My first stadium concert took place at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands with the Eagles, Heart and Little River Band opening; a pretty damn good line up. We sat on the side of the football stadium about midway back facing the left side of the stage and I recall that the weather was pretty good that day for this large scale event. My biggest recollections from this show are not music related however. As far as I recall, this Eagles tour came with the first hundred dollar ticket price. The second, and what really annoyed the hell out of me at the time, was that the Eagles added a surcharge to the parking fee to go towards a donation to one of their charities. They had already charged the highest face value ticket price that I was aware of at the time, but then the Eagles had the gall to take the opportunity to separate their fans out of an additional one or two dollars on top of the parking fee you could not avoid, to extort money for a donation to a charity of their choosing (which I can only assume had favorable tax consequences for the band). The Eagles, and particularly Don Henley’s, greed knows no bounds, then or now; but the music is legendary. Before the pandemic shut everything down, my wife and I had really good seats at Madison Square Garden in the orchestra dead center for the “Hotel California” tour, without Don Felder and of course the late Glenn Frey, and we had a really fun night out. The band was tight, the sound at the Garden was great, and the Eagles played the “Hotel California” album in its entirety followed by a set of “greatest hits”. I would say that on this particular tour the band gave its audience their money’s worth, playing for about three hours. For those of us that lived through the release of their iconic albums in the 1970’s and beyond and with the constant radio airplay that came with it, the band’s music was a big part of the soundtrack of our lives bringing with it lots of good memories to this day. Even with the revamped lineup, The Eagles are still a great band (who were well ahead of the rest of the music industry when it comes to exorbitant ticket prices).
Victim of Love
Rock on!
GQ
I was there, I was 14yrs old and with a large group that I did not know ( a friend’s uncle and pals) .bought fake tickets. Didn’t get in so tried jumping the 12′ fence and got busted .finally friends uncle bribed a guard and went right into field. Much more happened but we don’t have that much time. What a day, awesome time
Tickets were $16 to the concert in 1980. You must be talking about the Hell Freezes over concert.
I don’t recall the exact price, but I’m guessing it was closer to $16 than $100. I turned 16 the day before the show, and definitely didn’t have $100 to buy a concert ticket.
Did you remember the blimp going over???
I remember the concert. I sat first row off the field about a third of the way from the stage. It was a beautiful sunny day and tickets were less than $20 each.
Had so much fun at this concert. Went with my “ boyfriend “ at the Tim, and he was being an asshole so I saw friends from school and partied with them and went home with them too! Lol all in all……great concert.
* time not Tim lol
I payed 14 dollars for my ticket and jumped over the wall onto the field and watched heart and the eagles right in front of the stage awesome show will never forget it
Ain’t no way tickets were anywhere near $100. Most likely under $20.
Me and my friends went! Jumped the wall and got up front. One of my friends got nabbed by security and ran from them. I don’t know how we found each other with no cell phones back then. We still talk a bout this day.
I was there and I’m sure I didn’t pay that much to get in. It was a nice day, one I will never forget. I went to see the Egales but walked out of there a Heart fan.
I was there… on the field in front. It was hot that day. The sound was not great, but I loved it.
There I was staring at the original lineup a few feet away. Now all we have is YouTube.
I graduated high school 4 days later. Man, it was great to be young.
This was my first concert after graduating high school and my most vivid memory was that Heart blew the Eagles off the stage. In all fairness to the Eagles it was a hot day and by the time they went on the crowd was baked (in several ways!) but I remember the biggest cheers were for Joe Walsh. Maybe because he’s a NJ native. Heart on the other hand absolutely ROCKED! This was when they were doing Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” as part of their encore and they absolutely took no prisoners!
I honestly can’t remember anything about the Little River Band’s performance.
I was there and still have my t-shirt. Tickets weren’t near$100 though. I may still have the stuff around here. My friends or I could never have gone if it was that much. I have stubs from the spectrum about same time that were $4 and $6 for different bands I saw in Philly. The Yes, Bowie, and more. But that concert was a great one with all the original members! My t-shirt is a little small now but I kept it for the memories.
I wish I could post a photo of the shirt that day. 3/4 sleeves and black with wonderful graphics front and back. The sleeves were white. Anyone else have one?
I just saw the Eagles in Hollywood Fl ($700 seats) March 1st. Crazy to pay that I guess but they are still as good as they were in 1980. Voices, instruments,etc. Vince Gill and Deacon Frey very good additions. Joe Walsh just great but showing age from this tour. He looks tired. Love to see them again if they continue.
I was 17 on the field dead center about 40ft back. Heart was great. This was before their power ballad period.
$100??? No band charged that much in 1980. Lol It was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to the Eagles and Heart blew up the stadium. Everyone in the audience was partying and talking with each other. It was just one of those atmospheres that was so copacetic. It was such a memorable time.
I remember this show for sure.
Heart had this 17 yr old loving life,
They had on barmaid outfits I’m guessing.
Anyway,
My friend and I went find somebody to sell us a joint. We found one but it had a funny taste and smell. We smoked and went back inside;
Pretty close to the stage.
The Eagles played a
Few songs and then on the song “There’s gonna be a heartache tonight” I started trippin out.
The
Song would speed up then slow dow and I thought I was hearing “there’s gonna be a heart attack tonight a heart attack tonight”. Needless to saw I heard the
Rest of
The show in the
Parking lot.
That dude sold us
A joint that was dusted.
Some Indian dude,
Probably got a kick out of it selling to a couple of kids. Funny I recall people saying your going the
Wrong way
As I bolted out of the
Stadium.
So there my memory.