september 1975 at balboa stadium in san diego

[tom gamel@]

what a day!!! the concert started in the afternoon with some small group then proceeded to jackson brown, linda ronstadt then the eagles. it was being shown on howard cosell's show from new york so we'd have to wait while he dicked around with commercials and yapp,yapp,yapp like he always did. the he'd intro the group and they would play----then it was great!! jackson brown was new but already good. linda was incredible!!!!!! that red dress, that voice---heat wave, you're no good------every body was going wild!!!!!!! then the eagles-what a show---in between the cosell crap. then cosell was done and they said 'ok this is for you people' and they played and played, linda joined them. it was just so cool, i think it was like midnite or so when it finished. i've only seen a kinda rough clip of linda doing you're no good on you tube altho it seems there was one a couple years ago of heat wave. it would be cool if the cosell tapes showed up----somebody must have them-----you'd see a show like none you've seen before.

[My My]

Very cool that you were there, Tom! I remember watching the show since I had seen the Eagles a month earlier here in Indianapolis. I never saw Jackson Browne or Linda in concert, but wish I had. Dan Fogelberg opened for them here and he was great! I've read an LA Times review about the Balboa concert (Saturday) and the Anaheim concert the next day. The small opening act was Toots & the Maytals, a reggae group. From the review: "The weekend show followed similar formats but the results were decidedly different due to some interference Saturday because portions of that concert were televised live as part of Howard Cosell's new variety show. The momentum in Ronstadt's set, for instance, was broken beyond repair when she had to wait between numbers for the signal from New York that the network was ready for her spot. She later had to rush off without an encore so the Eagles could be on stage before Cosell's hour show was off the air. The audience seemed enthused about all the television activity at first, but grew increasingly restless. When the Eagles set was held up at one point so Cosell cohort Alex Karras could come out in an Elton Johnish costume and carrying a 9-foot guitar, large portions of the audience booed vigorously."
Somewhere in one of the picture threads here on The Border, there is a picture of Karras in that costume and there was a lot of discussion about it! Thanks for sharing your memories!

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I am always a little envious whenever I read anything about Eagles' 70's concerts since I was never able to go to one. Those of you who did are very lucky so thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Tom. Hope you don't mind, but I moved your post into this sub-forum so it doesn't get lost at the bottom of the page.

[Brooke]

Tom, very cool that you got to see that show! Thanks for sharing!

[New Kid In Town]

Tom, I agree - very cool that you were at that concert. I hope one day someone will find the footage from the HC Show and put it on youtube.

[rockretro1]

what a day!!! the concert started in the afternoon with some small group then proceeded to jackson brown, linda ronstadt then the eagles. it was being shown on howard cosell's show from new york so we'd have to wait while he dicked around with commercials and yapp,yapp,yapp like he always did. the he'd intro the group and they would play----then it was great!! jackson browne was new but already good. linda was incredible!!!!!! that red dress, that voice---heat wave, you're no good------every body was going wild!!!!!!! then the eagles-what a show---in between the cosell crap. then cosell was done and they said 'ok this is for you people' and they played and played, linda joined them. it was just so cool, i think it was like midnite or so when it finished. i've only seen a kinda rough clip of linda doing you're no good on you tube altho it seems there was one a couple years ago of heat wave. it would be cool if the cosell tapes showed up----somebody must have them-----you'd see a show like none you've seen before.

I went to this 1975 concert and photographed the entire show. Linda Ronstadt really sang great but unfortunately she did have to wait to be filmed for the broadcast. When the Eagles came on, everyone went crazy as the band broke into "Take It Easy." I was up on top of an ice chest, taking pictures over everyone's heads. And there was lots of booing with Alex Karras coming out and standing next to this giant guitar. He looked ridiculous in that orange wig! The band played "Already Gone" and Karras sang on the same mike with Glenn, playing a fake guitar, which he smashed up and through into the air. The whole thing was so crazy I decided to take pictures of everything. But the best part of the show came after that when the group went into "James Dean" and other songs from "On the Border." One of the last songs was a cover of Chuck Berry's "Carol." They rocked out on that one! I went home really late, glad to have seen such a fantastic show.

[rockretro1]

Very cool that you were there, Tom! I remember watching the show since I had seen the Eagles a month earlier here in Indianapolis. I never saw Jackson Browne or Linda in concert, but wish I had. Dan Fogelberg opened for them here and he was great! I've read an LA Times review about the Balboa concert (Saturday) and the Anaheim concert the next day. The small opening act was Toots & the Maytals, a reggae group. From the review: "The weekend show followed similar formats but the results were decidedly different due to some interference Saturday because portions of that concert were televised live as part of Howard Cosell's new variety show. The momentum in Ronstadt's set, for instance, was broken beyond repair when she had to wait between numbers for the signal from New York that the network was ready for her spot. She later had to rush off without an encore so the Eagles could be on stage before Cosell's hour show was off the air. The audience seemed enthused about all the television activity at first, but grew increasingly restless. When the Eagles set was held up at one point so Cosell cohort Alex Karras could come out in an Elton Johnish costume and carrying a 9-foot guitar, large portions of the audience booed vigorously."
Somewhere in one of the picture threads here on The Border, there is a picture of Karras in that costume and there was a lot of discussion about it! Thanks for sharing your memories!

i photographed this entire show, which included Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles. I didn't take the group picture with Alex Karras, although I've got some closeups from that part of the show and there's one at this site, with Karras's wild orange hair visable behind Glenn Frey. This was a great concert back then--everyone sounded really good. The previous month I also photographed another unbelievable show at Balboa Stadium that included Lynyrd Skynyrd, Fleetwood Mac, Loggins and Messina and Rod Stewart and the Faces. Tickets went for around $10 back then. Times sure have changed!

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Welcome to The Border, rockretro1. If you photographed the entire show, I would like to extend a belated 'thank you' for this. And, yeah, I also remember the days of $10 tickets. During my teenage years, my mom would not allow me to go to rock concerts. But, by the time the Eagles came along, I was a little older and could have gone to see them. Problem was, I was now on my own and couldn't afford to buy tickets. Poor, poor, pitiful me!

[sodascouts]

Welcome guys and I also am really envious of people who were able to go to shows back then. It sounds like it was lots of fun.

RockRetro - love the photo! So this is where it was from!

[NightMistBlue]

I love the photos from the Balboa show; they seem bathed in a golden light. It would be even more wonderful if/when/please Lord the film footage shows up.