In May 1975, the Eagles landed in Chicago where they played two nights at the Arie Crown Theater, appeared on the radio to debut their next single, were raffled off in a high school contest, and gave a lengthy interview to a music magazine.
The Eagles played three concerts over two nights at the Arie Crown. Opening for the band was Dan Fogelberg.
Neal Preston shot these photos of the band backstage at the Arie Crown
Review from the Chicago Sun-Times, May 11, 1975:
The Eagles onstage. Photos by Neal Preston.
Shortly after their arrival in Chicago, the Eagles and Dan Fogelberg appeared on Larry Lujack’s radio show on WCFL. During the show, the Eagles debuted their latest single, “One Of These Nights,” the title track from their upcoming album.
Journalist Cameron Crowe toured with the Eagles in 1975, gathering information for his Rolling Stone cover story, entitled “Chips Off The Old Buffalo,” published in September of that year. He opened the article with a description of the Eagles’ appearance on Larry Lujack’s radio show:
Read the full Rolling Stone article here.
One day after the Arie Crown Theater shows, the Eagles played a free concert for contest winners, McHenry High School, located just outside of Chicago. Read more below:
The Eagles played four sold-out concerts at The Forum in Inglewood, CA, October 19-22, 1976. Get all the details and hear audio from the shows, plus one complete concert.
The Eagles played the McKale Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson on October 16th, 1976. J.D. Souther was the opening act.
Photo ©Jim Davis/Arizona Daily Star
The Tucson Daily Citizen reported that the Eagles performed three tracks from their upcoming album Hotel California. Although, not listed, those songs were most likely the title track, “Wasted Time” and “New Kid In Town.”
Below: Photos from the 1977 University of Arizona yearbook.
In 1970, Randy ditched the L.A. music scene & moved back home to Nebraska. He took an 8-5 job and eventually started a new band with some guys who were attending college in Scottsbluff. They called themselves Goldrush.
In February 1973, the Eagles spent a month in London recording their second album DESPERADO. They also taped an appearance on BBC’s IN CONCERT and played a handful of shows in and around London. Get the full story here, plus never-before-seen home movie footage.
In December 1982, Randy Meisner recorded a live concert at Nick’s Uptown Theater in Dallas, TX, which later aired on the radio and was released as a live album in Japan.
Poco played Club Eastbrook in Grand Rapids, Michigan on July 19th, 1990. Kris McKay opened.
Randy opened with the show with “Rough Edges” from Poco’s then-recent album, Legacy. He also sang “Nothin’ To Hide” and his Eagles hit, “Take It To The Limit.” The review states that the band closed the concert with “Legend” calling it “their highest charting single to date.” This may have been “Call It Love” from the Legacy album. The song “Legend” from the 1978 album of the same name was never a single.
This excerpt from CANYON OF DREAMS: THE MAGIC AND MUSIC OF LAUREL CANYON by Harvey Kubernik describes Randy’s arrival in California in 1966 and his introduction to the L.A. music scene.
Randy Meisner was a farm boy, who discovered his natural gift for singing at an early age. He had visions of going to California, where “all musicians from the Midwest dreamed of being.” Here we trace his origins, going back to the Volga region of Russia, to his upbringing in rural Nebraska, all the way to the Sunset Strip.
This article from the British music magazine, Zigzag, includes a lengthy interview with Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner (mostly Bernie) by Zigzag‘s founder and editor Pete Frame. The piece also includes one of Frame’s famous “family trees,” charting the origin of the Eagles. Randy is referenced in another of Frame’s family trees charting the history of Poco (Zigzag, December 1971). See it here.
The article is not without a few discrepancies and some liberty-taking with quotes. But it is a nice, early introduction to the band from its original stars, Bernie and Randy.
Randy made his solo debut at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, CA on August 25-26, 1978. Listen to a live recording of the show.
Randy Meisner released his first solo album in June 1978, less than a year after his departure from the Eagles. Although his debut became what he later called “a desk album,” it was one Randy felt he had to make.
The Eagles, along with Melissa Manchester, The Temptations, John Sebastian and Sly & the Family Stone performed at the Schaefer Music Festival in New York City’s Central Park on August 1st & 2nd, 1973. Both nights were filmed for a TV special called ‘Good Vibrations from Central Park,’ which aired on August 23rd, 1973.
