billed as Eagle at a number of their early gigs.
L-R: Randy, Bernie Leadon, Glenn Frey, Don Boas (with Kinney Services, the international distributor for Warner Bros, later known as WEA), Asylum Records general manager, John Hartmann, and Don Henley.
The Eagles played Felt Forum in New York City on September 29th, 1972. Jackson Browne and J.D. Souther were their guests. Felt Forum was a smaller venue located at Madison Square Garden. The Eagles would play the latter in 1977.
The Eagles opened for Yes.
The following review from the underground Atlanta paper, The Great Speckled Bird, was very complimentary toward Randy. The reviewer even said “Keep On Tryin'” (aka “Tryin'”) was her favorite song.
The Eagles opened for Yes.
According to the following review, the band was an hour late for the concert because their contract had the wrong start time:
“Eagles opened the late afternoon concert after an hour of waiting by the audience. The lead guitarist apologized for the delay saying they had been eating barbecued chicken in Birmingham at 3:30 p.m. when they noticed a poster for the concert that said 4 p.m. Their contract said 5 p.m. Panic ensued and the band hot-rodded it to Tuscaloosa.”
The Eagles opened for Yes.
This date marked the end of their two-month long tour opening for Yes. It was an unlikely pairing of country rock and prog rock bands. Before Yes, the band had also toured extensively as an opening act for Jethro Tull and Joe Cocker. Randy remembered: “There was always a question of how we would go down with those kinds of bands but we always seemed to get a good response.” He also remembered that it was the first time anyone in the band had ever toured to that extent and they took full advantage of the perks of being touring rock musicians: “I was married at the time, but I was on the road and away from my wife and I fell off the wagon once or twice. Anybody who has been in my position and says they didn’t is lying. It was very exciting to us because it was the first time any of us had been on the road to that extent and so we were a bunch of innocents. Traveling and touring was all new to us. We just didn’t know.” (The Story Of The Eagles: The Long Run, Marc Shapiro, 1995)
Lead singer Jon Anderson recalled that the Eagles had a surprise for the band after the Charlotte show:
“The last show we did with Eagles -we became friends – I love these guys – they were great – we finished our show – 15,000 people – we get up-stage, backstage, there’s no lights, it’s all dark, and it’s like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ And there were guys with flashlights, like, ‘Come this way, the lights are gonna open up.’ “What happened was: we finished up in the room, and it was so dark, couldn’t see anybody, and then all of a sudden the lights came on, and there was a table set up with the Eagles standing behind with two dozen pies, they threw these cream pies at us, and I joined in, and it was the best time ever.” (Interview with Jon Anderson, Radio Forrest, August 2020)
On March 10th, 1973, the Eagles played the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Randy’s bass playing is compared to Rick Danko’s & his “chillingly beautiful” performance of “Certain Kind Of Fool” is the highlight of the evening.
The Eagles played Freeborn Hall at UC Davis on November 15th, 1972. Linda Ronstadt was also on the bill.
