The Who Newcastle Arena 6th Nov 2000
Support from Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
The Who’s tour in 2000 was in support of the live album “The Blues to the Bush” (as mentioned on the cover of the tour programme) and was their first full-fledged tour as a five-piece band since 1982. Roger, Pete and John were joined by Rabbit on keyboards and Zak Starkey on drums. This was the Who’s first visit to Newcastle since 1981. The set was a run through Who favourites, including a few, such as “The Kids Are Alright” and “Mary Ann With the Shaky Hands”, which hadn’t been performed live for many years. On some of the other nights of the tour they performed “The Seeker” and “A Quick One While He’s Away”. Support came from The Clash’s Joe Strummer with his band The Mescaleros.
It was great to see the Who again, and to hear all the classics. A great concert which reminded me just how great the Who were.
Setlist: I Can’t Explain; Substitute; Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere; Relay; My Wife; Baba O’Riley; I Don’t Even Know Myself; Bargain; Drowned; Behind Blue Eyes; Pinball Wizard; The Real Me; You Better You Bet; Who Are You; 5:15; Won’t Get Fooled Again
Encore: Let’s See Action; The Kids Are Alright; Mary Ann With the Shaky Hands; My Generation
John Entwistle passed away in hotel room 658 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on 27 June 2002, the result of a heart attack induced by cocaine. Townshend and Daltrey said in tribute : “The Ox has left the building — we’ve lost another great friend. Thanks for your support and love. Pete and Roger.”
The next time I saw the, now in effect a two piece, Who was in 2004 at a Teenage Cancer Trust concert at the Albert Hall. I’ll reflect on this concert tomorrow.
Archive for the ‘The Who’ Category
1 Jan
The Who Newcastle Arena 6th Nov 2000
31 Dec
The Who Newcastle City Hall 24th Feb 1981
The Who Newcastle City Hall 24th Feb 1981
The Who went out on a full UK tour in 1981, their first since 1975. They called at Newcastle City Hall for two nights, I went along with a group of mates to the first night’s concert. The Who were on top form, playing a set which consisted of classics, a couple of covers, and a few new tracks from “Faces Dances” including “You Better You Bet”. Support came from R&B band Nine Below Zero. The brass section which had been with the band at Wembley didn’t feature; this was the four piece Who plus Rabbit on keyboards. Daltrey retained his short hair style, and seemed fitter than ever. Townshend was in good spirits and on top form. An amazing concert, it was great to see The Who close up in such a small venue again. We had seats close to the front, to the side of the stage.
Their new album “Face Dances” was released the following month. “Face Dances” received rather luke warm reviews and it is generally recognised as not being one of their best albums. Trouser Press magazine said at the time: “Face Dances is a pleasant and rather meaningless album that proves, not the Who’s continuing genius, but rather their ability to churn out “product,” watered down from their days of glory.” But the Who live was a different thing altogether, the band was still firing on all cylinders. However, things weren’t so good in The Who camp. Pete Townshend was drinking a lot, and taking cocaine, and Roger Daltrey and Kenney Jones weren’t getting on. This was to be the Who’s last full UK tour for a long time. The next time I saw The Who was at Live Aid in Wembley Stadium in 1985, where they played a short, but excellent set. It was then 11 years until I saw them again, this time in Hyde Park, where they performed Quadrophenia, sharing the bill with Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. By then the drum seat was taken by Zak Starkey. I’ve already posted about those two performances. For my next Who blogging, I’m going to roll forward to the year 2000, when the band returned to Newcastle to play the Arena.
The Who 1981 Setlist: Substitute; I Can’t Explain; Baba O’Riley; The Quiet One; Don’t Let Go the Coat; Sister Disco; Dreaming From the Waist; You Better You Bet; Drowned; Another Tricky Day; Behind Blue Eyes; Pinball Wizard; The Punk and the Godfather; Who Are You; 5:15; My Generation; What’cha Gonna Do About It (short snippet of Small Faces song); Won’t Get Fooled Again.
Encore: Young Man Blues; Dancing in the Street (Martha and The Vandellas cover); Dance It Away (Pete Townshend solo song); The Real Me
30 Dec
The Who Wembley Stadium 18th August 1979
The Who Wembley Stadium 18th August 1979
Support from AC/DC, The Stranglers and Nils Lofgren.
