Eagles Carolina Coliseum, Columbia, SC June 21, 1977
The Eagles played Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, SC on June 21st, 1977. Andrew Gold opened.
Charleston News & Courier, June 4, 1977
“Immobile, shy-looking hassist Randy Meisner steps to the mike for his one lead vocal of the evening, on ‘Take It To The Limit.’ Perhaps it’s his lack of postering, or just some quality in his voice, or just that he feels what he’s singing, but he reaches an evocative plane that no one else has touched this evming.” (Barbara Ballinger, USC Osceola, July 1, 1977)
Osceola, July 1, 1977
“A personal favorite they sang was “Take It To The Limit” with Randy Meisner singing the lead with lines such as ‘When there’s nothing to believe in…still you’re coming back for more’ and ‘take it to the limit one more time.” (Linda C. Owens, The State, June 22, 1977)
Randy Meisner โa seemingly shy, introverted type with plain, straight hair who seems out of place among the more flashy, mustachioed members of the band.โ Edward Fennell, Charleston News & Courier, June 25, 1977)
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
Hartford Courant, March 28, 1977
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.
Philadelphia Inquirer, July 4, 1976
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:
Sounds, August 14, 1976
“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.
Houston Chronicle, June 5th, 1977
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: โฉ๏ธ
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.
On 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 the Hamburg show on May 15th (left) and Stockholm on May 17th (right), Randy got a haircut, which is noticeable in the photos below.
May 15 (long hair)
May 17 (short hair)
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.”ย
May 17 Grรถna Lund, Stockholm
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.
Photo ยฉRoland Schrรถder
Review of the Stockholm show from unknown Swedish music magazine, 1977:
Photo ยฉGai Terrell
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:
Photo ยฉRoland Schrรถder
Photo ยฉGai Terrell
May 18th, 1977 Scandinavium, Gothenburg
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.
“Take It To The Limit” – Gothenburg, Sweden, May 18, 1977
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
Monroe Doctrine (Monroe Community College), March 25, 1977
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
Cooper Point Journal, August 12, 1976
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
Footage
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
Reviews
“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)
Cooper Point Journal, Evergreen State College, August 12, 1976
Seattle Times, August 8, 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.
