The Who Thread

[dazedcat]

I agree, you'll get no argument from me about that. Hopefully this Quad box set will singal that PT has finally given up the concept of "The Who" as a working band and concentrate on releasing archive live shows and the like.

That's really what I'm hoping for, there isn't a Who anymore.

[Electrophile]

Yep, it's amazing the amount of music we miss out on. I imagine there's some people out there that still haven't heard the Allman's Live at Fillmore East, or even worse, Little Feat's Waiting For Columbus, definitely one of my all time favorite live records.

I LOVE Live At Fillmore East. Imagine how much more great music that band could have put out if Duane hadn't died so young.

[Jahfin]

I agree with you about Waiting For Columbus! Have you heard the deluxe edition?

Yes, I have. I purchased it not long after it first came out. It was a travesty that the original CD version of it omitted two songs due to space limitations. So, not only did the expanded version add those two songs back to the running order but also a whole other disc of previously unreleased stuff. Sadly, the liner notes let me know just how much cutting and splicing went on which is something I never knew. It hasn't affected my appreciation of the album but it gave me an education about what goes on behind the scenes of so many of our favorite live recordings.

[bouillon]

I agree, you'll get no argument from me about that. Hopefully this Quad box set will singal that PT has finally given up the concept of "The Who" as a working band and concentrate on releasing archive live shows and the like.

That's really what I'm hoping for, there isn't a Who anymore.

The Who died with Moon, IMO. Thank god LZ didn't carry on & tarnish their reputation like that.

I'm hoping he'll put a full live show in from 73, warts and all. The only good recordings from 73 that I've found are from after they dropped a load of the Quad songs. Anyone know any different?

[catherine96]

The Who is like my favorite band of all time!!! I can't belevie I just said that on a Zep website! Yes, I love them that much.

[Strider]

The Who died with Moon, IMO. Thank god LZ didn't carry on & tarnish their reputation like that.

I'm hoping he'll put a full live show in from 73, warts and all. The only good recordings from 73 that I've found are from after they dropped a load of the Quad songs. Anyone know any different?

The very first Who concert I saw was @ the LA Forum in 1973...Thanksgiving weekend, I think...and I remember being somewhat disappointed. Sure, there were good moments, especially the opening few songs. But the Quadrophenia songs were hit and miss, and with all the song intros, the pace of the show dragged. Keith didn't look healthy and there were rumours going around the Forum that Moon had passed out at one of the shows and a fan played in his place, which I found ridiculous to believe. Could you see Bonham passing out and the band plucking a fan from the audience to play Dazed and Confused and The Song Remains the Same?

Anyway, as a huge fan of Live at Leeds, I was expecting the Who to blow me away...but was not.

Oh, I think Lynyrd Skynyrd opened...those Southern cats were pretty good. Keep an eye on them...they got a future.

Edited June 5, 2011 by Strider

[bouillon]

The very first Who concert I saw was @ the LA Forum in 1973...Thanksgiving weekend, I think...and I remember being somewhat disappointed. Sure, there were good moments, especially the opening few songs. But the Quadrophenia songs were hit and miss, and with all the song intros, the pace of the show dragged. Keith didn't look healthy and there were rumours going around the Forum that Moon had passed out at one of the shows and a fan played in his place, which I found ridiculous to believe. Could you see Bonham passing out and the band plucking a fan from the audience to play Dazed and Confused and The Song Remains the Same?

Anyway, as a huge fan of Live at Leeds, I was expecting the Who to blow me away...but was not.

Oh, I think Lynyrd Skynyrd opened...those Southern cats were pretty good. Keep an eye on them...they got a future.

As you probably now know, the rumours were true. SF Cow Palace. Fortunately, it was only the encores. I have it on DVD; the kid (Scott Halpern, I believe) did a creditable job. Imagine that...

You're right, the Quad songs didn't flow - they had problems synching with the backing tapes. That's why they'd already dropped several of them before they hit Cali. To make matters worse, Pete felt the need to explain/'translate' the plotline between songs for the US crowds.

