Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, 1974
An inside look at the Eagles’ appearance on DON KIRSHNER’S ROCK CONCERT in April 1974.
The Eagles on ABC’s IN CONCERT, 1973
The Eagles appeared on ABC’s In Concert series on August 3rd, 1973. The 90-minute show also included Ike & Tina Turner and Jim Croce, among others.
The show was taped on June 20th, 1973 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
Below: The Eagles were photographed during a soundcheck.
Randy is wearing an unusual knit shirt covered with faces that he purchased at L.B. Murphy’s, a department store in his hometown of Scottsbluff, NE.
Tickets to the taping were free to UCLA students. Several concert segments were filmed in one day.
IN CONCERT
The Eagles performed “Tequila Sunrise,” Early Bird,” and “Witchy Woman.” Randy wore another shirt with a Scottsbluff connection for the taping: a yellow Frank Implement Company shirt. Frank Implement was a John Deere dealership in Scottsbluff, which was owned by the father of a friend. Randy worked there for a brief time in 1970. His only real job.
Video
In 1974, The Who’s drummer, Keith Moon, hosted an In Concert second anniversary special, which revisited performances from the past two seasons. Below is his introduction to the Eagles segment.
Below are the three songs the Eagles performed on In Concert in 1973. Apologies for the low quality.
“Tequila Sunrise”
“Early Bird” (co-written by Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner)
“Witchy Woman”
The Eagles played to 200,000 at the music festival, California Jam, held at the Ontario Motor Speedway outside of Los Angeles. The concert was produced by ABC and simulcast on TV and radio on May 10th, 1974. Jackson Browne filled in on several songs with the band in the absence of Don Felder, whose wife went into labor on the day of the concert.
California Jam from above. Photo by Mark Sullivan.
Two stages were used that were perched on 600 feet of railroad track. As one band played, the other stage was set up for the next act, then rolled onto center stage. The stages can be seen under the striped canopies. The semi-circle of trailers behind the stages were the bands’ dressing rooms.
The Eagles played a 45-minute set (only 20 minutes was televised)
(Not in order of performance)
James Dean
Blackberry Blossom
Midnight Flyer
Already Gone
Take It Easy
Tequila Sunrise
Witchy Woman
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Early Bird
Outlaw Man
Below is a clip of the Eagles’ intro from the radio simulcast on ABC’s KLOS-FM in Los Angeles:
Heading to the stage:
L-R: Glenn Frey (behind the door), Don Henley, Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, and road manager, Richie Fernandez.
Bernie, Randy (blue shirt), Glenn and Don
Randy at Cal Jam.
According to Jennifer Meisner, the eagle on his shirt was hand-embroidered by a fan.
Photo ©Jeffrey Mayer
Photos by Julian Baum
Randy performing “Midnight Flyer” from On The Border, which had just been released:
The footage below includes the five songs that aired in the televised concert on May 10th, 1974:
“James Dean”
“Blackberry Blossom”
“Midnight Flyer”
“Already Gone”
“Take It Easy”
Post-show interview with Bernie Leadon (San Diego Door, May 14, 1974)
Although Bernie talks mostly about the band’s music and albums up to 1974, he did voice his frustration to interviewer Greg Leonard about the band’s mid-day performance at Cal Jam:
“Bernie had just returned from what he felt was a frustrating performance in the mid-day heat. When I met him he was nursing a glass of champagne trying to relax after the tension of playing outdoors, with no prior soundcheck, before nearly 200,000 people.”
Reviews and further reading.
“The Eagles played the most aesthetically satisfying set of the day.”
POCO
The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson
November 17th, 1989
Poco performed their hit “Call It Love”
Show schedule signed by the band.
Popgala ’73
A closer look at the Eagles appearance at Popgala, a two-day, made-for-TV pop festival in Voorburg, Netherlands, which featured thirteen bands, and aired a week later on Dutch television.