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.
Straight Creek Journal, March 12, 1974
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.
The Eagles played Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado on August 8th, 1976. Several members of his family were in attendance, including his wife, children, and parents.
The Eagles played Olympia Stadium in Detroit on July 20th, 1976. J.D. Souther opened.
Both Glenn Frey and the concert’s opening act, J.D. Souther, were born in Detroit. In 1964, Glenn’s aunt Virginia took him to see the Beatles at Olympia Stadium, when he was 15-years-old.
Detroit Press, June 27, 1976
The Eagles perform “Seven Bridges Road” at Olympia Stadium.
Randy sang lead on “Midnight Flyer” and “Take It To The Limit.”
The Eagles appeared on the third episode of The Helen Reddy Show on July 12th, 1973. Also featured were Mac Davis, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Cheech and Chong. The Eagles played two songs: “Witchy Woman” and “Tequila Sunrise.” It was their U.S. television debut.
On the heels of Reddy’s hit, “I Am Woman,” her friend Flip Wilson offered her his primetime NBC time slot while the Flip Wilson Show was on summer hiatus. The eight episodes were billed as Flip Wilson Presents The Helen Reddy Show.
In addition to appearing on her show, Mac Davis also appeared in concert with Reddy numerous times in 1973. She had also recorded one of his songs, “I Believe In You,” for her 1971 debut album I Didn’t Know How To Love Him. Ironically, Reddy and Davis died on the same day in 2020 (September 29th) at the same age (78).
Deseret News, July 12, 1973
The Eagles’ appearance on the Helen Reddy Show marked their U.S. television debut.1 Watch short clips of their performances of “Witchy Woman” and “Tequila Sunrise” below:
(Sources: 2018 promo video for Eagles Legacy Box Set. History Of The Eagles documentary, 2013)
Randy’s wife Jennifer, their 9-year-old son, Dana, and Jennifer’s 13-year-old niece, Bobbi, were present at the taping, which took place a month or two earlier at NBC Studios in Burbank. Jennifer remembered that the filming was a long process, with the groups stopping and starting to make sure their performances were perfect. Gladys Knight & The Pips took the longest, she remembered. “They made me insane.”
Below is an article from the Scottsbluff Star-Herald, Randy’s hometown paper, announcing The Helen Reddy Show appearance. Included with the article was a photo of Jennifer posing with a poster from the Eagles’ concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall in March 1973 (the poster would later end up on the wall of their apartment in Studio City). Unfortunately, the article is riddled with misspellings, the most glaring is Randy’s last name. Near the bottom, the paper quotes Jennifer as saying the Eagles had finished taping a show with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. This would have been the 90-minute In Concertspecial on ABC, which aired August 3rd, 1973. When the Helen Reddy Show aired in Scottsbluff, Randy was home and able to watch it with his family.
Images
In March 1973, the Eagles made two European television appearances on Popgala ’73 and BBC’s In Concert. Although the Reddy show marked the Eagles’ U.S. television debut, this was not Randy’s first stint before television audiences. His group, The Poor, appeared on episodes of Ironside and The Name Of The Game in 1968. He also made a number of TV appearances with Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band between 1969 and 1971. ↩︎
The Eagles opened for the Rolling Stones at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Joe Walsh, who was not billed, joined them as their guest. The Stones were on their legendary 1975 “Tour Of The Americas.” Opening along with the Eagles were The Gap Band and Rufus featuring Chaka Khan.
Tour poster, 1975. Keyboardist Billy Preston and guitarist Ron Wood appeared as part of the Rolling Stones’ touring band. Wood was not yet an official member of the group.
The bands performed under a tent-like dome on the stage.
Randy’s stage pass/badge for the Arrowhead stadium concert still exists with his family. The badge was pinned to his jeans in the photo on the right. Photo of the badge courtesy of Jennifer Meisner.
Below: Joe Walsh made a surprise appearance with the Eagles for a version of his own “Rocky Mountain Way.” Notice that Randy, who normally plucked his bass with his fingers, is using a pick for this song. Other songs on which he used a pick were “Good Day In Hell” and “Lovin’ You Every Minute” by Poco.
Photos
Roadie Tommy Nixon is in both photos wearing a hat and red shirt.
The Eagles exit the stage. Randy is behind Eagles manager, Irving Azoff.
Roadie, Tommy Nixon, hands Don Henley a towel. Behind Henley is another roadie, Tony Taibi, in the Eagles shirt.
