Eagles
Pierrefonds Arena
Pierrefonds, Quebec, July 19, 1972
The Eagles opened for Procol Harum.
Eagles
Eagles in New Haven, March 26th,1977
The Eagles played New Haven, CT on March 26th, 1977. Listen to an audience recording, see rare photos, and more.
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.
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.
BANDSDrivin' DynamicsEaglesRick Nelson and The Stone Canyon BandRoberts-Meisner BandThe PoorUncategorized
Road Stories
A few entertaining vignettes from Randy’s life on the road.
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
McKale Center/Univ. Of Arizona – Tucson
October 16th, 1976
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.
Random Excerpt
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.
“Coming Into Los Angeles: The Story Of The Eagles” by Pete Frame
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.
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
Taking the Party Plane to Oakland
Using private home movie footage, shared exclusively here, we’ll follow Randy Meisner and the Eagles from LA to Oakland where they played Day On The Green on August 3rd, 1976.
Eagles at Jeppesen Stadium
Houston, TX, July 9th, 1977
The Eagles performed their last concert of the Hotel California tour at Jeppesen Stadium in Houston, TX on July 9th, 1977. Jimmy Buffett was the opening act. This was Randy Meisner’s final concert as a member of the Eagles.
The reviews below mention Randy’s performance of “Take It To The Limit,” which proves that he performed the song right up until the end of the tour. This further discredits the claims made by Glenn Frey and Don Henley in the History Of The Eagles documentary that Randy was refusing to perform the song on the tour. It was also performed early in the concert, not as an encore. The encores that evening were “James Dean,” “Take It Easy,” and Chuck Berry’s “Oh, Carol.” The latter would mark the final song Randy performed as a member of the Eagles.1
Beaumont Enterprise, July 13, 1977
“Especially memorable from the impeccably-performed set were ‘Already Gone’ and ‘Life In The Fast Lane’ with the flying fingers of Glenn Frey, Don Felder and Joe Walsh trading guitar lines. But the crowd was no less enthusiastic about Randy Meisner’s rendering of ‘Take It To The Limit’ or the long and haunting version of ‘Witchy Woman.'” (Pete Churton, Beaumont Enterprise, July 13, 1977)
Houston Post, July 10, 1977
“But, from then until I had to leave some 50 minutes later, it was a typical Eagles-set, one old favorite after another, including ‘Doolin-Dalton,’ ‘Desperado,’ ‘Lyin’ Eyes,’ and ‘Take It To The Limit,’ along with an occasional, lesser-known album cut, such as ‘Victim Of Love.'” (Bob Claypool, Houston Post, July 10, 1977)
- Get the real story about Randy’s departure from the Eagles below: ↩︎
Debunking The Myths: The Knoxville 1977 Concert, “Take It To The Limit,” and Randy Meisner’s Departure From The Eagles
The real story behind the Eagles’ 1977 Knoxville concert & Randy Meisner’s alleged refusal to sing “Take It To The Limit,” using facts from published concert reviews, plus Randy’s own words.
Keep readingEagles
Holiday Jam ’74
Miami, FL, July 7th, 1974
Leon Russell was the headlining act at Holiday Jam ’74 at the Orange Bowl on July 7th, 1974. The Band, The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Sons of Champlin also performed. It was the first rock concert ever at the Orange Bowl.
The photos below were taken by John Gellman, who recalled attending the festival:
“The Eagles were the highlight of the day. They just killed. I remember their final encore song was Out Of Control, which they dedicated to President Richard Nixon, who resigned from office less than a month later. After the Eagles played, Alan Walden, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s manager, was extremely upset backstage yelling, ‘I’m NEVER gonna let one of my bands follow that band ever again!’ Alan was right to be upset. Following the Eagles onstage was not a good place to be. The Eagles left the Orange Bowl field with a 3 touchdown lead. Skynyrd played well, but never even got close. I enjoyed the Band’s set, but did not think they played nearly as well as they did earlier in the year when I saw them with Bob Dylan. I do not remember a single thing about Leon Russell. After a hot July day in the Miami sun, I was fried by the time he hit the stage. Or maybe it was the refreshments.”
-John Gellman, “Random rock shots – The Eagles in 1974,” jgphoto.com, December 22, 2012
Photo ©John Gellman.
Photo ©John Gellman
