The Eagles Bicentennial concert at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, FL included Fleetwood Mac and Loggins & Messina. This 4th of July Jubilation Concert was the day after their show at the Omni in Atlanta, GA on July 3. The Eagles concert in Charlotte, NC was earlier on July 1, 1976. According to newspaper reports, the show at the Sportatorium in Hollywood/Pembroke Pines, FL that was to have taken place July 5 was cancelled due to renovation delays at the arena.
This July 4 show was one of the last to be performed by Loggins & Mesinna before they broke up.
There is an audience audio recording below of this Bicentennial concert. It’s a full concert minus three of the encore songs.
Eagles Bicentennial concert at Tampa Stadium stage
Randy Meisner in red shirt walking in front of two security guys. Glenn Frey and Don Felder are directly behind. Then, Joe Walsh, Irving Azoff, and Don Henley bring up the rear on the left.
Glenn Frey
“We’ve been waiting a year to say Hello Tampa! We’re the Eagles from Los Angeles.“
Audience Recording of Bicentennial Concert
(Rocky Mountain Way and Witchy Woman are reversed in order from the setlist. Also, the audio cuts off shortly after Best of My Love starts.)
Poster for 4th of July Jubilation at Tampa Stadium
Tampa Stadium ticket for 4th of July Jubilation
Billboard magazine – June 5, 1976
Tampa Times (Tampa, FL) – July 1, 1976
July 4 – 4 P.M.
Tampa Stadium
Miami Herald (Miami, FL) – July 2, 1976
Ft. Lauderdale News (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) – July 2, 1976
“Except perhaps that the best pop music in the state that day may well be in Tampa, where Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Loggins and Messina are expected to draw more than 60,000 celebrants to Tampa Stadium – standing room only for some 10,000, in other words – which is fast becoming Florida’s major rock showplace.”
Miami Herald (Miami, FL) – July 2, 1976
Tampa Bay Times (Tampa Bay, FL) – July 2, 1976
“The Mac have plans to bring a giant size penguin with them on stage, and the Eagles are going to be using fireworks in the shape of the state of California with Eagles flying over it.”
Miami News (Miami, FL) – July 2, 1976
“Featured on the Bicentennial event are the Eagles, often referred to as ‘America’s Top Rock Band,’ Fleetwood Mac, who have a top-selling self-titled album, and Loggins and Messina, a popular duo from the early ’70s.”
Tampa Tribune (Tampa, FL) – July 3, 1976
Billboard magazine – July 4, 1976
“Then the Eagles flew in. Originally a slow-selling country-rock group, the Eagles have become gold record champions of the west. They played a sizeable portion of their smash tunes.”
Concert review in Tampa Bay Times (Tampa, FL) – July 5, 1976
The Tampa Bay Times prior to 2012 had been called the St. Petersburg Times.
“An estimated 40,000 rock music fans packed Tampa Stadium yesterday for the state’s major summer concert, making it the second-largest rock concert in two years at the stadium.”
Concert review in Tampa Tribune (Tampa, FL) – July 5, 1976
Tampa Times (Tampa, FL) – July 5, 1976
“Despite pleas by musicians and promoters not to ignite them, many areas of the field and some areas of the side seatings saw continual explosions of firecrackers and burning sparklers tossed in the air.”
Concert review in Tampa Tribune (Tampa, FL) – July 10, 1976
“The musical team of Kenny Loggins and Jimmy Messina have split.”
Miami News (Miami, FL) – July 7, 1976
Tampa Stadium
One thing that stood out to me was that Bob Ross, of the Tampa Bay Times, stated “the Eagles were a slow-selling country rock-group, the Eagles have become gold record champions of the west”. Now that Joe was with them they were about to explode. Good research job on this as usual, Diana. Thank you!
Oh yes, I imagine Joe was a hit with the crowd there, especially since about four of his songs were performed there that day.
Thanks Diana. What a concert that must have been and the audience audio video of the Eagles has been enjoyed in our RMMM. Loved the photos and the articles.
Thank you!
I was there, my very first concert ….just saw them in Vegas at the sphere amazing
I bet that Tampa show would have been fabulous to be at…and a lot less money for a ticket than at the Sphere. LOL
A good friend, his girlfriend, his brother, and I drove up from Lee County in their mother’s Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon. (Think, ‘That 70s Show’) While we in line to park, some guy asked us, “Hey what’s in that jug you’re passing around?” We said “Tea.” “Oh! Can I have some?” He poured himself a glass, took a big gulp, and said, “Aw man, it’s just ice tea.”
The stadium was like a frying pan, but the concert was great from beginning to end. Once the sun set it cooled down some and the paper cup fights died off. Too bad Loggins and Messina only did a few more concerts after that one. I remember Fleetwood Mac had trouble getting their penguin balloon to fly right but the music was good. The Eagles were awesome.
The two brothers I was with lived in Plant City, east of Tampa when they were younger, and wanted to see their old house. So after the show we headed that way. After seeing the house we headed south. I was driving, and everyone else fell asleep. At the stroke of midnight, somewhere on the back roads between Plant City and Fort Myers, with The Moody Blues, ‘Days Of Future Past’ playing over and over again on the 8-track, I wished myself a happy birthday. I had just turned 18.
That was certainly a nice birthday present to yourself, and a very busy day for you all! One of the newspaper articles stated it was almost 100 degrees.