The Eagles played the War Memorial Auditorium in Rochester on March 19th, 1977.
Randy performed both “Take It To The Limit” and “Try And Love Again” at this show. According to the review, his high note in TITTL was “nothing short of amazing…and about three octaves above any sound human beings are usually able to sing.”
The Eagles played Elton John’s Mid-Summer Music concert at Wembley on June 21, 1975. Get all the details, as well as audio and home movie footage.
The Eagles played the Fieldhouse at Regis College (now Regis University), a Jesuit Catholic college in Denver, on April 1st, 1974. The Talbot Brothers opened.
Article about the show from Regis’ Brown & Gold newspaper. A couple of band member’s names are misspelled early on: Glenn Trey (Glenn Frey and Doc Telder (Don Felder).
Randy and his wife, Jennifer, backstage at Regis College.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Meisner.
The reviewer for Boulder’s underground paper, The Straight Creek Journal, felt that the Eagles put on a great show, but the crowd’s overreaction to every song was insincere.
From its origins to its continued legacy, the story behind Randy Meisner’s signature song.
The Eagles and Kansas opened for the Beach Boys at Indiana University’s Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
The concert was originally supposed to take place outdoors at the 10th Street Stadium, but was moved to an indoor venue due to rain.
Indiana Daily Student, September 4, 1974 (Photo: Jim Maire):
Photo ©Neil Sharrow:
Randy backstage. Photo ©Neil Sharrow:
The Eagles played Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado on August 8th, 1976. Several members of his family were in attendance, including his wife, children, and parents.
The Eagles played the Seattle Center Coliseum in Seattle, WA on August 21st, 1975. Roger McGuinn opened. Listen to an audience recording of the Eagles’ set below.
Concert photos by Bill Sharpsteen.
Randy sang lead on “Midnight Flyer” and “Too Many Hands.”
The concert started an hour late because a sound truck was involved in an accident in Oregon.
The Eagles played the Seattle Kingdome on August 6th, 1976. Linda Ronstadt and J.D. Souther opened.
The concert was attended by more than 50,000 fans. It was only the second concert in the newly-built Kingdome. The first was Paul McCartney & Wings in June.
Original concert poster
The sound was terrible in the giant venue unless you were seated directly in front of the stage. Fans who came to hear the Eagles’ perfect harmonies couldn’t hear them unless they were near the front. Patrick McDonald of the Seattle Times, noted that due to the size of the Kingdome and the number of people in attendance, the show resembled an “indoor Woodstock” with people milling around and friends sitting together passing pipes and joints. However, unlike Woodstock, the Kingdome was equipped with a giant video screen that hung near the stage:
“One major difference was the big screen, which did give everybody a good view of what was going on on stage. They were doing different things with than at the Wings show – split screen, dissolves, extreme close-ups, etc. It was like watching In Concert on a giant TV screen except the sound is better on TV.”
Patrick McDonald, Seattle Times, August 8, 1976
This video screen footage of the Seattle concert exists as a bootleg. Below I have included the footage of Randy’s two lead-singing performances, “Take It To The Limit” and “Midnight Flyer.” I have also included “One Of These Nights” and rare footage of “Seven Bridges Road.” The entire concert is also available at the bottom.
“Take It To The Limit”
Listen to the end to hear Glenn Frey say “That was Randy Meisner, our bass player, hitting the high notes there. We love it every night.” Then Joe Walsh pipes in: “He can sing higher than that if he needs to.” (@2:36) Unfortunately, the footage starts in the middle of the song.
“Midnight Flyer”
“One Of These Nights”
“Seven Bridges Road”
Full Concert
“It should be mentioned that the Eagles’ singing was almost flawless throughout. Bassist Randy Meisner’s incredibly breathtaking vocal on ‘Take It To The Limit’ prompted Glenn Frey to remark, ‘The highest voice in the business…and he can sing higher,too.’ Their superb vocal harmonies were featured in a beautiful acoustic version of ‘Seven Bridges Road’ with drummer Don Henley stepping down to sing with the other four. It was reminiscent of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.” (Nathaniel Koch, Cooper Point Journal, Evergreen State College, August 12, 1976)
The Kingdome show was the Eagles’ second to last concert on their 1976 summer tour. Their last stop was Mile High Stadium in Denver on August 8th, 1976. Several members of Randy’s family traveled from Scottsbluff, Nebraska to see the show. Read more about it below.
