Poco
Tower Theater
Houston, TX, August 27, 1990
Poco played the Tower Theater in Houston on August 27th, 1990. Kris McKay was the opening act.
Photos via rockinhouston.com
Poco
Live In Dallas
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.
Eagles at Jeppesen Stadium
Houston, TX, July 9th, 1977
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)
- Get the real story about Randy’s departure from the Eagles below: ↩︎
Debunking The Myths: The Knoxville 1977 Concert, “Take It To The Limit,” and Randy Meisner’s Departure From The Eagles
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 readingEagles at the Cotton Bowl
Dallas, TX, July 6th, 1975
On July 6th, 1975, the Eagles, along with Trapeze and Montrose, opened for the Rolling Stones at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The Stones were on their legendary Tour Of The Americas.
With temperatures in the upper 90s, it was a hot afternoon in Dallas. The Eagles hit the stage around 5:00pm. In keeping with previous outdoor concerts on the Stones’ Tour of the Americas, the bands performed under a tent-like dome (see Kansas City and Milwaukee).
The Eagles’ set lasted for a little over an hour. They kicked it off with “Take It Easy,” and ran through a string of hits, including “Witchy Woman” and “Desperado.” They closed with encores of Chuck Berry’s “Carol” and “Best Of My Love.” Although Randy’s lead-singing performances were not mentioned in any review, it’s likely that he performed “Midnight Flyer” and “Too Many Hands,” which were part of the Eagles’ setlist in the Summer of 1975.
Randy at the Cotton Bowl.
Most reviews of the Dallas concert focused on the Rolling Stones since they were not only the headliners, but one of the most popular bands in the world in 1975. The Houston Post review below did the best job at detailing at least a few of the songs that the Eagles performed (see second column).
Photos
All images below ©Watt Casey.
Nearing The End – The Eagles At Fort Worth, July 1977
The Eagles performed two nights in a row at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas on July 7-8, 1977. These shows marked the next to last concert appearances of Randy Meisner with the band.
RICK NELSON & THE STONE CANYON BAND
Houston Music Theater
December 27, 1969
Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band performed at the Houston Music Theater on December 27th, 1969.
Below: L-R: Randy Meisner, Rick Nelson, and Allen Kemp
Rick was interviewed the UT/Austin newspaper, The Daily Texan, in the dressing room before the Houston show. Tequila sours were passed around, but Rick declined. The band members were asked what they thought of Rick as a person and performer (no band members were mentioned by name): “A sensitive and fair, understanding and easy-going guy.” The article also included a less-than-positive review of the show. The reviewer felt that Rick exuded no personality and just stood there and sang. He was also criticized for singing too much country and western and not enough of the earlier hits he was known for.
Below: Rick backstage with local Houston rock photographer, Larry Lent.
RANDY MEISNER
The Summit, Houston, TX
February 12, 1981
Randy opened for The Beach Boys in his first concert appearance in two-and-a-half years.
He gave a memorable performance, as witnessed by Dale Adamson, from the Houston Chronicle, who felt Randy’s set was the “bright spot” of the whole evening:
“The only real bright spot to Thursday’s show was ex-Eagle Randy Meisner’s opening set. Although he hasn’t quite developed into a forceful bandleader yet, his group’s tight harmonies and bright country rock sound–particularly on tunes like ‘Heart’s On Fire’ and ‘Trouble Ahead’–provided the only fully satisfying musical moments in an otherwise altogether forgettable evening.”
Adamson interviewed Randy backstage after the concert. Read the full interview here.
Randy backstage with local rock photographer Larry Lent:
Following the concert, Randy gave a rare and candid interview to the Houston Chronicle. Read it below:
Interview with the Houston Chronicle, February 1981
Randy Meisner returned to the stage in Houston, Texas on February 12th, 1981, following a two-and-a-half year absence from performing. After the show, he sat down with Dale Adamson of the Houston Chronicle for a candid backstage interview.
EAGLES
The Summit, Houston, TX
November 6, 1976
The Eagles played The Summit in Houston, TX, November 6, 1976. J.D. Souther opened. A bootleg film of the concert exists. Watch it below.
J.D. Souther later joined the Eagles onstage for “Best Of My Love,” which he co-wrote with Don Henley & Glenn Frey. He also wished Glenn a happy birthday. The concert was filmed using the Summit’s in-house video system. Footage of Randy’s lead-singing performances, as well as the full concert, are included below.
The Summit had a four-sided video screen called a “Telscreen” which hung from the ceiling. The screens displayed concerts in real-time for audience members who were not close to the stage. 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
The less-than-complimentary review in the Houston Chronicle noted that the band looked and sounded “frayed around the edges,” this was perhaps due to their touring/recording schedule from the time period:
More flattering reviews were found in the Houston Post and the University of Houston’s Daily Cougar newspapers. The Post proclaimed Randy’s performance of “Take It To The Limit” to be “one of the true crowd-pleasers of the evening.”
Video
“Take It To The Limit”
“Midnight Flyer”
Complete Film (This is not the full concert)
The song order in the video does not follow the actual setlist for the Summit concert. The Eagles opened with “Take It Easy,” not “Hotel California.” The performance of “Take It Easy” is not included in the film, neither is “Doolin-Dalton,” which was also played, according to the Chronicle review.
Footage setlist:
Hotel California
Lyin’ Eyes
Wasted Time
Take It To The Limit
Desperado
Midnight Flyer
Turn To Stone
Already Gone
One Of These Nights
Funk 49
Good Day In Hell
Rocky Mountain Way
Witchy Woman
James Dean
Best Of My Love (with J.D. Souther)
Walk Away
Tequila Sunrise
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.”