This was The Who’s first big gig with Kenney Jones as drummer. It was also the first time that the band were accompanied by a horn section, for some songs. A capacity crowd of 80,000 fans crammed into the old Wembley Stadium to see the ‘Orrible ‘Oo; accompanied by a strong support line-up. I went down to London with a group of mates on an early train. When we arrived in the capital some mates went off to Chelsea, as Sunderland were playing there that day. Those of us who weren’t football fans made our way to Wembley, in time to catch the support acts. Nils Lofgren was first on; I recall he had his small trampoline and did somersaults across the stage. AC/DC were great; this was the Bon Scott era band, who were just breaking big at the time. They started with “Live Wire” and played great classics like “The Jack”, “Highway to Hell” and “Whole Lotta Rosie”. Great stuff; really got the crowd going and, other than the Who, were the highlight of the day. The Stranglers were ok, but decided to make the brave move of playing mostly new material from “The Raven” album. This didn’t go down too well with the crowd. A big fight broke out on the pitch during their performance.
I’d arranged to meet my mates who had been to the match, at around 7pm at the back of the stadium. They arrived, quite drunk, full of stories of how the police had directed them into the Chelsea “Shed” section of the ground, where all the home supporters were standing. They stood through the entire match, surrounding by hard men Chelsea skinheads, not daring to speak in case anyone recognised their Mackem accent. If Sunderland got the ball they had to stop themselves from cheering, lest they revealed themselves to the skins. They seemed pretty shaken by the whole experience, but quite proud that they had survived and lived to tell the tale.
The crowd was very mixed; a collection of rock fans, a smattering of Hells Angels who were camped on the pitch just in front of where we were all sitting, and groups of “new mods” in parkas (this was the beginning of the mod revival and around the time of the release of the “Quadrophenia” movie). One of my mates, who had been to the match and was a little worse for wear, insisted on taunting the Hells Angels in front of us. Luckily they started to joke along with him, taking it all in good spirit.
The Who started with “Substitute” and “I Can’t Explain” and played well, although the sound wasn’t good at all. The crowd loved them, and gave them a “returning heroes” type welcome. I enjoyed the gig, but it wasn’t the best time I have seen the Who. We left during the encore ot be sure to catch our train home to the north, which was just as well, as there were massive delays getting to the tubes. The police diverted us away from Wembley Park tube station and round to Wembley Central. Although we left around 10pm, we arrived at Kings Cross just in time to catch the midnight train back to Newcastle.
Setlist: Substitute; I Can’t Explain; Baba O’Riley; The Punk and the Godfather; Behind Blue Eyes; Boris the Spider; Sister Disco; Drowned; Music Must Change; Magic Bus; Pinball Wizard; See Me, Feel Me; Trick of the Light; 5:15; Long Live Rock; Who Are You; My Generation; Dreaming From the Waist; Won’t Get Fooled Again.
Encore: Summertime Blues; The Real Me
29 Dec
The Who Edinburgh Odeon 9th June 1979
The Who Edinburgh Odeon 9th June 1979
The Who decided to continue after the loss of Keith Moon. Townshend: “We are more determined than ever to carry on, and we want the spirit of the group to which Keith contributed so much to go on, although no human being can ever take his place.
Kenney Jones, of the Small Faces and the Faces, joined the band on drums in late 1978. Around the same time John “Rabbit” Bundrick (ex Free) joined the live band as an unofficial keyboardist. On 2nd May 1979, the Who returned to the concert stage with a “secret” concert at the Rainbow Theatre. The concert was announced at a few days notice, with fans queuing outside the venue for tickets. One of my mates managed to get a ticket, through a friend who was studying at University in London, and he came back with tales of how great they were. A few weeks later they announced a couple of Scottish gigs; one at the Glasgow Apollo on a Friday night, and a show at Edinburgh Odeon on the Saturday night. The shows were announced in the local press, and both concerts sold out immediately. I talked about it with my mates, Will and Norm, and we decided to go up to Edinburgh in the hope of somehow getting in.
On the day of the gig we drove up Edinburgh early, arriving in the late afternoon. We hung around in the pubs near the Odeon, and outside the venue, asking any likely looking candidate if they had any tickets to sell. We managed to buy two seats together in row F, six rows back from the stage 🙂 , and a third single ticket a little further back in the stalls. I can’t remember what we paid, I think it was around £7 or £8 for each ticket, which had a face value of £5. I recall that it seemed a lot at the time, but was well worth it, and seems cheap today. There was no support act.