I'd still love to hear a full early-tour show, even with the problems...

[Silver Rider]

When I saw the Who in Anaheim at Angels Stadium, Emmylou Harris opened for them and the audience booed her outright before she hardly even got started on the first song.

The Who appeared at Angels Stadium in two different years, 1970 and 1976, but Emmylou Harris apparently did not tour in 1970, so it was probably the concert on Sunday, March 21st, 1976.

thewho.com

Edited June 6, 2011 by Silver Rider

[Strider]

When I saw the Who in Anaheim at Angels Stadium, Emmylou Harris opened for them and the audience booed her outright before she hardly even got started on the first song.

The Who appeared at Angels Stadium in two different years, 1970 and 1976, but Emmylou Harris apparently did not tour in 1970, so it was probably the concert on Sunday, March 21st, 1976.

thewho.com

Emmylou Harris? I can't remember...I remember Little Feat. What else do I remember? LOUD as fuck. A full on laser show. Show was general admission which meant the crowd was out of control...I had to escape the field before the stage and head towards the stands. A car was on fire in the parking lot after the show. This was one of the first, if not THE FIRST, concert that cost $10, which i thought was outrageous at the time.

This was the first LA area show since 1973 and the last before Keith Moon died. Which meant I only had two chances to see the classic Who lineup.

Everyone I've talked to says the 1970 and 1971 tours were the ones to see...that was the explosive Who.

The 76 show was better than 73...more together. But I could have done with less Tommy songs, and more from Who's Next and Quadraphenia(no Quad songs at all in 76). I also was annoyed they hid the keyboard/synth player and possibly a second guitarist as well.

Edited June 6, 2011 by Strider

[Silver Rider]

Emmylou Harris? I can't remember...

I recall that Emmylou Harris opened first to a very unreceptive audience that wanted to rock and did not want to hear a country song.

I remember Little Feat. What else do I remember? LOUD as fuck. A full on laser show. Show was general admission which meant the crowd was out of control...

That part I remember.

[Jahfin]

[Jahfin]

From RollingStone.com:

Pete Townshend: The Who Will Perform 'Quadrophenia' On Tour

He also disputes Roger Daltrey's assertion that he's not touring

this year due to hearing problems

By ANDY GREENE

The Who

Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

According to a post on Pete Townshend's blog, The Who are going to stage another Quadrophenia tour next year. "The reason I am not on the road with Roger is that this is entirely Roger's adventure, one that is bringing him great joy," Townshend wrote. "I don't belong on this Tommy tour. I wish him well, sincerely, and I look forward to playing with Roger again doing Quadrophenia next year."

In an interview with Rolling Stone just last month, Daltrey said that Townshend isn't touring with him this year because of his hearing problems. "Pete is having terrible hearing problems at the moment," he said. "I don't want to be on stage with him destroying the last bit of his hearing. That would be completely foolish. He's a composer."

Townshend completes disputes Daltrey's take on the matter. "My hearing is actually better than ever," he wrote on his blog. "Because after a feedback scare at the O2 Indigo in December 2008 I am taking good care of it. I'm 66, I don't have perfect hearing, and if I listen to loud music or go to gigs I do tend to get tinnitus. DON'T WE ALL????"

He also confirmed reports that he's prepping a remastered edition of Quadrophenia for release sometime in the near future. "I have computer systems in my studio that have helped me do my engineering work on the forthcoming Quadrophenia release," Townshend wrote. "I have had assistance from younger forensic engineers and mastering engineers to help me clean up the high frequencies that are out of my range. The same computer systems work wonderfully well on stage, proving to be perfect for me when The Who performed at the Super Bowl and doing Quadrophenia for TCT at the Royal Albert Hall in 2010."

