Olympia Stadium Eagles concert in Detroit – July 20, 1976

The Olympia Stadium Eagles concert in Detroit was July 20, 1976, and JD Souther opened for the Eagles. This link is a short piece on JD and how he became connected to the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, the Byrds, and Poco.

The Olympia Stadium opened in October 1927, and its nickname was “The Old Red Barn”. Seating capacity was 16,000 if the upper rafters were used. Olympia Stadium is where Glenn Frey saw the Beatles twelve years earlier on Sept. 6, 1964. He talks about that experience in the History of the Eagles documentary.

The Eagles two-day concert at the Spectrum in Philadelphia was just a few days later on July 27-28, 1976.

“Everyone used to listening to mellow ‘Lying Eyes’ and ‘Tequila Sunrise’ on the car radio should take notice: country rock a la Eagles has just been kicked in the rear end. The stimulus is Cleveland guitarist Joe Walsh, who has replaced Bernie Leadon in the top guitar spot.”

Ron Ishoy of the Detroit Free Press

Olympia Stadium Eagles concert in Detroit

Joe Walsh, Randy Meisner, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Don Felder

Olympia Stadium concert ticket – $8.50

Kitchener-Waterloo Record (Kitchener, Ontario) – June 26, 1976

“They’re dropping like flies up there, explained a security guard who had just helped a young girl into the first aid stand. He said he had personally seen four or five people faint in the upper levels of the stadium.”

Detroit Free Press (Detroit, MI) – July 22, 1976

“They have no face, little personality, nothing to hang an identity on except all those millions of records sold.”

“Only Joe Walsh, recent addition to the firepower, is identifiable separately, thanks to the two hits he brought to the concert from his solo career, Rocky Mountain Way and Turn To Stone.”

“John David Souther, also from Asylum Records, opened the show with the same approach but turned down a few notches. His music doesn’t have the vigor but it does have the beauty and a growing touch for memorable phrase.”

Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario) – July 22, 1976

“Beginning with ‘Take It Easy’ through ‘Take It To the Limit’ and ‘One Of These Nights,’ the country-rock fusion popularized by the Eagles is in evidence in their renditions.”

Saginaw News (Saginaw, MI) – July 30, 1976

Detroit Free Press (Detroit, MI) – Aug. 6, 1976
A Letter to the Editor

Olympia Stadium (where the Beatles performed in 1964) opened in October 1927 and closed in February 1980