This was the Eagles’ first time opening for the Rolling Stones. In his memoir, Don Felder recalled the Eagles’ road manager, Richie Fernandez, setting up a meeting with the Stones in their hotel room the night before the concert. Felder claims it was the first time he’d ever seen heroin. He’d also hoped to meet Keith Richards, but he was nowhere in sight. He was later found motionless in the bathroom. Felder thought he was “a goner.” (Excerpt from Heaven And Hell: My Life With The Eagles by Don Felder).
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (alive and well) onstage in Kansas City, June 6, 1975
The Eagles played the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville on June 23rd, 1977. The day before, the band played a game of softball against radio and record company personnel.
The Eagles onstage in Nashville. Andrew Gold opened.
Review from the Nashville Tennessean.
The day before the concert, the Eagles, aka “The Party Plane,” played a softball game against Elektra-Asylum personnel and local radio celebrities. Randy is in the background in the top right photo.
Randy’s yellow and white “Party Plane” shirt (photos courtesy of Jennifer Meisner):
Playing for the opposing team was slide guitar aficionado, Mac Gayden. Below Gayden recalls (via Facebook) the softball game and mentions that he was initially considered as Bernie Leadon’s replacement before Walsh was added.
In 1976, when the Eagles were recording Hotel California at Criteria Studios in Miami, Gayden was in an adjacent studio at Criteria recording his album, Hymn To The Seeker. Gayden asked Randy to sing background on the song, “Someone Whispered.” It’s an overlooked gem in the Meisner canon of guest appearances. Check it out.
This show was originally slated for August 14th, but had to be rescheduled due to rain.
Randy wore a t-shirt with the anti-war slogan: “War Is Not Healthy For Children & Other Living Things.” The shirt matched a sticker he added to his gold Fender bass in 1971.
Andrew Gold opened both shows. Steve Miller made a guest appearance on the 19th.
June 19th
“Randy Meisner, the bass guitarist, lifted the show to a new level of excitement with his singing of ‘Take It To The Limit.'” Scott Cain, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 20th, 1977
June 20th
“Bassist Randy Meisner gave an outstanding singing performance on ‘Take It To The Limit.'” Bill King, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 21st, 1977
On July 6th, 1972, the Eagles opened for Procol Harum at Golden Hall, which was located at the San Diego Community Concourse facility. It was the second of two Southern California gigs. The first was two nights at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, also opening for Procol Harum. Following the San Diego concert, the Eagles were interviewed backstage by a young journalist named Cameron Crowe.
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, June 30, 1972.
A photo of the band was taken backstage at Golden Hall by Gary Elam, a friend of Cameron Crowe, who interviewed the band in their dressing room for the underground paper, The San DiegoDoor.
L-R: Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, Don Henley, and Bernie Leadon.
In 2015, Crowe recalled attending the concert and meeting the Eagles backstage. However, he mistakenly recalled that the concert took place at the San Diego Civic Theater. He also states that the Eagles opened with “Seven Bridges Road.” I can find no evidence of the Eagles performing that song until 1976. He probably meant the folk ballad “Silver Dagger, ” which was an early a cappella opening for “Take It Easy.”
Cameron Crowe:
“‘Take It Easy’ had only been out a few months in the summer of 1972. I was a big fan of the song, and was still in high school when the Eagles came to the San Diego Civic Theatre. They were the opening act on a bill with Procol Harum and Cold Blood, and the Civic Theatre was a few blocks from my house. I bought a ticket, and brought my tape recorder. The idea was to slip backstage and talk the band into an interview for the local underground paper, The San Diego Door.
The Eagles opened the evening without an introduction. The lights lowered, and they began with an a cappella version of ‘Seven Bridges Road,’ quickly adding instruments and swinging into ‘Take It Easy.’ They were fierce and joyful, playing with all the piss and vinegar of a young band hitting its early stride. I slipped backstage with my photographer friend from high school, Gary Elam, and asked their road manager if I could interview the band. They were eager to talk. Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner all hung out in a tiny dressing room and spent hours detailing their history and their dreams of hitting the big-time. ‘If you like us, you should check out our friend Jackson Browne and John David Souther,’ Glenn Frey said excitedly, clutching a long-neck Budweiser. They posed for a photo by the amps, arms around each other, and we exchanged phone numbers. I stayed in touch with them. (Little did I know, that fuzzy group shot would be one of the only known photos of all four original members hugging each other. Looking at it today, it has the same slightly surreal quality of one of those photos of the Loch Ness Monster.) –“Cameron Crowe Looks Back On His Eagles Cover Story,” Rolling Stone, August 17, 2015.
Below is the interview from the San Diego Door, November 3rd, 1972. Randy is not quoted, except to tell Crowe that he “liked to listen.”
“Meisner kept silent throughout the following conversation, choosing to remain quietly attentive. Later he responded with a ‘“’I like to listen.’ Hopefully, it was sincere.”