The Who originally toured behind Quadrophenia shortly after its release in 1973, but they quickly stopped playing many of the songs from the rock opera when the backing tapes required to perform the complex tracks repeatedly jammed up. In 1996 they launched a reunion tour where they performed the album in its entirety for the first time, and just last year they played the album for charity at the Royal Albert Hall. It's their only major album to not get re-released as a deluxe edition over the past decade.

Edited July 26, 2011 by Jahfin

[Anjin-san]

Happy Birthday Keith! Miss you,....

[MadScreamingGallery]

[SteveAJones]

This from Pete Townsend's journal, dated July 11, 2006. I find it fascinating!

So what is the truth? That my 61 year old body aches? That my fingernail has been torn off by my antics on the guitar and that it throbs like a beacon all night so I can’t sleep? That my legs ache so much from the teenaged jumping I try to do on stage that I need to take painkillers? That I have started drinking again, secretly, in the night, in order to sleep? That I am indeed that awful man who wanted to write a book about child-pornography of all things, and that in the dark of the night I plot sexual insanities to draw the approbation of the Daily Schmail? That I cannot bear the pain of being who I am? Or who I used to be?

The truth is that apart from a few grumpy moments on stage, I am quite content with this life. None of the above has happened, except in the minds of those who desperately long for it to happen. My body seems built for survival, and though I know one day it will surely give up, today it is serving me well. This weekend the Who played two Festivals famous for their broad musical offerings (within the bounds of rock, dance and pop music): Oxegen just outside of Dublin, and T-In-The-Park near Edinburgh in Scotland. I took my 16 year old son and three of his friends and they lost themselves in the crowds, the mud, the rain, and the sunshine. But I believe they were only as energetic as I was, only as tired as I after our shows.

I sound smug don’t I? I am not smug, I am grateful; though sometimes being 61 is not just about living in a world in which people seem to live longer, but also about the fact that 61 years is still a tiresomely long time – if I died tomorrow I would not mind. Yet I can remember thinking exactly this when I was just 34 – if I die today I would not mind. I would have minded that my children would have grown up without me, but in some ways – bearing in mind how obscenely driven I was at that age – I can remember thinking that they might have been better off. I had at least brought my two daughters up as infants, taken them to school, helped build their camps, told them stories and watched their games. Sixty-one years is a lot of years.

At Oxegen and T-In-The-Park almost everyone there was younger than me. Some of the people who work for the Who (for Roger Daltrey and myself) are the same age we are, or a little younger. Most of them are not as physically fit as we are, though you wouldn’t know it – the schedule they are on is a punishing one that includes sleepless nights and a lot of extremely heavy carrying. There are exceptions. Bob Pridden, the Who’s perennial sound man, merely orders people around at his huge sound desk, and rarely lifts anything heavier than an occasional cigarette (he really should not be smoking) or glass of wine. With his ears plugged by a replication of the sound plugs worn by Roger on the stage, once the music starts Bob isn’t much use to anyone but Roger. Roger makes various hand-gestures during the evening that are taken to mean “more top”, or “the sound is muffled” or “….it’s too loud”, or whatever. When interrogated, Bob will not admit he understands exactly what these various signals mean, nor will he vouchsafe that he always responds - except with demonstrative balletic reactions (fit for the older man) meant to appease Roger’s rock-star requirement for appeasement. My guitar technician has his own cross to bear. Alan Rogan has worked for me for most of my career, and sat with me for thirty days when I withdrew from Ativan (and the heroin I had been advised by my physician to use as a safer substitute believe it or not) in January1982. Last night I shouted at him twice that I don’t want to be treated on stage “Like Mariah Carey”. I suppose what I meant was, I don’t want any fuss. That’s what old people often say isn’t it? We actually love each other, all of us. At last.

On my girlfriend Rachel Fuller’s webcast show In The Attic pretty much all of her guests are young enough to be my children. They all seem to be truly beautiful people, Rachel and I are always amazed at how humble and respectful the guests are on her show, partly perhaps because of my presence, but also it seems because they are happy to be in show business. We are also amazed at how ready they are to embrace the small and intimate studio we offer, and are ready to play their music at the drop of a hat, just as we do, and as Rachel’s co-host Mikey Cuthbert will do – raving as he always does that everything everyone else plays is the best thing he’s ever heard. And he seems to genuinely mean it.