The Odeon as it was “back in the day”
The Who came on stage, and the first thing I noticed was Roger’s very short hair, and how fit he looked. They launched straight into a deafening, and amazing, “Substitute” followed by “I Can’t Explain”. Townshend was on fire, his arm twirling away as usual, and Roger was swinging the mike around and around. Just like old times. The Who were awesome that night. Of course, things weren’t the same with no Keith grinning at the back like a cheeky, naughty schoolboy, and no banter between him and Pete. But musically they seemed as good as ever. The small venue (probably 2,500 capacity), our proximity to the action, and the incredible VOLUME, all helped. The crowd went 110% mental, shouting and roaring throughout the night. I bought a t-shirt with the classic “Who Maximum R’n’B” image and the words “The Who Scotland 1979”. I wish I still had it.
Ni Holmes, on the Who tour site, recalls: “Townshend walking across the stage, clearly upset at the keyboard playing on Won’t Get Fooled Again and swinging a punch at Rabbit” which I can’t say I remember at all. John Gardner (also from the Who tour site) recalls: “a rather annoying small part of the audience….kept chanting ‘Bring back Moonie'”, which prompted Townshend to respond: “F**k off Edinburgh you’re too quiet for The Who”.
The Who were back. And they were on fire. Happy happy days 🙂
Setlist: Substitute; I Can’t Explain; Baba O’Riley; The Punk And The Godfather; Boris The Spider; Sister Disco; Behind Blue Eyes; Music Must Change; Pinball Wizard; See Me Feel Me; Long Live Rock; Dreaming From The Waist; Who Are You; My Generation/My Generation Blues; Magic Bus; Won’t Get Fooled Again
Encore: The Real Me; Summertime Blues
PS Whenever I drive into Edinburgh from the south I pass the old Odeon building; sadly it is now closed, run down and very dilapidated.
28 Dec
The Who Charlton Athletic Football Club 31st May 1976
The Who Charlton Athletic Football Club 31st May 1976
Support from the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Little Feat, The Outlaws, Chapman and Whitney Streetwalkers, and Widowmaker.
In 1976 The Who played three massive U.K. shows at football stadiums in Charlton, Glasgow and Swansea. The short tour was billed as “The Who Put the Boot In”. I attended the Charlton gig which was rated at the time as the loudest concert ever by the Guiness Book of Records. These were also The Who’s final UK concerts with drummer Keith Moon, apart from a couple of low key gigs filmed for “The Kids Are Alright” movie.
The Charlton concert took place on May bank holiday Monday 1976. A car load of us, with me driving, made the journey down to London on Sunday. We stayed at the flat of a mate who was studying in London, and on Monday morning we drove across London to Charlton and parked in a street somewhere close to the ground. When we got to the gates of the stadium it was very clear that something was wrong. There was a massive crush around the gate, a heavy police presence, and loads of fans being turned away, because they had counterfeit tickets which had been circulating in London for some days before the show. Our tickets were fine, and we eventually made our way through the crowds and into the stadium. When we did manage to get in, we found the place completely ram packed; even more so than for the previous Who concert in 1974. Reports suggest that more than 80,000 people were crammed into a stadium with a concert crowd limit of 50,000. Eventually the police stopped letting anyone in for safety reasons, and many fans with real tickets were not admitted. As compensation, they were given a free ticket to the Swansea show instead, and free buses were laid on to take them there.
Support came from the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Little Feat, The Outlaws, Streetwalkers, and Widowmaker, featuring Steve Ellis and Ariel Bender, who opened the proceedings and were pretty good too. Streetwalkers were also great, and SAHB were excellent, with Alex on top form; they almost (but not quite) stole the show from the Who.
It was wet, with rain falling throughout the day. Not much use for the sun visors which were given away free by Sounds magazine (I still have mine unworn, see left). There was some violence within the crowd, as there was at the 1974 concert, with fights breaking out on the pitch and the terraces. We waited patiently during a long delay before the Who came on, caused by a few fans who had scaled the lighting towers in the hope of gaining a better view. The couple of guys who made it up there were told, over the PA, that the show wouldn’t start until they came down. Some fans on the pitch started to chant “get down” and eventually the guys did so. Shortly afterwards the Who ran out onto the very wet stage, and Roger Daltrey slipped over, going his full length, sliding from one end of the stage to the other. He got up and introduced the band as “The Who On Ice”. They started, as usual, with “I Can’t Explain” followed by “Substitute”. Townshend taunted us all “thank you for waiting for us and getting so wet”. Pete continued to make cracks to the audience throughout the evening, and at one point shouted out to stop a fight at the front of the crowd. An audience recording exists, on which you can also hear Keith Moon shouting at Townshend: “Shut up! ….. You’d think you’ve got some kind of vested interest. I’ve seen your vests, and they stink…underneath this I’m totally nude, Peter! I don’t need any of your great flowing poncey robes. I don’t need all your glittering sequins to be a star! I don’t need to jump in the air, flash what little crotch I’ve got. And I must admit I’ve had no complaints.”