The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band opened.
Ticket stub courtesy of Chris Buxton:
Dan Fogelberg opened.
This was the Eagles’ third visit to the “Queen City” (and Randy’s fourth).
Eagles at UC Fieldhouse. Photo by Tom Kistner.
Before the show, the Eagles were presented with the key to the city by Vice-Mayor William Chenault.
Eight years later, Randy, along with his mom, Emilie, was presented the key to the city during a concert in Omaha, NE at Pogo’s Electric Cowboy.
The Eagles played Olympia Stadium in Detroit on July 20th, 1976. J.D. Souther opened.
Both Glenn Frey and the concert’s opening act, J.D. Souther, were born in Detroit. In 1964, Glenn’s aunt Virginia took him to see the Beatles at Olympia Stadium, when he was 15-years-old.
The Eagles perform “Seven Bridges Road” at Olympia Stadium.
Randy sang lead on “Midnight Flyer” and “Take It To The Limit.”
The J.D. Souther opened.
Elton John, the Eagles, and Elvis all performed at Freedom Hall within the same week.
“Randy Meisner’s astonishing falsettos were consistently greeted with wild applause.”
“…everybody had either a beard or mustache except bass guitarist Randy Meisner, who looked downright clean in his Prince Valiant haircut. Meisner proved he was in the right place when he sang lead on ‘Take It To The Limit,” one of the Eagles’ smash hits.
The Eagles played the first night of the three-day festival held at the Missouri State Fairgrounds. Also appearing on the 19th were Bob Seger, Elvin Bishop and Joe Walsh.
Although promoters planned for only 50,000 concertgoers, it is believed that as many as 300,000 attended over the course of the weekend. Many lured by an ad for the festival in Rolling Stone magazine.
Ad for the festival in Rolling Stone, July 4th, 1974.
This early ad does not mention Joe Walsh, who performed on the 19th. Bruce Springsteen was billed, but did not attend.
The festival was also aimed at those who may have missed Woodstock recalled John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band:
“A lot of us missed Woodstock, including some who were there. The 1974 Sedalia concert sounded like it was going to recapture that shows legendary vibe…just like the big time, only…smaller.”
(Join Together: 40 Years Of The Rock Music Festival by Brant Marley, 2008)
The Eagles at the Ozark Music Festival. Photo by Richard Galbraith.
The Eagles appeared on the third episode of The Helen Reddy Show on July 12th, 1973. Also featured were Mac Davis, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Cheech and Chong. The Eagles played two songs: “Witchy Woman” and “Tequila Sunrise.” It was their U.S. television debut.1
On the heels of Reddy’s hit, “I Am Woman,” her friend Flip Wilson offered her his primetime NBC time slot while the Flip Wilson Show was on summer hiatus. The eight episodes were billed as Flip Wilson Presents The Helen Reddy Show.
In addition to being a guest on her show, Mac Davis also appeared in concert with Reddy numerous times in 1973. She had also recorded one of his songs, “I Believe In You,” for her 1971 debut album I Didn’t Know How To Love Him. Ironically, Reddy and Davis died on the same day (September 29th, 2020) at the same age (78).
Short clips of the Eagles’ performances of “Witchy Woman” and “Tequila Sunrise”:
Randy’s wife Jennifer, their 9-year-old son, Dana, and Jennifer’s 13-year-old niece, Bobbi, were present at the taping, which took place a few weeks earlier at NBC Studios in Burbank. Jennifer remembered that the filming was a long process, with the groups stopping and starting to make sure their performances were perfect. Gladys Knight & The Pips took the longest, she remembered. “They made me insane.”
Below is an article from the Scottsbluff Star-Herald, Randy’s hometown paper, announcing The Helen Reddy Show appearance. Included with the article was a photo of Jennifer posing with a poster from the Eagles’ concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall in March 1973 (the poster would later end up on the wall of their apartment in Studio City). Unfortunately, the article is riddled with misspellings, the most glaring is Randy’s last name. Near the bottom, the paper quotes Jennifer as saying the Eagles had finished taping a show with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. This would have been the 90-minute In Concert special on ABC, which aired August 3rd, 1973. When the Helen Reddy Show aired in Scottsbluff, Randy was home and able to watch it with his family.
