The Eagles played Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom on April 26th, 1974. The Marshall Tucker Band was the opener.
Photo ©Kirk West
Review: Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1974
Photos ©Kirk West
The Eagles played the Iowa State Fairgrounds on July 27th, 1975. The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Dan Fogelberg and J.D. Souther also performed.
With temperatures in the 90s, Randy’s first wife, Jennifer, remembered shopping with Randy to find a visor to wear onstage:
“It was so hot, we were running all over town to find Randy a sun visor. I remember sitting in the hotel room looking through the yellow pages, which I always did everywhere we went.”
Also in attendance that day were Jennifer’s cousins, Connie and Mike Hall, from Missouri. Connie recalled that they got to sit on the stage as the band performed and ride in the limo with Randy and Jennifer after the show. The photo below was taken at the hotel.
L-R: Jennifer, Randy, Connie, and Mike. Do not share without permission.
The next night, the Eagles played the Civic Auditorium Arena in Omaha, NE. According to Jennifer, Randy wanted to drive instead of taking the limo:
“Randy decided he didn’t want to take a limo to Omaha, so he rented a car and the two of us really enjoyed the drive, stopping at a little drive-in to eat, like the A&W back then. Two of our high school friends, Pam and Dave, who lived in Omaha, came to the concert and back to the hotel.”
All quotes from Jennifer Meisner via personal correspondence.
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 Eagles pose with Randy’s cousin, Nan Jill, at the Travelodge hotel in Denver.
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, 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 writer thought the Eagles were the best act of the evening.
The Eagles’ 1976 tour of New Zealand and Australia is highlighted, with photos, audio, and home movie footage.
A detailed look at the making of the Eagles’ 1972 debut album and the importance of Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon in the Eagles’ early success.
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 concert. According to the review, his high note in “Take It To The Limit” 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.
Poco (then known as Pogo) performed as part of Beverly Hills High School’s annual “Jazz Night.” Three Dog Night was also on the bill.
Original concert flyer
Page from the 1969 edition of the Beverly Hills High School yearbook, with photo of Richie Furay
Meisner, Rich & Swan played the Buffalo Rose in Golden, CO, on January 12, 1995. Patrick Shanahan, Randy’s former bandmate from The Poor and Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band, attended the show.
Below: Patrick and Randy at the Buffalo Rose. Patrick’s wife, Janet, between them. A friend of the Shanahans on the left. Photo courtesy of Patrick Shanahan.
Randy was interviewed by the London-based music magazine during the Eagles’ tour of Europe in March 1973.
An inside look at Randy Meisner’s overlooked contributions to Poco’s groundbreaking debut album, PICKIN’ UP THE PIECES.
An interview with Poco’s Randy Meisner and Jim Messina from the Japanese music magazine, ADLIB.
Randy and his backing band, the Silverados, played two shows each night at The Bottom Line. Rosanne Cash opened.
Randy’s two-night stint at the Bottom Line turned out to be disastrous for him. He was sick with laryngitis, there were sound issues, and he even walked offstage during the early show on the first night. Making matters worse, the audience was filled with New York music critics and representatives from his record company, Epic Records. One could pass it off as just a bad night, but having a bad night in a popular New York City venue makes headlines. Sadly, this is how it turned out for Randy.
Photos ©Ebet Roberts
During the early (9:00pm) show on March 11th, Randy performed about five songs before stomping offstage after being heckled by a member of the audience. He had been annoyed with the Bottom Line’s sound system, griping at one point: “I’m sorry I can’t play guitar for ya. If I can’t hear it, I can’t play it.” He was also struggling with his voice due to laryngitis. Right before the song “Hearts On Fire,” from his latest album, One More Song, Randy commented on his vocal problems: “The Silverados are doing a lot better than I am tonight,” which drew a response from a heckler: “That’s for sure!” Several in the audience applauded the heckler. Randy responded by laying down his guitar and walking offstage, leaving one of his male band members to finish the song. He did not return. Randy explained later, “I had to go to the dressing room, pound on the bathroom wall and get it out of my system. It’s that old showbiz thing–you gotta keep on smiling.” Randy came back for the late show that night and performed his entire set with no issues. He did the same for the two shows the next evening as well. Nevertheless, it was the first night’s debacle that became fodder for the newspapers.
In the April 30th, 1981 issue of Rolling Stone, the incident was detailed on the magazine’s “Random Notes” page:
Beginning in 1974, Rolling Stone began syndicating its “Random Notes” column to reach a wider audience, therefore the story of Randy’s opening at the Bottom Line was featured in over 100 newspapers across the country. Below is a sampling of the Bottom Line incident from a few of those newspapers:
The incident was also published in Billboard magazine, April 4, 1981:
The most mean-spirited review was from Wayne Robins’ of Long Island’s Newsday, who said he wanted to “shake Meisner by the shoulders and say, ‘This is New York, cowboy, quit kvetching and start playing.'” However, his comments about Randy’s backup singer, Therese Heston, were all the more harsh. “Wearing Sergio Valentes, the designer jeans of the terminally macho, she constantly pointed attention to herself by idiotically strumming an invisible guitar. In every song, she seemed to be saying, ‘Look at me! I’m on the stage!'”
The short New York Times’ review wasn’t much better, but did say Randy’s late show performance was an improvement, but “not very interesting.”
