Don Felder and Joe Walsh performing their famous guitar solos during “Hotel California,” on March 21, 1977, in Landover, Maryland
They’ve long been one of the most vigilant recording acts of the YouTube era. For years, fans who have proudly uploaded Eagles concert videos to YouTube, taken with their camera phones, have seen them quickly removed. In most cases, the explanation was due to a “copyright violation.” Yet, thousands of other recording acts have generally looked at their fans’ enthusiasm of sharing the footage as a form of flattery. Sure, plenty of the clips are shot from poor vantage points and the auteurs aren’t necessarily going to win any awards for cinematography. But for music fans it’s been a great way to watch their favorite acts perform live. Those of us of a certain age recall our favorite concert performances of decades long ago only in our memories, with no existing footage to refer back to.
So it was with some surprise that on Dec. 8, 2022, Eagles uploaded to their YouTube channel eight remastered videos from their archives of some of their most iconic songs. (On April 27, 2023, live performances of two more classics were shared; watch them below.) The list includes “Hotel California” from their 1977 concert in Landover, Maryland; “Take It Easy,” shot for their Hell Freezes Over live reunion album in 1994; and a promotional clip for “In the City,” shot for their 1979 album, The Long Run.
A bootlegged version of the “Hotel California” clip has been available for years. The song was released in February 1977 and was just in its fourth week on the singles chart, so it’s thus not surprising that it was performed as the opening number, and not as an encore, at their March 21 concert at the Capital Centre.
They sound and look great.
“Take It Easy,” shot before an intimate audience at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., for an MTV reunion special, is an apt choice to be remastered. The song was their first single ever released, in 1972.
Even though “In the City” wasn’t released as a single, it became a staple of rock radio and their live sets. While the promotional clip is presented in a straightforward, shot-in-the-studio manner, what’s particularly striking is watching the members, all of whom are in their early ’30s.
Watch the remastered video for “In the City”
Clips are also up for the making of “I Can’t Tell You Why,” the less well known “Hole in the World,” the J.D. Souther composition, “How Long,” a performance clip of the 2007 track, “No More Cloudy Days,” and the music video for “Busy Being Fabulous,” also from their Long Road Out of Eden album.
Related: Our exclusive interview with the producer of 1979’s The Long Run
The clips added on April 27, 2023, are for a pair of live performances from Melbourne, Australia, for “Desperado” and “Tequila Sunrise.”
6 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationi can see their own lawyers not getting the message and blocking these clips!
Two thoughts… They should NEVER have removed Don Felder from the lineup and they should release a remastered video for Randy Meisner’s ‘Take It To The Limit’.
The “Take It the Limit “clip is just too good. Don’t think they want Meisner showing off.
YES, OMG, yes Ray. He was I believe CO-AUTHOR of HOTEL CALIFORNIA and one of the absolute best guitarists I have ever heard, Fluid, Creative, Hit the right notes in smooth succession. I don’t know what happened. But it was a tragedy. I suggest it had to do with money. When Joe Walsh joined the band, his arrival and his own music when added made this band all the more dynamite. I have scene videos after the separation of Felder and Joe doing Rocky Mountain Way, Awesome. And there is a video of Felder and the famed guitarist Peter Frampton jamming on Stevie Ray Vaughan’s song, Pride and Joy. YES we lived as generations before us with so so many bands. Their music contribution in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and beyond established a place in the hold archives of the music over the last 100 years. Gosh it was awesome. Just plain awesome.
The mid 70s Eagles were the best! The addition of Don Felder only made the Eagles better. The loss of Randy Meisner during their peak left a hole in the band. The Eagles need to get in their recording vault and officially release these recordings from the 70s. For a time the Eagles ruled the rock airwaves.
I second what Ray said. My problem with them over time is they seem to have forgotten the people that seriously helped them attain the fame that they now sell out concerts with. Nothing against the current band but they’re not that far from being a tribute band except for still having Henley in the band. For them to shut out Meisner, Leadon, and Frey from acknowledgment in events like the Kennedy Center Honors and such, tells me they think they (or should I say Henley and Frey) got to where they are on their own. That was never the case. As The Dude said, “No Eagles, Man.: He was so right….