The set was similar to that which they had been playing since 1975, with several of the old ’60s classics, a couple from Quadrophenia, a couple from their current album “The Who By Numbers”, and a “Tommy” segment, with Keith playing his parts as “Uncle Ernie” in “Fiddle About” and “Tommy’s Holiday Camp.” The laser light show, first seen during the 1975 tour, was revealed during “See Me Feel Me”, by which time it was dark. The lasers shot through the smoke to mirrors on the light towers, with blue beams bouncing around the entire stadium, and red laser beams cutting through them. Im sure it would seem quite primitive now, but it was impressive at the time. I remember the entire stadium singing along to “Listening to you”: “Listening to you I get the music. Gazing at you I get the heat. Following you I climb the mountain. I get excitement at your feet!” with laser beams criss crossing the crowd in the darkness. An amazing moment. The Who finished with “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, ending with an incredible scream from Roger. We chanted “We Want The Who” for 5 or 10 minutes, but there was no encore, as was often the case for a Who concert at the time.
It took ages to find the car. We walked from street to street; each one looked the same, and I hadn’t noted the street name. After what seemed like hours, but probably wasn’t, we located my car and set off through the crowded streets. At one point we were sat stationary in a queue of traffic, when a big black limo pulled up alongside. Sitting alone in the back seat was Pete Townshend. We waved but he didn’t respond.
It’s a long drive from London to the north east, and the dawn was breaking as I drove up Houghton Cut. My mates were all asleep around me. A couple of them went straight to work. Happy days. I think I’ve just decided that The Who actually were the greatest rock band of the 70s. 🙂
Setlist: I Can’t Explain; Substitute; My Wife; Baba O’Riley; Squeeze Box; Behind Blue Eyes; Dreaming From The Waist; Magic Bus; Amazing Journey; Sparks; The Acid Queen; Fiddle About; Pinball Wizard; I’m Free; Tommy’s Holiday Camp; We’re Not Gonna Take It; Summertime Blues; My Generation; Join Together; My Generation Blues; Won’t Get Fooled Again
The Who stopped touring after 1976, largely as a result of Keith Moon’s failing health, caused by alcohol issues. Keith Moon died on 7th Sept 1978 of an overdose of heminevrin, prescribed to combat alcoholism. The Who’s 1978 album “Who Are You” was released two weeks before his death. Keith Moon was one of rock’s finest drummers, but he was so much more. Moon was the crazy, manic, childish fun side of The Who; the perfect foil to Townshend’s moods, and although The Who would continue as a strong rock force, a Who concert could never be quite the same again.
Tomorrow I will write about the first time I saw The Who without Moon, at a low key comeback show at Edinburgh Odeon in 1979.
27 Dec
The Who Stafford Bingley Hall 4th Oct 1975
The Who Stafford Bingley Hall 4th Oct 1975
Support from the Steve Gibbons band
The Who had not performed since the summer of 1974, as they had been working hard on the Tommy film. They recorded their new album “The Who By Numbers” during the spring of 1975, and toured the UK in October. Although the tour was meant to be promoting “The Who By Numbers” they actually only played “Squeeze Box” from that album at Stafford. One or two other songs from the lp sometimes featured as part of their set. The show saw them return to playing quite a lot from “Tommy”, with a mini-set featuring in the middle of their show, presumably linked to the success of the film.
Bingley Hall is a large 10,000 capacity exhibition hall in Stafford, England, located on the site of the Staffordshire County Showground. The County Showground hosts a variety of events, including antique fairs, dog shows, and motor shows. It is situated in the centre of the UK and close to major motorways, making it an accessible from the north and the south. During the 1970s and 1980s, before the emergence of purpose built arenas, it was a very popular concert venue. Acts that performed there included The Who, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, ABBA, The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley and Queen. This was the first rock concert to be held in Bingley Hall. The Who were out to prove themselves “The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World”; there was little to choose between them, Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones at the time. I attended the second of two nights, driving down to the concert with a couple of mates, all three of us squeezed into my two seater MG sports car.
