The Eagles played the Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State University in Ames. J.D. Souther opened.
Photos from the ISU Bomb yearbook (1977)
J.D. Souther opened.
According to the review, Randy’s soprano on “Take It To The Limit” sent the audience into a “frenzy,” and “Midnight Flyer” brought out the cowboys in the crowd.
In the photos, Randy is playing a Music Man Stingray bass, which had just been introduced that year.
Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band performed at the Houston Music Theater on December 27th, 1969.
Below: L-R: Randy Meisner, Rick Nelson, and Allen Kemp
Rick was interviewed the UT/Austin newspaper, The Daily Texan, in the dressing room before the Houston show. Tequila sours were passed around, but Rick declined. The band members were asked what they thought of Rick as a person and performer (no band members were mentioned by name): “A sensitive and fair, understanding and easy-going guy.” The article also included a less-than-positive review of the show. The reviewer felt that Rick exuded no personality and just stood there and sang. He was also criticized for singing too much country and western and not enough of the earlier hits he was known for.
Below: Rick backstage with local Houston rock photographer, Larry Lent.
Randy opened for The Beach Boys in his first concert appearance in two-and-a-half years.
Critics praised Randy’s performance, and his opening set was a highlight of the evening.
Bob Claypool, Houston Post, February 13, 1981:
“On a brighter note, there was a fine opening set from former Eagle Randy Meisner, who had plenty of new stuff to offer, including such country-rockers as ‘Hearts On Fire’ and “Come On Back to Me.”
Dale Adamson, Houston Chronicle, February 14, 1981:
“The only real bright spot to Thursday’s show was ex-Eagle Randy Meisner’s opening set. Although he hasn’t quite developed into a forceful bandleader yet, his group’s tight harmonies and bright country rock sound”“particularly on tunes like “˜Heart’s On Fire’ and “˜Trouble Ahead'”“provided the only fully satisfying musical moments in an otherwise altogether forgettable evening.”
Randy backstage with local Houston rock photographer Larry Lent:
Following the concert, Randy gave a rare and candid interview to Dale Adamson of the Houston Chronicle. Read it below:
Randy Meisner returned to the stage in Houston, Texas on February 12th, 1981, following a two-and-a-half year absence from performing. After the show, he sat down with Dale Adamson of the Houston Chronicle for a candid backstage interview.
The Eagles played The Summit in Houston, TX, November 6, 1976. J.D. Souther opened. A bootleg film of the concert exists. Watch it below.
J.D. Souther later joined the Eagles onstage for “Best Of My Love,” which he co-wrote with Don Henley & Glenn Frey. He also wished Glenn a happy birthday. The concert was filmed using the Summit’s in-house video system. Footage of Randy’s lead-singing performances, as well as the full concert, are included below.
The Summit had a four-sided video screen called a “Telscreen” which hung from the ceiling. The screens displayed concerts in real-time for audience members who were not close to the stage. Any band who came in to perform paid a flat fee for use of the Telscreen and received a videotape of the concert in return. These Telscreen performances were often bootlegged, hence the existing footage of the Eagles Summit show, which has never been released officially.
According to a March 5th, 1978 article in the Houston Chronicle, the Summit’s Telscreen production crew were known to add graphics to their video footage as it was happening. During concerts, they focused mainly on whoever was singing. This explains the footage of the Summit show, which included graphics between songs and very few camera angles.
At the show, Randy and Joe both wore white t-shirts bearing the logo for Criteria Studios in Miami where the band was finishing up Hotel California at the time. In fact, the previous night’s show in Baton Rouge was held up for two hours because the band was late arriving from Miami.
In 2006, Randy recalled the grueling touring and recording schedule from this period:
“We had to go out on the road while we were doing that album and then go back to Criteria Studios in Florida to finish it…We went back and forth a lot…wanted to get the tracks right and mixed right. We knew the album was special.“
Interview with Ken Sharp, 2006
The less-than-complimentary review in the Houston Chronicle noted that the band looked and sounded “frayed around the edges,” this was perhaps due to their touring/recording schedule from the time period:
More flattering reviews were found in the Houston Post and the University of Houston’s Daily Cougar newspapers. The Post proclaimed Randy’s performance of “Take It To The Limit” to be “one of the true crowd-pleasers of the evening.”
“Take It To The Limit”
“Midnight Flyer”
Complete Film (This is not the full concert)
The song order in the video does not follow the actual setlist for the Summit concert. The Eagles opened with “Take It Easy,” not “Hotel California.” The performance of “Take It Easy” is not included in the film, neither is “Doolin-Dalton,” which was also played, according to the Chronicle review.
Footage setlist:
Hotel California
Lyin’ Eyes
Wasted Time
Take It To The Limit
Desperado
Midnight Flyer
Turn To Stone
Already Gone
One Of These Nights
Funk 49
Good Day In Hell
Rocky Mountain Way
Witchy Woman
James Dean
Best Of My Love (with J.D. Souther)
Walk Away
Tequila Sunrise
The band arrived two hours late from Miami where they were putting the finishing touches on Hotel California.
Opening the show was J.D. Souther. Randy performed “Midnight Flyer” and “Take It To The Limit.”