The faces looking up from the crowd when the Who are on stage are also young, by the time we get on – near the end – they are shattered but ebullient, weary but friendly with occasional bursts of astonishing energy. I find myself wondering how so many of them know the words to Elvis Presley’s I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You that I have quoted in my song Real Good Looking Boy about growing up in the fifties – but they sing along in their tens of thousands. In Scotland, where the rain had almost passed by – Ireland had been very wet indeed – it was difficult to spot a face in the crowd I would not call beautiful. Maybe this is the great bonus of passing 60: everyone one sees carries the beneficial bloom of being younger. And yet, because we grew up together, I can still look at the face of a woman my age and see her beauty today, her character or even her defects, and so I feel doubly blessed.

I am being told every day that I look well, no one adds “….for your age.” I am also being told, often, that I am handsome. If you go back and read the press reports of the Who on stage over the 40 years we have performed, you will very rarely see me described as ‘handsome’. I hit 60, and suddenly it happens. My nose rarely gets press. Some are suspicious I’ve had it made smaller. I haven’t. If I did anything cosmetic I would grow new hair – but I am too certain of myself to bother. At the same time there is new ugliness in my life: my work for charity – something I feel duty bound to do, a man of my age and position – lead me into a bizarre and cruel public humiliation (as a possible paedophile) for which I can blame no one but myself. Contrasts, but none of them life-threatening.

Age is a strange thing. I can remember helping Lord Goodman, the famous left wing QC, to walk to the lavatory at a fund-raising dinner. As he stood at the urinal, a man in his late eighties, and I waited patiently to walk him back again, he said: “If you can possibly avoid it Pete, don’t get old. It takes far too long to pee.” It has taken me far too long to appreciate how good life is, and how good most people are. It occurs to me often today, and I express this whenever I’m given a chance and people often take it the wrong way, that what I have done all my life is easy to do. It is not always a pleasure, it is not always fulfilling, it is not always fun. But it never really seems hard. Perhaps we divide as creatures into coagulate groups: those who find life hard, those who find it easy, those who find it tiresome, those who find it wonderful. For those of us who have the burden of believing in God, and I am such a one, there is the problem of adding irony to any of the scenarios above. What we choose to call ‘faith’ is of course the very same suspension of disbelief that makes all theatre worth the hire of a seat.

So, the tour is going well. Roger had trouble I think recovering from a throat infection that delayed the completion of the recording (I am still struggling to mix the tracks in between shows) and made the rehearsals feel a little strained, but he is settling now, and sings heartily and strongly, smiling broadly most of the time on stage. I think he still really believes in the power of music, and is filled by being in front of an audience. I feel honoured to have a place on the stage at all, grateful to have my silver motorhome at every show, a familiar haven in which to dress and rest, driven thousands of miles by my friend Keith who looks after it as though it were his own. I feel very lucky indeed to have pretty Rachel by my side as I travel; despite the fact she smokes, she is a breath of fresh air, always grinning secretively, silently mouthing “I love you”. When we arrive now at shows we walk into what feels like a Carnie camp – several motorhomes and caravans, a crew of about fifteen technical people preparing for In The Attic webcasting, and of course the Who’s webcast segment of songs from their Live show. It is exciting, challenging, different every day, and smacks of the densest levels of showbusiness: music and laughter on the road, in the mud, and now – in the ether.

