Randy Meisner: A Retrospective

Take It To The Limit

Eagles
Madison Square Garden, March 18th, 1977

This was the third date on the Eagles’ 1977 Hotel California tour. Jimmy Buffett was the opening act.

Although this was the Eagles’ debut at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, the band played Felt Forum, the Garden’s smaller venue, back in 1972. For this sold-out appearance, the Eagles were backed by an orchestra for three songs: “Desperado Reprise,” “Wasted Time,” and “Take It To The Limit.” Three members of the Rolling Stones attended the concert: Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, and Bill Wyman. Wood accompanied the Eagles onstage for their last encore of Chuck Berry’s “Carol.”

An after-show party was given by Elektra/Asylum at the Garden’s Penn Plaza Club.

Praise for Randy:
“The event of the evening came with bassist Randy Meisner’s stunning vocalization of ‘Take It To The Limit’. In addition to sing-along support from the total audience, he received a standing ovation after each chorus.” (Record World, April 23, 1977)

Setlist
(Compiled from contemporary reviews)

Hotel California
Turn To Stone
Lyin’ Eyes
Doolin-Dalton/Desperado Reprise
Wasted Time
Take It To The Limit
New Kid In Town
Desperado
One Of These Nights
Turn To Stone
Already Gone
Life In the Fast Lane
Victim Of Love
Rocky Mountain Way
Welcome To The Club
Witchy Woman
James Dean
Take It Easy
Best Of My Love
Carol

Reviews

Rolling Stone, May 5, 1977

Record World, April 23, 1977

The After-Show Party

Among the guests were Faye Dunaway, Paul Simon, John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Linda Ronstadt and J.D. Souther. Although members of the Rolling Stones were present at the concert, they did not attend the post-concert party.

According to Rolling Stone magazine: “The guests dined on Mexican food, but only had one brand of cheap white tequila to wash down their tacos.”

Rolling Stone, May 5, 1977

Below: Glenn at the buffet table which included an ice eagle sculpture.

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EAGLES
Sunshine Festival, Anaheim, CA, September 28th, 1975

Also on the bill were Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne.

Randy performed “Take It To The Limit” at this show in one of his first-ever performances of the song. On a more bittersweet note, this was the last concert to feature the original four members of the Eagles. Bernie Leadon quit the band shortly after the Anaheim show and the Eagles did not perform again for the rest of the year. When they returned to touring in January 1976, the band included Leadon’s replacement, Joe Walsh.

Below is Robert Hilburn’s review of the festival in the Los Angeles Times, September 30th, 1975. This is the first known mention of “Take It To The Limit” in a concert review (second to last paragraph). Randy also performed “Midnight Flyer.”

eagles Randy Meisner wichita 1976

EAGLES
Henry Levitt Arena
Wichita State University
Wichita, Kansas, November 15th, 1976

J.D. Souther opened.

Randy lent his “well-groomed soprano to ‘Take It To The Limit.” (Wichita Beacon, November 16, 1976)

Wichita Beacon, November 16, 1976
The Sunflower, Wichita State Univ, November 17, 1976
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SONGBOOKS & TOUR BOOKS

Songbooks

These songbooks were released around the same time as each of the albums (Eagles & Desperado were published as one volume, back to back. Read one side, then flip it over to read the other). They included sheet music and lyrics for each song, accompanied by photos. The files below include abridged (shortened) versions of each these songbooks. All photos featuring Randy have been included. Presumably, of Randy’s three solo albums, only One More Song has a songbook.

***A couple of pages were accidentally left out of the Desperado and On The Border Songbooks. Those have been updated.

Eagles – Eagles Songbook
Published 1973, Warner Bros. Publications
Included as a two-in-one with the Desperado Songbook.

Eagles – Desperado Songbook
Published 1973, Warner Bros. Publications

Eagles – On The Border Songbook
Published 1975, Warner Bros. Publications

Eagles – One Of These Nights Songbook
1976 Warner Bros. Publications

Eagles – Hotel California Songbook
1977 Warner Bros. Publications

Randy Meisner – One More Song Songbook
1981 Warner Bros. Publications

Tour Books

To my knowledge, the Eagles only published two tour programs during Randy’s tenure with the band, one to coincide with their Japanese tour in 1976 and one for the U.S. and European tour in 1977. Tour programs were published for Randy’s Japanese tours in 1981 and 1983. The latter is extremely hard-to-find. The ’81 program is included below.

Eagles – Japanese Tour Book 1976
Book included a poster

Eagles – 1977 Hotel California Tour Book
Distributed in both Europe and America.

Randy Meisner – Japanese Tour Book 1981

EAGLES
St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, MO
November 23, 1976

Randy’s “Take It To The Limit” was “really well-performed and the crowd reaction was instantaneous, long and loud–so long, in fact, that he told the crowd it was embarrassing him, and he looked as if it were.”

St Louis Dispatch, November 24, 1976
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EAGLES
The Summit, Houston, TX
November 6, 1976

J.D. Souther opened the show and later joined the band onstage for “Best Of My Love,” which he co-wrote with Don Henley & Glenn Frey.

Houston Daily Cougar, November 9, 1976

The Summit had a four-sided video screen called a “Telscreen” which hung from the ceiling. Any band who came in to perform paid a flat fee for use of the Telscreen and received a videotape of the concert in return. These Telscreen performances were often bootlegged, hence the existing footage of the Eagles Summit show, which has never been released officially.

According to a March 5th, 1978 article in the Houston Chronicle, the Summit’s Telscreen production crew were known to add graphics to their video footage as it was happening. During concerts, they focused mainly on whoever was singing. This explains the footage of the Summit show, which included graphics between songs and very few camera angles.

At the show, Randy and Joe both wore white t-shirts bearing the logo for Criteria Studios in Miami where the band was finishing up Hotel California at the time. In fact, the previous night’s show in Baton Rouge was held up for two hours because the band was late arriving from Miami.

In 2006, Randy recalled the grueling touring and recording schedule from this period:

“We had to go out on the road while we were doing that album and then go back to Criteria Studios in Florida to finish it…We went back and forth a lot…wanted to get the tracks right and mixed right. We knew the album was special.“

Interview with Ken Sharp, 2006

Below are Randy’s two lead-singing performances from the show:

“Take It To The Limit”

“Midnight Flyer”


Click the link below to watch the concert in its entirety:
Eagles, Houston Summit, November 6, 1976

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EAGLES
Convention Center Arena, San Antonio, TX
November 2nd, 1976

J.D. Souther opened for the Eagles.

“The turning point of the show occurred when Randy Meisner, bass guitarist, sang “Take It To The Limit.” Meisner reached incredible high, sustained pitches with his strong, forceful voice that just sent shivers up the crowd’s spines. Crazed fans screamed and dashed toward the stage, where they remained until the end of the concert. Meisner received a standing ovation that lasted several minutes. When he realized the crowd wouldn’t stop, he danced and skipped around the stage which made the audience applaud even more.”

The Ranger (San Antonio College), November 12, 1976

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