This was a set of classic Who. They started with “Substitute”, played lots from “Tommy” and closed with “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. Like Zeppelin, the show made use of lasers which shone out over the crowd. This was billed as “the first stage act in the world to employ high-powered lasers” (Townshend, 2012). I remember being quite worried that they might hit me in the eye. Lighting operator John Wolff confirmed my fears: “..if a beam stands still, it can blind someone” (Neill & Kent, 2007). These were the Who’s first performances in 14 months, and the band were simply on fire, with lots of mike swinging by Roger Daltrey and arm twirling by Pete Townshend. The Who played for two hours, with no encore. Pete didn’t smash his guitar, although the crowd was willing him to do so. Apparently The Who had used a raised podium for Moon and his drums on the first night, but this didn’t work out and was scrapped for the second concert. Charlesworth (1975) described “Townshend adopting his classic legs-apart stance and spiralling his right arm roughly across the strings of his Les Paul”.
Setlist: Substitute; I Can’t Explain; Squeeze Box; Heaven And Hell; Tattoo; Baba O’Riley; Behind Blue Eyes; Amazing Journey; Sparks; Eyesight To The Blind; The Acid Queen; Fiddle About; Pinball Wizard; I’m Free; Tommy’s Holiday Camp; We’re Not Gonna Take It; Summertime Blues; Drowned; 5.15; My Generation; Join Together; Naked Eye; Won’t Get Fooled Again
26 Dec
Tommy the film 1975
Tommy the film 1975
I know this isn’t a gig, but hey I’ve got a programme for it (pictured) and its The Who, so I just couldn’t let it pass without writing something about it.
In 1975 The Who featured in 1975 musical film based upon their 1969 rock opera album “Tommy”. The movie was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including members of the Who themselves (Roger Daltrey plays the title role). Other cast members include Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Elton John, Arthur Brown and Jack Nicholson. We all trooped off to the cinema to see the film, and pretty good fun it was too. It also held particular local interest in the north east as it features The Black Angels, the local hells angels chapter, who play a group of hell angels in the movie. It is very OTT, silly, and outrageous; but then what else could you expect when you consider that this was Ken Russell, The Who and “Tommy”. 🙂
“One thing is sure: there has never been a movie musical quite like Tommy, a weird, crazy, wonderfully excessive version of The Who’s rock opera. Ken Russell is a film maker (Women in Love, The Devils) who glories in the kind of heightened visual absurdity that Tommy both invites and requires.” (Time magazine).
Townshend, speaking to Rolling Stone on the Tommy concept in 1969: “Tommy’s real self represents the aim – God – and the illusory self is the teacher; life, the way, the path and all this. The coming together of these are what make him aware. They make him see and hear and speak so he becomes a saint who everybody flocks to. The boy’s life starts to represent the whole nature of humanity – we all have this self-imposed deaf, dumb and blindness – but this isn’t something I’m over heavy on”
25 Dec
The Who Charlton Athletic Football Club 18th May 1974
The Who Charlton Athletic Football Club 18th May 1974
Support Acts, in order of appearance: Montrose, Lindisfarne, Bad Company, Lou Reed, Humble Pie, Maggie Bell. The support acts were chosen by The Who.
The Who spent some time considering venues for a big outdoor London concert, and selected Charlton ground because, accordingly to Townshend, it had “particular acoustic qualities” and offered “excellent views of the stage from the terraces.” I went to the gig with two mates, travelling down to London by coach, leaving the north east at midnight on Friday night and arriving early on Saturday morning. We then caught the local train across to Charlton. By the time we arrived the ground was pretty full, and fans continued to flood in throughout the morning. By the time Montrose exploded onto the stage at 12 noon, the place was ram packed. The concert was intended to have an attendance limit of 50,000 fans, but breakdowns in security resulted in many additional people getting in, and an estimated crowd of 80,000 (The Complete Chronicle of the Who 1958-1978, Neill & Kent, 2007). I ran into quite a few mates from home on the terraces, several of whom had managed to push or blag their way in without paying. The supporting bill was very strong, with Montrose and Bad Company both going down well. This was one of the first appearances of the new Lindisfarne Mk II line-up. Lou Reed and Maggie Bell both played ok, but didn’t go down as well with the crowd as the others. Humble Pie were pure class, with Marriott on his top OTT “my skin is white, but my soul is black” form. They almost upstaged the main act. There was a long wait before The Who took to the stage, and several reports recall an atmosphere of violence, which I must say I don’t remember. I do remember that it was a very hot day and that there were some fights, a heavy smell of dope with many people openly smoking joints, and lots of cans thrown around throughout the day. Brian Farnon writes of a “lunatic…wandering around with a foot-long spike….sticking it in peoples necks” on the excellent ukrockfestivals.com site.