Two days ago, just before the Oxegen show, we got the news that since our Hyde Park show had been looped for people to watch free we had hit certified 1.6 million viewings of various clips in just two weeks. The live audience for the In The Attic and Who webcasts also climbs steadily and once hit 35,000 viewers – usually going out at a time that is unsuitable for audiences in the USA, so we are confident we will break records when we take our system over there. Those of you who scutter here hoping for some stuff you can turn into some little money-spinner headline you can sub out sideways somewhere else on the web, please come scuttering to watch In The Attic on www.thewholive.tv. That is the real me. If you find me offensive in any way at all I will be madly, truly, grateful. I think you may see the real Rachel, and the real Mikey as well. And my brother Simon often attends. We try hard to just be ourselves. How strange is it that is so hard and so easy to do at once. Everything is like that: everything is more than one thing. Meher Baba called it ‘Duality’. I am getting to like it just when it might be time to learn how to rise above it. Here, with the pen, I am a reflective soul, someone I doubt you will ever meet in the flesh.

July 10th is known among the followers of Meher Baba as “Silence Day”. Some of us try to spend the day, or part of it, without speaking. It is incredibly difficult, and I think the last time I did it for 24 hours was in 1978 when I was recording my first solo album Empty Glass with Chris Thomas. I gave him a little note explaining, and he took very little notice, he was prepared for any lunacy in the rock and punk world he inhabited. I then coached my musicians through the title song, and we recorded it, without me speaking a word.

Yesterday, July 10th, ‘Silence Day’, I broke my 24 year Who silence and released a new Who record called Wire & Glass. Later today, July 11th, because Polydor have decided on a modest Limited Edition I expect it to be completely sold out. This rock ‘n’ roll house of mine throbs at this time of day, longing for chaos, sex and alcohol I no longer provide. When we travel we leave the five dogs here with the security people and the hidden cameras. We plan a continuing dog webcast soon. Rachel will miss the dogs more than the house. But I will miss the house: when I walk through my studio I feel blessed that I have at least made music in it that you will soon be able to hear.

Flying to Cologne tomorrow for a show in Bonn, then on to Berlin where we plan to have a webcast press launch for our U.S tour this Autumn. Off to bed now, it’s nearly 4.00 am, about the time some of my home’s previous occupants would have their afternoon tea.

[dazedcat]

"U.V. lights making starshine of her smile............."

Say what you will, but Quadrophenia is one of the greatest records ever made. Listening to it again on 200 gram vinyl is the only way to really appreciate it too. Classic Records issued a faithful reproduction of the album recently, there's no better way to listen or view.

I'm officially taking a raincheck on this deluxe box CD set now.

[Dance the Crunge]

So Daltrey has started his Tommy tour but apparently made some minor changes making Tommy deaf, senile and incontinent to better reflect the age of the artist.

[dazedcat]

So Daltrey has started his Tommy tour but apparently made some minor changes making Tommy deaf, senile and incontinent to better reflect the age of the artist.

I wish Zeppelin fans who endlessly scream for a reunion take these words into consideration.

[Jahfin]

I wish Zeppelin fans who endlessly scream for a reunion take these words into consideration.

Good call. It's the double standard that keeps on giving.

[Zeppelin Led]

HOLY MOTHER OF SHIT!

I turned out the lights and listened to 'Tommy' for the first time tonight with a candle(Almost Famous).

Best fucking album I've ever heard in my life

[dazedcat]

They should have pissed on it, not defaced it with grafitti...........but.............

[Zeppelin Led]

I have Tommy and I'm gonna get another The Who album so somebody recomend one.

But please don't say My Generation I heard some songs and I feel sick from how corny it is(Besides The title track that rocks)

[Anjin-san]

Hi all,

I have Tommy and I'm gonna get another The Who album so somebody recomend one.

But please don't say My Generation I heard some songs and I feel sick from how corny it is(Besides The title track that rocks)

Who's Next

KB

[BlackDog71]

Always loved The Who. Have most of their music and they are a band I like to go away from and come back to. I seem to enjoy their music more that way. It's like a refresher course on their genius.

"Love Reign O'er Me" is still my favorite tune to this day.

[Jahfin]

Townshend has some pretty interesting things to say about the future of the Who in this new interview he did with Rolling Stone. I realize most everyone is focusing on his comments about iTunes but there's more to this interview than that. There's also a video accompanying the article that is well worth watching.