Randy opened for Little River Band
Randy with his band: Denny Carmassi on drums, Dixon House (top) on keyboards, Tom Erak on bass and Sterling Smith on piano. (Exponent, November 9, 1982)
Florida Today writer, Billy Cox, attended the show. He had seen the Eagles back in 1975 at Greensboro (NC) Coliseum. He’d paid $10 (a lot of money in those days) for a seat behind the stage in the “nosebleed section.” But he didn’t complain. “We were lucky just to get in.” Now, seven years later, he was seeing Randy Meisner, one of the original foursome, at a Cocoa Beach nightclub.
Cox:
“It was strange to see him so close, and at only $5 a head. Not that he looked any different from the album covers, but here was some genuine symbolism. Randy Meisner, one of the Eagles’ original foursome (along with Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon), had wound up at Brassy’s nightclub in Cocoa Beach.
“His soprano rang with soaring conviction, and when he performed his two trademark songs, which established him on creative parallel with main songwriters Henley and Frey –“Take It To The Limit” and “Try And Love Again” –the old magic was clearly at work here.”
After the show, Cox interviewed Randy backstage, where he unloaded, in uncharacteristic fashion, about his former Eagles bandmates, Don Henley and Glenn Frey. “I’m tired of covering up for those guys,” he said. He was angry and didn’t care who knew it.
“You bet I’m (angry). I may get sued for this but I really don’t care. I’m tired of covering up for those guys…I’ve been protecting the scoop and I want the truth to come out. You want a story, you got one.”
Randy’s show was plagued with sound problems, especially on “Deep Inside My Heart” and “Never Been In Love.” Nevertheless, he remained friendly and pleasant onstage, even with his crew, who had to turn off a spotlight that was burning the side of his face. Both reviews below include portions of a backstage interview with Randy, who talked about his future plans, including an upcoming tour of Japan (“for some reason they love me “), as well as recording and producing a new album the next year in Dallas with live sound engineer Buford Jones. This album ended up as the Dallas LP, which was recorded at Nick’s Uptown Theater and released in Japan in 1983. It was reissued on CD in the U.S. as Live In Dallas in 2003.
This was a free concert. The show started almost two hours late due to rain and temperatures in the 50s.
The preview of the concert below features a nice little write-up about Randy. The only inaccuracy is that it states that the first Poco album, Pickin’ Up The Pieces, made no mention of Randy. He is acknowledged in the credits, but not pictured.
Below, a couple tries to stay warm waiting for the concert to begin.
Randy opened for the Little River Band.
Randy spoke briefly backstage after the show, where he referred to himself, while he was a member of the Eagles, as “Harrison to Glenn and Don’s Lennon-McCartney.”
Several photos from this session were used in the official program for Randy’s January 1983 tour of Japan.
Photographer: George Holz
Location: Los Angeles (possibly Studio City).
A photo from this session was used on the back cover of Randy’s final solo LP from 1982, Randy Meisner. Like his 1978 debut, he poses with one of his (green) cars. Here it’s a Jaguar XJS. This same car can also be seen in the People magazine article from January 1981.
Additional poses.
