{"id":11347,"date":"2026-07-20T08:14:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T03:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11347"},"modified":"2026-07-20T08:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T03:14:25","slug":"heres-the-strange-way-the-eagles-played-their-first-gig-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11347","title":{"rendered":"Here&#8217;s The Strange Way the Eagles Played Their First Gig Together"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/tags\/the-eagles\/\">Eagles<\/a> weren&#8217;t even a separate group when they played their first gig together on July 12, 1971.<\/p>\n<p>The musicians who would go on to dominate popular music in the &#8217;70s and &#8217;80s performed together publicly for the first time in public as a backing group for superstar <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/tags\/linda-ronstadt\/\">Linda Ronstadt<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and at a pretty unexpected venue.<\/p>\n<h3>What Did the Eagles Do Before Playing Together?<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/tags\/don-henley\/\">Don Henley<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/tags\/glenn-frey\/\">Glenn\u00a0Frey<\/a>, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner were all veterans of various groups in Southern California&#8217;s burgeoning country-rock scene in the early &#8217;70s when they were picked to back Ronstadt in a new band\u00a0\u2014 in fact, that&#8217;s why they were selected.<\/p>\n<p>Henley had performed as a drummer in a group called Shiloh, which <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/tags\/kenny-rogers\/\">Kenny Rogers<\/a>\u00a0first <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/kenny-rogers-helped-form-the-eagles\/\">discovered in Dallas<\/a> and brought to Los Angeles to record, while Frey had worked in a duo called Longbranch Pennywhistle with J.D. Souther.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>READ MORE:<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/don-henley-eagles-desperado-story-behind-the-song\/\">Why Don Henley Wants a Do-Over on an Eagles Classic<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Meisner had played in Rick Nelson&#8217;s Stone Canyon Band, and Leadon had performed with the Flying Burrito Brothers prior to playing with Ronstadt, who hand-selected them to form a group of country-rock &#8220;all-stars&#8221; to back her on her <em>Silk Purse<\/em> Tour in 1971.<\/p>\n<h3>When Did the Eagles Play Their First Show Together?<\/h3>\n<p>The new group made its debut backing Ronstadt during a performance at Disneyland on July 12, 1971.<\/p>\n<p>The chemistry between the band members was so undeniably special that Henley and Frey soon approached Ronstadt to inform her of their intention to split off and form a new band of their own with those musicians, leaving her to once again hire an entirely new group.<\/p>\n<p>Though the lineup was short-lived behind Ronstadt\u00a0\u2014 the Disneyland show was, in fact, their only show with her\u00a0\u2014 the sound of them playing together with her was immortalized on her self-titled third studio album, released in 1972.<\/p>\n<p>All four original Eagles appear on various tracks of that album, but they would waste no time making a mark of their own.<\/p>\n<h3>When Did the Eagles Release Their Debut Album?<\/h3>\n<p>The Eagles released their self-titled debut album on June 1, 1972, and they were successful straight out of the gate, scoring hits with &#8220;Take It Easy&#8221; (which Frey co-wrote with his friend and then-neighbor, <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/jackson-browne\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jackson Browne<\/a>), &#8220;Witchy Woman&#8221; and &#8220;Peaceful, Easy Feeling.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>The Eagles<\/em> reached No. 22 on <em>Billboard&#8217;<\/em>s US Pop Albums chart and was certified Platinum after selling more than a million copies, setting the band on a course to become one of the most successful in rock music history.<\/p>\n<div class=\"photogallery-wrapper blog-photogallery \">\n<h2 class=\"photogallery-title\">PICTURES: See Inside Eagles Songwriter J.D. Souther&#8217;s Stunning California Estate<\/h2>\n<div class=\"photogallery-description\">\n<p>A luxurious one-of-a-kind-estate that was previously owned by legendary Eagles songwriter J.D. Souther is currently up for sale, and pictures show a stunning property that offers privacy and spectacular views of nature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"photogallery-credit\">Gallery Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/author\/sterlingwit\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sterling Whitaker<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/popcrush.com\/rest\/carbon\/api\/scripts.js?mver=63&#038;gver=10&#038;bid=252&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fbtloader.com%2Ftag%3Fo%3D5642230212591616%26upapi%3Dtrue&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.p-n.io%2Fpushly-sdk.min.js%3Fdomain_key%3DQt0jyGgiLtltNrdtnDzncATqSK9PT5Eib9iw&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Ftownsquare.media%2Fpublic%2Fresources%2Fjs%2Fpubcid.min.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fplatform.twitter.com%2Fwidgets.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fapis.google.com%2Fjs%2Fplatform.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fconnect.facebook.net%2Fen_US%2Fsdk.js&#038;urls[]=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.pinterest.com%2Fjs%2Fpinit.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" async defer data-osano=\"ESSENTIAL\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Eagles weren&#8217;t even a separate group when they played their first gig together on July 12, 1971. The musicians who would go on to dominate popular music in the &#8217;70s and &#8217;80s performed together publicly for the first time in public as a backing group for superstar Linda Ronstadt\u00a0\u2014 and at a pretty unexpected&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/townsquare.media\/site\/204\/files\/2026\/07\/attachment-eagles-1.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}