Photo by concertgoer Debbie Ray:
According to a description of the show in LSU’s 1977 Gumbo yearbook, someone in the audience threw an object at Randy during “Tequila Sunrise” hitting him on the side of the head:
“As the group was arrayed across the stage singing, ‘Tequila Sunrise,’ someone threw an object from the side of the stage which hit bass player Randy Meisner on the side of his head. He grimaced but continued playing until the song’s conclusion when he picked up the object and hurled it back in the general direction from which it had come. Dropping his bass with an amplified thud he stalked off stage in a huff as the rest of the group received the applause oblivious to the whole incident.” (Gumbo yearbook, 1977, Louisiana State University)
All photos from LSU’s Gumbo yearbook (1977):
According to the review in LSU’s Daily Reveille, Randy’s solo on “Take It To The Limit” was a highlight (5th paragraph).
The band’s late arrival is mentioned in the Baton Rouge Advocate review, November 6, 1976:
Jeffrey Comanor opened
The Eagles opened for the Beach Boys.
J.D. Souther opened for the Eagles.
“The turning point of the show occurred when Randy Meisner, bass guitarist, sang ‘Take It To The Limit.’ Meisner reached incredible high, sustained pitches with his strong, forceful voice that just sent shivers up the crowd’s spines. Crazed fans screamed and dashed toward the stage, where they remained until the end of the concert. Meisner received a standing ovation that lasted several minutes. When he realized the crowd wouldn’t stop, he danced and skipped around the stage which made the audience applaud even more.”
The Eagles played two nights at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, CO on August 18th and 19th, 1975. Dan Fogelberg and Tom Waits were the warmup acts.
The Eagles at Red Rocks by Bob Ferbrache, who worked for promoter Barry Fey (Feyline).
An early ad for the show listing only Tom Waits as the opener. It also included the original dates of the concerts: August 19th and 20th.
The Eagles’ previous album, On The Border, featured a song, “Ol’ 55,” that was written by fellow Asylum artist, Tom Waits, who opened the show. According to an audience account, Waits was booed off the stage before he completed his set on the first night:
“Unfortunately Tom was booed off the stage before he could do a whole set, presumably because the Eagles fans were more accustomed to sweet than dour. The headliners were not pleased, and made a big point of emphasizing the identity of the composer of ‘Ol 55’ when the time came.” (Ken Langford, Tom Waits Library)
It’s interesting that Waits would perform at this show since he disliked the Eagles version of his song and said so publicly in early 1975:
“It’s one of the first songs I wrote so I felt like it was kind of flattering that somebody wanted to do your song but at the same time I thought their version was a little antiseptic.” (WAMU interview, Washington DC, 1975)
The next year his comments about the band were even more harsh when he told the British music magazine, New Musical Express, that their albums were only good for “keeping the dust off your turntable.” One can’t help but wonder if getting booed at this concert added to his contempt for the band.
The Doobie Brothers, Commander Cody, and Kingfish also performed.
Elton John joined the Eagles onstage as a guest.
During their first encore, surprise guest, Elton John, joined the Eagles for a version of Chuck Berry’s “Oh Carol.”
A week earlier, on June 21st, the Eagles performed at Elton’s Mid-Summer Music Concert at Wembley Stadium in London.
The review below has a nice description of the Eagles’ set:
Elton and Glenn Frey backstage. The woman in the photos is Connie Pappas (later Connie Pappas Hillman), who worked for John Reid Enterprises, who managed Elton. 1
Neal Preston took a series of photos of the group backstage.
See more photos here: Eagles by Neal Preston – Day On The Green, Oakland, CA, June 29th, 1975
Promoter Bill Graham gave each member of the band a gift for participating in Day On the Green. It was a figure with an eagle head made of iron on a wooden bass with a metal plaque. Randy’s eagle head currently resides with his son, Dana. The inscription on Randy’s plaque reads: “Randy, Cheers and thanks. Bill & the F.M. Family, June 29, 1975.” The “F.M.” refers to FM Productions, a company founded by Graham that mostly handled concert promotions.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Meisner
Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band played an eleven-night stand at the famous Bitter End nightclub in Greenwich Village. It was the first stop on a month-long tour of the East. Although the Stone Canyon Band had been together since the Spring of 1969, they had only played one live date–a week-long stand at the Troubadour in April. The subsequent months were spent rehearsing and recording. Among these recordings was Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band’s first single, a cover of Bob Dylan’s “She Belongs To Me,” which was released in August 1969 to coincide with the tour.
Below: watch their performance of Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin'” filmed by David Nelson at the Bitter End. Although we hear pedal steel, there is no steel player on stage. The Stone Canyon Band was only a foursome at this point (Rick Nelson, Randy Meisner, Allen Kemp and Pat Shanahan). The audio here is from Rick Nelson In Concert, recorded at the Troubadour a couple of months later in October 1969, with Tom Brumley on pedal steel. Notice at 1:44 that Randy is playing a red Gibson bass, a switch from his usual gold Fender Precision from this period.
“I’m Walkin'” – Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band, Bitter End, NYC, August 1969
The Eagles headlined the “One Of These Days” concert at Balboa Stadium in San Diego. Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt also performed.
The show was filmed and portions of it were shown on Saturday Night Live With Howard Cosell (not to be confused with long-running NBC show).
Randy’s yellow shirt, with the hand-embroidered design from On The Border, was a gift from a fan named Terri “Woody” Smith. The family still has this shirt. Smith also gave Randy a blue shirt with a hand-embroidered eagle pattern (see it here).
Round stage pass (see Randy’s jeans above) from Jennifer Meisner’s scrapbook.
The following review is not the most positive, but provides a good description of the show and the songs that were played.
