This live recording archive features songs that Randy sang lead or co-lead on between 1972-1977, during his tenure with the Eagles.
The Eagles played Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New Haven, CT on March 26th, 1977. Jimmy Buffett opened. Listen to an audience recording of the Eagles’ set below.
“Take It To The Limit”
Full Concert Recording
Recording Setlist
Hotel California
Walk Away
Doolin Dalton/Desperado Reprise
Lyin Eyes
Take It To The Limit
New Kid In Town
Desperado(Cut)
One Of These Nights
Turn To Stone
James Dean
Best Of My Love
Funk#49
Take It Easy
Already Gone
Victim Of Love
Life In The Fast Lane
Rocky Mountain Way
Witchy Woman
See more dates on the Hotel California Tour below:
The Eagles played the Spectrum in Philadelphia, PA on July 27th-28th, 1976. Boz Scaggs opened.
Randy sang lead on “Midnight Flyer” and “Take It To The Limit,” which was “an obvious fave of the crowd,” according to Peter Crescendi from Sounds magazine. “Meisner’s sustained howl near the song’s end had everyone roaring with approval and appreciation.” Read the rest of the review below:
“Of special note were Meisner’s falsetto work on ‘Take It To The Limit’ and Don Henley’s soulful vocals on ‘Desperado.” …Only the Beach Boys can really match them for the number and variety of voices available.” (Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, August 14, 1976)
The Eagles played four sold-out concerts at The Forum in Inglewood, CA, October 19-22, 1976. Get all the details and hear audio from the shows, plus one complete concert.
In December 1982, Randy Meisner recorded a live concert at Nick’s Uptown Theater in Dallas, TX, which later aired on the radio and was released as a live album in Japan.
Randy made his debut as a solo performer at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, CA on August 25th & 26th, 1978. A live recording exists from the show.
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)
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 readingOn May 17th and 18th, 1977, the Eagles played two concerts in Sweden. These were the final dates of their 1977 European tour. An audience recording exists of Randy’s performance of “Take It To The Limit” at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg, their final tour date. Listen to it below.
The band arrived in Stockholm following their appearance inย Hamburg on May 15th. At some point between Hamburg on May 15th (left) and Stockholm on May 17th (right), Randy got a haircut, which is noticeable in the photos below.
Randy’s first wife, Jennifer, and son, Dana, had joined him for the European tour. Jennifer recalled Randy singing to her at their hotel in Sweden:
Jennifer: “He always liked to sing ‘Jennifer Juniper’ to me. I remember it so well in Sweden. Iโm in the hotel room, old hotel, I hear him singing as he was coming down the hall.” (via personal correspondence with Jennifer Meisner)
The Eagles performed their first Scandinavian show at the Grรถna Lund amusement park in Stockholm. It was windy and cold, as noted by the long sleeves and Randyโs turtleneck.
Review of the Stockholm show from unknown Swedish music magazine, 1977:
The Eagles equipment stacked up on the Stora Scenen stage at Grรถna Lund Amusement Park, Stockholm.
Photo ยฉJonte Strรถmberg
The Eagles onstage in Stockholm, May 17th, 1977:
This show was their final gig of the 1977 European tour. Listen to an audience recording of the concert below.
Setlist
Hotel California
Walk Away
Victim Of Love
Lyinโ Eyes
Take It To The Limit
New Kid In Town
Desperado
One Of These Nights
Turn To Stone
Already Gone
Life In The Fast Lane
Rocky Mountain Way
Witchy Woman
James Dean
Randy performing โTake It To The Limitโ in Gothenburg, May 18th, 1977. The audio is a bit sluggish, but Randyโs stunning performance of the song is the perfect coda for their European tour.
The Eagles played the War Memorial Auditorium in Rochester on March 19th, 1977.
Randy performed both โTake It To The Limitโ and โTry And Love Againโ at this show. According to the review, his high note in TITTL was โnothing short of amazingโฆand about three octaves above any sound human beings are usually able to sing.โ
From its origins to its continued legacy, the story behind Randy Meisner’s signature song.
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 the Seattle Kingdome on August 6th, 1976. Linda Ronstadt and J.D. Souther opened.
The concert was attended by more than 50,000 fans. It was only the second concert in the newly-built Kingdome. The first was Paul McCartney & Wings in June.
Original concert poster
The sound was terrible in the giant venue unless you were seated directly in front of the stage. Fans who came to hear the Eagles’ perfect harmonies couldn’t hear them unless they were near the front. Patrick McDonald of the Seattle Times, noted that due to the size of the Kingdome and the number of people in attendance, the show resembled an “indoor Woodstock” with people milling around and friends sitting together passing pipes and joints. However, unlike Woodstock, the Kingdome was equipped with a giant video screen that hung near the stage:
“One major difference was the big screen, which did give everybody a good view of what was going on on stage. They were doing different things with than at the Wings show – split screen, dissolves, extreme close-ups, etc. It was like watching In Concert on a giant TV screen except the sound is better on TV.”
Patrick McDonald, Seattle Times, August 8, 1976
This video screen footage of the Seattle concert exists as a bootleg. Below I have included the footage of Randy’s two lead-singing performances, “Take It To The Limit” and “Midnight Flyer.” I have also included “One Of These Nights” and rare footage of “Seven Bridges Road.” The entire concert is also available at the bottom.
“Take It To The Limit”
Listen to the end to hear Glenn Frey say “That was Randy Meisner, our bass player, hitting the high notes there. We love it every night.” Then Joe Walsh pipes in: “He can sing higher than that if he needs to.” (@2:36) Unfortunately, the footage starts in the middle of the song.
“Midnight Flyer”
“One Of These Nights”
“Seven Bridges Road”
Full Concert
“It should be mentioned that the Eagles’ singing was almost flawless throughout. Bassist Randy Meisner’s incredibly breathtaking vocal on ‘Take It To The Limit’ prompted Glenn Frey to remark, ‘The highest voice in the business…and he can sing higher,too.’ Their superb vocal harmonies were featured in a beautiful acoustic version of ‘Seven Bridges Road’ with drummer Don Henley stepping down to sing with the other four. It was reminiscent of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.” (Nathaniel Koch, Cooper Point Journal, Evergreen State College, August 12, 1976)
The Kingdome show was the Eagles’ second to last concert on their 1976 summer tour. Their last stop was Mile High Stadium in Denver on August 8th, 1976. Several members of Randy’s family traveled from Scottsbluff, Nebraska to see the show. Read more about it below.
Andrew Gold opened both shows. Steve Miller made a guest appearance on the 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
“Bassist Randy Meisner gave an outstanding singing performance on ‘Take It To The Limit.'”
Bill King, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 21st, 1977
Eagles onstage, June 20th, 1977. Photo ยฉKelly Campbell.
Review: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 21st, 1977
The Eagles played Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC on June 27, 1977. Andrew Gold opened. This concert was one night before the infamous Knoxville concert where Randy and Glenn Frey had a backstage fight.
During the concert, Randy handed out water to sweltering fans, and 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 1977 Hotel California tour. He played the black Hagstrom a few days earlier in Birmingham as well. Find out more about Randy’s basses here.
Photo by Marc Y. Chenevert:
At some point during this stop in Greensboro, Randy was interviewed by Lou O’Neill, Jr from the New York Post. The short interview was published on July 15th, 1977. Read it below:
An interview with Randy Meisner published in the New York Post, July 15th, 1977.
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