Randy handed out water to sweltering fans. His high note on “Take It To The Limit” was compared to opera soprano, Anna Moffo.
“Bassist Randy Meisner gave the crowd a good rush when he took a note in ‘Take It To The Limit’ that Anna Moffo would be proud to call her own. Meisner had a great rapport with the crowd. At least twice he came to the aid of fans sweltering on the front lines of the surging floor crowd with some liquid relief. They appreciated it and showed so by making him come to the mike to take a bow for his high note.”
Russ Edmonston, Greensboro Daily News, June 28, 1977
Notice that Randy is playing a black Hagstrom bass. A change from his usual Rickenbacker 4001 from the Hotel California tour. He played the black Hagstrom a few days earlier in Birmingham as well. Find out more about Randy’s basses here.
Randy wore the yellow Morehead jersey he purchased in the bookstore at Morehead State University when the band played a concert there the week before. He’ll wear it again in early 1974 during the taping of Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert.
This date marked the end of their two-month long tour opening for Yes. It was an unlikely pairing of country rock and prog rock bands. Before Yes, the band had also toured extensively as an opening act for Jethro Tull and Joe Cocker. Randy remembered: “There was always a question of how we would go down with those kinds of bands but we always seemed to get a good response.” He also remembered that it was the first time anyone in the band had ever toured to that extent and they took full advantage of the perks of being touring rock musicians: “I was married at the time, but I was on the road and away from my wife and I fell off the wagon once or twice. Anybody who has been in my position and says they didn’t is lying. It was very exciting to us because it was the first time any of us had been on the road to that extent and so we were a bunch of innocents. Traveling and touring was all new to us. We just didn’t know.” (The Story Of The Eagles: The Long Run, Marc Shapiro, 1995)
Lead singer Jon Anderson recalled that the Eagles had a surprise for the band after the Charlotte show:
“The last show we did with Eagles -we became friends – I love these guys – they were great – we finished our show – 15,000 people – we get up-stage, backstage, there’s no lights, it’s all dark, and it’s like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ And there were guys with flashlights, like, ‘Come this way, the lights are gonna open up.’ “What happened was: we finished up in the room, and it was so dark, couldn’t see anybody, and then all of a sudden the lights came on, and there was a table set up with the Eagles standing behind with two dozen pies, they threw these cream pies at us, and I joined in, and it was the best time ever.” (Interview with Jon Anderson, Radio Forrest, August 2020)