The Who started at 8:45 and played an hour and 45 minute set, starting with “Can’t Explain” and working their way through old classics and some more recent material, including a few from their most recent album “Quadrophenia”. The sound wasn’t that great, even though we had been promised quadrophonic sound, and there were large PA speakers sited around the ground. The Who were excellent, although Pete later admitted that he was drunk and felt that the show wasn’t actually one of their best. To all of us in the crowd it was a great day, and an opportunity to see the best rock band in the world during their prime period. The set included a lot of 60s material, and several songs that I hadn’t seen them play before such as “I’m a Boy” and “Tattoo”. Entwistle performed “Boris the Spider” in his deep bass voice. A lengthy encore included “5:15”, an extended “Magic Bus”, “My Generation”, “Naked Eye”, “Let’s See Action” and the first ever performance of their slow 12-bar blues arrangement of “My Generation”, which is now known as “My Generation Blues”. Pete didn’t smash his guitar.
Charles Shaar Murray reviewed The Who’s performance in NME: “They performed with a freshness and enthusiasm that they haven’t had for quite some time, and generally acted like the epitome of what a rock and roll band should be…The Who are it; as good as it ever gets, and good as we can expect from anybody.”
Pete Townshend admitted (also in the NME): “At Charlton I got completely pissed… I was so happy to get out of it…. I felt really guilty I couldn’t explode into the exuberant and happy energy our fans did….”
When the concert finished it was absolute pandemonium trying to get out through the crowd, and a number of us decided to try and climb over one of the fences. We managed to get over, but one of my mates cut his hand quite badly on the sharp metal top of the fence. It looked quite nasty, and was bleeding a lot, so we decided that we needed to get to a hospital. We pushed our way back into the ground, which wasn’t easy as we were walking against all the people leaving, and made our way to the St Johns Ambulance post, where we all bundled into an ambulance. A poor guy with a pretty cut up face, who had fallen onto a broken bottle, was lying next to us in the ambulance. The ambulance sped through the crowds and 5 minutes or so later we were in the hospital, where we spent most of the night, while my mate had his hand stitched. The hospital was full of fans suffering from injuries, and worse for wear from alcohol and drugs. It was daylight by the time we got out of the hospital, and we walked back into central London and made our way to Victoria where we caught our bus home. The things you do for rock’n’roll 🙂
The Who setlist: I Can’t Explain; Summertime Blues; Young Man Blues; Baba O’Riley; Behind Blue Eyes; Substitute; I’m a Boy; Tattoo; Boris the Spider; Drowned; Bell Boy; Doctor Jimmy; Won’t Get Fooled Again; Pinball Wizard; See Me, Feel Me
Encore: 5:15; Magic Bus; My Generation; Naked Eye; Let’s See Action; My Generation Blues
24 Dec
The Who Newcastle Odeon 5th Nov 1973
The Who Newcastle Odeon 5th Nov 1973
This is a very famous and historic Who gig. The Who released the classic “Quadrophenia” double album in 1973, and went out on tour to promote it, calling at Newcastle Odeon for three nights. Demand for tickets was high with people queuing overnight outside The Queens for tickets. I remember queuing in a long line for several hours, and getting quite poor seats upstairs for myself and a group of mates. Simon Malia, recalls on Quadrophenia.com: “I was 16 when “Quad” came out, and I queued up overnight in snow, ice, sleet, driving rain and more snow to get tickets for the shows at Newcastle Odeon.”
