Eagles – One Of These Nights (1975)
A behind-the-scenes and song-by-song look at the Eagles’ fourth studio album, ONE OF THESE NIGHTS, released in 1975.
Eagles
Univ. of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN
July 24, 1975
The Eagles played the Athletic & Convocation Center at Notre Dame in South Bend, IN on July 24th, 1975. Poco was the opening act.
Eagles
Civic Center, Springfield, MA
May 15th, 1975
The Eagles played the Civic Center in Springfield, MA on May 15th, 1975. Dan Fogelberg opened. Listen to an audience recording of the Eagles’ set below.
Audience Recording
“Midnight Flyer”
“Too Many Hands”
Full Concert:
Recording Setlist
Take It Easy
Outlaw Man
Doolin-Dalton
Desperado (reprise)
Train Leaves Here This Morning
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Desperado
Ol’ 55
One Of These Nights
Blackberry Blossom
Midnight Flyer
Journey Of The Sorcerer
Too Many Hands
Already Gone
Good Day In Hell
James Dean
Witchy Woman
encores:
Chug All Night
Best Of My Love (Dan Fogelberg on piano)
Tequila Sunrise (Dan Fogelberg on piano)
Eagles
Music Hall, Boston MA
May 14, 1975
The Eagles played the Music Hall in Boston, MA on May 14th, 1975. Dan Fogelberg opened. An audience recording exists of the Eagles’ set. Listen to it below.
Randy sang lead on “Midnight Flyer” and “Too Many Hands.”
“Midnight Flyer”:
“Too Many Hands”:
Boston Globe concert review: “Too Many Hands,” a cut from the new LP, offered an expanded blues sound, a far cry from “Desperado.”
Full Concert:
Setlist
Take It Easy
Outlaw Man
Doolin’ Dalton
Train Leaves Here This Morning
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Desperado
OL’ 55
One Of These Nights
Twenty One
Midnight Flyer
Journey Of The Sorcerer
Too Many Hands
Already Gone
Good Day In Hell
James Dean
Witchy Woman
Chug All Night
Best Of My Love (Dan Fogelberg on piano)
Boston Globe review:
Eagles
Tampa Stadium, Tampa FL
May 31, 1975
The Eagles played Tampa Stadium on May 31st, 1975. Opening the show were Linda Ronstadt, Seals and Crofts, the Charlie Daniels Band and Michael Stanley. Listen to an audience recording of the Eagles’ set below.
Audience Recording
Randy sang lead on “Midnight Flyer” and “Too Many Hands.”
Reviews
Billboard Talent Awards, June 4, 1976
On June 4th, 1976, Billboard magazine held an Awards Dinner as part of their 4-day Talent Forum at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. Bill Graham was the emcee. The Eagles picked up an award for Talent Attraction of 1975.
Below: Randy and Don Henley accept the award at the ceremony.
Randy’s ex-wife Jennifer Meisner accompanied him to the awards dinner. Instead of taking a limo, Randy drove them to the ceremony in his vintage red 1940 Ford pickup:
Jennifer:
“Randy and one of the others accepted the award. I remember the menu, Beef Wellington and Baked Alaska for dessert. Randy and I didn’t take a limo. We decided to take his restored old red pickup. My niece Bobbi was out there and had to babysit the kids, she wanted to see Peter Frampton.”
Below: Randy and his vintage red pickup truck. The pickup was restored by a friend of his cousin, Tony Meininger. Randy still had the pickup when he passed away in 2023.
The shirt Randy wore to the ceremony was made by his mother. He later gave the shirt to his nephew, Doug Datel, Bobbi’s brother. Doug is wearing the shirt in the photo below.
The “High School Desperadoes” Take Chicago
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.
Eagles at the Arie Crown Theater, Chicago, May 10-11, 1975
The Eagles played three concerts over two nights at the Arie Crown. Opening for the band was Dan Fogelberg.
Backstage
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:
Eagles
Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, VA
May 25, 1975
The Eagles played the Richmond Coliseum on May 25th, 1975. Linda Ronstandt opened.
Photo courtesy of Joan Shaver
According to the review in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the highlights of the evening were the two songs on which Randy sang lead: “Too Many Hands” and “Midnight Flyer.” The author of the latter, Paul Craft, was in the audience.
“The high points were a sizzling ‘Too Many Hands’ and Paul Craft’s churning ‘Midnight Flyer,’ the author, in the Coliseum audience, is not likely to hear his song done that well again.”
C.A. Bustard, Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 27, 1975
Eagles at the Cotton Bowl
Dallas, TX, July 6th, 1975
On July 6th, 1975, the Eagles, along with Trapeze and Montrose, opened for the Rolling Stones at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The Stones were on their legendary Tour Of The Americas.
With temperatures in the upper 90s, it was a hot afternoon in Dallas. The Eagles hit the stage around 5:00pm. In keeping with previous outdoor concerts on the Stones’ Tour of the Americas, the bands performed under a tent-like dome (see Kansas City and Milwaukee).
The Eagles’ set lasted for a little over an hour. They kicked it off with “Take It Easy,” and ran through a string of hits, including “Witchy Woman” and “Desperado.” They closed with encores of Chuck Berry’s “Carol” and “Best Of My Love.” Although Randy’s lead-singing performances were not mentioned in any review, it’s likely that he performed “Midnight Flyer” and “Too Many Hands,” which were part of the Eagles’ setlist in the Summer of 1975.
Randy at the Cotton Bowl.
Most reviews of the Dallas concert focused on the Rolling Stones since they were not only the headliners, but one of the most popular bands in the world in 1975. The Houston Post review below did the best job at detailing at least a few of the songs that the Eagles performed (see second column).
Photos
All images below ©Watt Casey.
EAGLES
IOWA STATE FAIRGROUNDS, DES MOINES
JULY 27, 1975
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.
Concert Review
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.
Elton John’s Mid-Summer Music at Wembley Stadium, June 1975
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.
I’ve Always Been A Dreamer: The Story of “Take It To The Limit”
From its origins to its continued legacy, the story behind Randy Meisner’s signature song.
Eagles
Seattle Center Coliseum
August 21st, 1975
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.
Audience Recording
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.
