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.
J.D. Souther was also on the bill. The Eagles drew the second largest crowd ever at the festival, which was sponsored by Southern Illinois University/Edwardsville (SIUE), with 29,700 attending. The Who drew the largest in 1971 with 31,000.
The show was not without problems. Festival officials had only planned for a crowd of 12,000, but twice as many showed up. There were traffic jams, fights, and property damage.
Randy backstage before the show
There were more problems behind-the-scenes. The Eagles’ road manager “threw a tantrum” because the food provided to the group was not what they requested:
“The road manager threw a tantrum because the food furnished for the group was cold cuts, not hot fried chicken. He complained about stage security. The group itself couldn’t decide if they wanted a sound check or not.” (Alton Telegraph, July 30, 1975)
Nevertheless, backstage photos show the band’s dining area with what appears to be fried chicken remnants on the table.
The Eagles during a sound check in Edwardsville. Photo by Ken Regan.
During the afternoon of the concert, Ken Regan took a series of photos of the band at the local Holiday Inn as well as backstage at the festival site. Note that Randy is wearing a red shirt with a white tornado on the front. The shirt matched the band’s stage passes at the time, which also were also red with a white tornado logo. Randy’s ex Jennifer Meisner and their son Dana recalled that the tornado may have meant “whirlwind” or something similar. Below is one of Randy’s stage passes from 1975:
You can see Henley’s stage pass on his denim shirt in the last photo.
See more photos from this session below:
Setlist (partial)
Take It Easy
Peaceful, Easy Feeling
Outlaw Man
Desperado
James Dean
Witchy Woman
Already Gone
Best Of My Love
Randy onstage at the Mississippi River Festival:
Review from the Edwardsville Intelligencer:
The Eagles appeared at Spring Fest on the campus of Southern Illinois University/Edwardsville (SIUE).
Livingston Taylor (James’ brother) opened.
The previous night, Glenn Frey had been arrested following the Eagles’ concert at Mershon Auditorium in Columbus. He was charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana and public intoxication.
Mugshot
Glenn made no mention of the arrest in a backstage interview in Edwardsville. He talked about the difference between “superfans,” who want to get as close to the stage a possible, and music fans, who stay a few rows back because they want to hear the music.
Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey were photographed in the afternoon prior to their appearance at Spring Fest.
Photo by John Milazzo (Focus magazine, October 1974)
The Eagles onstage.
Future Eagle Joe Walsh also performed.
A month later, Randy wore a shirt from the festival in a set of photos taken by Henry Diltz.
See the rest of the photos here.
On February 22nd, 1971, Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon band kicked off a two-week stand at Mister Kelly’s in Chicago.
The following review from the underground Chicago paper, Earth, provides a partial setlist for one of the Mr. Kelly’s shows.
Hello Mary Lou
Easy To Be Free
California
She Belongs To Me
Life
Look At Mary
Honky Tonk Woman
Randy’s last name is misspelled in the review as “Meysner.”
Earth Magazine, July 1971
The Eagles played Chicago Stadium on November 11th, 1976. J.D. Souther opened.
Randy wore a shirt with the logo for Randy’s Rodeo in San Antonio, TX. He was also playing his newly acquired Music Man Stingray bass, which were just introduced that year.
Photos by David Slania.
“Best of all for me was ‘Take It To The Limit,’ played and sung with the kind of organic power that seemed rooted in the earth rather than pumped through amplifiers.” –Dick Saunders, Chicago Sun-Times.
These photos were taken while the band was in Chicago for a concert at Washington Park. One photo from this session was used for the Eagles’ first appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in September 1975, which included a piece about the band written by Cameron Crowe.
The Eagles played a concert at Washington Park in Chicago on August 9th, 1975. The band also took a series of photos on Lake Michigan, one of which appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone.
