Eagles fans share memories of the 'On the Border' tour in Phoenix: 'We were blown away'
The Eagles were in the very early stages of establishing themselves among the biggest-selling artists in the history of rock ‘n’ roll when they rolled into Phoenix to play the Celebrity Theatre on Friday, April 5, 1974.
They’d just released an album two weeks earlier called “On the Border” that would become their highest-charting album yet in early June while spinning off their first of five chart-topping entries on the Billboard Hot 100, a country-rock ballad called “Best of My Love.”
At that point, they had three hit singles to their credit, all from the self-titled album with which they had launched their recording career as something more than Linda Ronstadt's backing band just two years earlier — “Take It Easy,” “Witchy Woman” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling.”
Their second effort, “Desperado,” an ambitious concept album with a Western outlaw theme whose title track would soon become a staple of their shows, had failed to build on that momentum.
Or as Glenn Frey summed it up with casual candor in the documentary, “History of the Eagles: The Story of an American Band,” “’Desperado’ comes out and it bombs.”
'On the Border' was exactly what the Eagles needed at the time
The Eagles knew they needed to come up with something that would prove that the hit potential they’d displayed on that first album was no fluke. And that’s exactly what they did with “On the Border.”
Months before they topped the Hot 100 with “Best of My Love,” the album spawned their first Top 40 hit since “Peaceful Easy Feeling” with the first single out of the box, “Already Gone.”
They’d also succeeded in shifting the overall vibe of their music from the peaceful easy feeling of those first two albums, whose prevailing sound was country-rock, in favor of a more straightforward rock approach, the soft-rocking brilliance of “Best of My Love” notwithstanding.
Fifty years later, the Eagles are headed to Phoenix again on the Long Goodbye, a farewell tour that required the addition of a second night at Footprint Center, a downtown Phoenix sports arena.
In 1974, they didn't need that many seats.
They were just getting started.
'I can still remember hearing 'Already Gone'
Future DJ Mike McCoy, whose father Al was a bit of a broadcasting legend by then, was in his junior year of high school at the time.
“I loved that show,” he says. “It was the early Eagles. ‘On the Border.’ I’ve seen the Eagles about six times. And that was it. The beginning. I can still remember hearing ‘Already Gone.’ It was just a great show I’ve never forgotten. Man, those songs!”
Being in radio for more than 40 years, McCoy has seen his share of memorable concerts.
“But that was a standout,” he says. “It meant so much.
"And there’s so many shows I saw back then at the Celebrity. But that show. There was something about that show that I keep going back to that one. I guess it’s because the Eagles have been such a monster act through the years and that was the very beginning."
The show was presented by Doug Clark, Bill Graham and KDKB-FM, a free-form progressive-rock station known for breaking artists in the Phoenix market.
Danny Zelisko was just getting start in concert promotion at the time, but he was at the Eagles show As he recalls, it was a great night with a big crowd.
"KDKB was playing multiple tracks off that album as soon as it came out," Zelisko says.
"And that was all that mattered in this town. It didn't matter if one other radio station played a band. If KDKB played it, it was a hit. And if it wasn't a hit before they played it, it was a hit after they played it. They had noses for great songs. And they loved those LA country cowboys."
Not everyone in Phoenix was as smitten with the Eagles as the KDKB DJs were. Jerry Davis was running sound that night.
"I don't remember anything about that concert," Davis says. "Nothing memorable about it... At that time, I just considered the Eagles a competent group of musicians with listenable songs."
The Arizona Republic praised Don Felder for adding 'flexibility'
The Arizona Republic’s Hardy Price wrote that the Eagles’ set that night at the Celebrity “almost seemed like a warmup” for their appearance the following day at a festival called California Jam that drew more than a quarter of a million music fans to the Ontario Motor Speedway with headlining sets by Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
“But the Eagles never warm up, going full blast from the opening notes of ‘Take It Easy’ right on to the encores,” Price added.
He singled out new guitarist Don Felder for “adding a flexibility that was somehow missing,” saying his slide work “adds power and impact to the full-blown rocker numbers.”
The liner notes to “On the Border” credit Felder as “a late arrival.” He was friends with founding member Bernie Leadon, who suggested his name when producer Bill Szymczyk advanced the idea of bringing in a harder-edged guitarist to add a slide part to “Good Day in Hell.”
The only other track he plays on is “Already Gone,” which peaked at No. 32 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
By the time the album hit the streets, the other Eagles had invited him to join the band.
As fate would have it, Felder missed the chance to play at California Jam when he was called away for the birth of his son. Jackson Browne, a longtime Eagles friend who co-wrote “Take It Easy,” filled in on acoustic guitar and piano.
Price’s review of the Phoenix concert also singles out Leadon and “nominal leader Glenn Frey,” concluding, “It’s easy to understand how the group has been growing in stature since they first hit the national scene two years ago.”
'We were blown away by how tight they were'
Steve Adams had become enamored with the sound of country-rock in the fall of 1973 and was thrilled to have experienced a double bill at the Celebrity with Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt on Jan. 21, 1974.
"Then a couple friends and I heard the Eagles were gonna come to the Celebrity in April," Adams says. "And we were so excited."
To say the Eagles lived up to his expectations would be an understatement.
"We were blown away by how tight they were instrumentally and how amazing all five of them sang," he says.
"The five-part harmonies were smack on key. And the versatility. The ‘On the Border’ album, that was the beginning of a new sound for the Eagles. They were starting to get a little more rock in their sound while still trying to hang onto the more acoustic, countrified sound they had."
Adams, who was in his sophomore year at Phoenix College, says the Eagles were the tightest band he'd ever seen.
"We were amazed at how well Bernie Leadon picked the banjo," he says. "Three different guys are playing lead guitar, taking solos. And they were so tight instrumentally, vocally and harmonically. I was like ‘Whoa!’ It was like listening to the album."
'One of the great highlights of my concert-going life'
The setlist drew on all three albums they'd released by then.
"So it was an interesting contrast," Adams says.
His favorite songs they played that night included "Take It Easy," "Midnight Flyer," "James Dean," "Already Gone," "Ol' 55" and "Desperado."
"That was one of the great highlights of my concert-going life, seeing the Eagles for the first time," Adams says. "And growing up here, shows at the Celebrity, that was the mecca for us."
As much as he enjoyed the concert, Adams recalls being taken aback by something Frey said as the show was winding down.
"Glenn Frey gets on the mic and I’m paraphrasing, but he says, ‘Well, we’re gonna have to cut this short. We’ve gotta load up the trucks ‘cause we’ve got some big festival to do tomorrow afternoon in Ontario, California," Adams says.
"My friends and I are looking at each other like, ‘What?! What are we, chopped liver here in Phoenix? We bought our tickets too and you’re blowing out on us?! Really?!' It took us by surprise. We'd all grown up in Phoenix and we had our pride. I thought, boy, that took some spine. But we didn’t hold it against them."
The “On the Border” tour returned to Phoenix on Dec. 29, 1974, for a concert at Civic Plaza Assembly Hall.
In June 1975, the Eagles followed “On the Border” with “One of These Nights,” their first chart-topping album and their final studio release before they gathered all those early hits together on the biggest-selling greatest-hits collection of all time, “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975).”
By the time they made it back to Phoenix on Sept. 25, 1975, the “One of These Nights” Tour played Phoenix Municipal Stadium. And they never looked back.
The Eagles Long Goodbye Tour in Phoenix
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 19 and 20.
Where: Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix.
Admission: Resale ticket prices vary.
Details: 602-379-7800, ticketmaster.com.
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EdMasley.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The Eagles were about to blow up when their tour hit Phoenix in 1974