We knew from reports in the press that The Who were planning to play the entire “Quadrophenia” album. This wasn’t uncommon at the time, with Pink Floyd and Yes, for example, doing similarly. We weren’t familiar with the album, so although we were looking forward to seeing the Who, we were a little unsure how much we would enjoy material totally new to us. Support came from Kilburn and the High Roads, featuring Ian Dury. I remember Ian was wearing a teddy bob drape jacket, and their music was pub rock cum rock’n’roll and they went down quite well, particularly considering that the crowd was waiting to see The Who.
The Who came on stage and started with “I Can’t Explain”, “Summertime Blues”, and then “My Generation”. Excellent, and a great Who gig thus far. They then proceeded to play Quadrophenia. They got as far as “5.15” when things went wrong. The backing tapes weren’t working correctly (apparently they didn’t work at all during 5.15) and Pete went crazy at this point, totally losing it. From upstairs we could see him shouting at someone to the side of the stage; he then started punching the guy and smashed his guitar to the floor of the stage. He then started ripping wires out of their equipment. Roger, Keith and John were just staring at him, wondering what on earth he was doing. The theatre obviously realised that something was going seriously wrong and they dropped the big white fire curtain. We sat in darkness for 15 or 20 minutes until the band reappeared. The Who launched into “Magic Bus” (I think) followed by a lengthy jam (possibly including “Spoonful”) and finished with by playing “My Generation” for a second time. Pete was in a crazy mood swearing at us all, calling us “f**ing bastards”. I recall being very upset with him and shouted back at him, as did many others. He then smashed his Gibson guitar, threw one of his amps to the ground, and Keith crashed through his drums, knocking them all over the stage. They received “thunderous applause” as they left the stage.
We went home on the train, everyone talking about what we had just witnessed. I remember planning to go along to the next night’s gig and try to buy a ticket outside, but I didn’t do so (wish I had done). It seems that no audience recording exists of the show, and there is some disagreement as to which songs The Who actually played when they returned to the stage. Several reports suggest that they played a set of “oldies” probably including “Magic Bus” and a reprise of “My Generation”. My recollection is of a quite lengthy jam, with several songs running into each other, and no breaks, other than a few short instances where Pete took a breath and swore at the audience. I think they may have played “Spoonful” which they sometimes included as part of the encore at the time. I read another report that suggests that they simply returned to play “Sea and Sand” from “Quadrophenia” and then left the stage.
The picture in this ad was reported to have been taken at this concert
My friend John remembers the gig thus: “We were sitting downstairs to the right of the stage and I can remember seeing Townsend going off to the side of the stage a couple of times and that something was up. Listening in the audience I could not hear anything amiss. Then after about half a dozen songs he went off stage and I think hit the guy on the soundboard, I swear I saw sparks and he stormed off. The rest of the band were stunned and for a few moments did nothing and then went off stage. Similarly the crowd did not understand what was happening and for a while was silent. Then I recall the safety curtain (it was white) came down and the crowd began to boo. Not sure if things were thrown at the curtain. After what seemed like a long time, perhaps it was only five minutes or so, with the crowd getting very restless, the band began to play Magic Bus with the safety curtain still down. Once the crowd began to cheer the curtain was raised and they continued with Magic Bus and then My Generation and I think that as the end of the show. I have seen reports which said they did Young Man and Summertime Blues but not to my recollection.”
Steve Hughes writing in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle the following day called it a “Ridiculous Display Of Unwarranted Violence” and went on to write: “The Who rock band lived up to its reputation for violence on stage with an expensive display of guitar and amplifier-smashing at the Odeon Cinema last night. The concert was stopped in chaos when guitarist Pete Townshend bawled out sound engineers, destroyed pre-recorded backing tapes and smashed up £100 worth of equipment [bet it was more than £100 🙂 ] during the group’s presentation of its latest rock opera. It was a ridiculous display of unwarranted violence witnessed by thousands of easily-influenced teenage pop fans. Townshend, a temperamental but brilliant guitarist, is quite notorious for sudden fits of violence on stage which have almost become accepted as part of the act by his many followers. But this time stage hands rushed to disconnect electric amplifiers and Townshend’s electric guitar after he swiped it into the stage floor. Tempers flared after drummer Keith Moon had trouble with headphones. He let the drumsticks fly as the sound engineers battled to fix them. Then Townshend intervened, yelling at the engineers behind control panels on the side of the stage. He ripped out backing tapes and heaved over equipment into the side curtains. The three other members of the band – lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon – just stared.
The Odeon as it was at the time
The safety net was lowered to the stage but the lights stayed out. Fans sat, quietly at first in total darkness and usherettes – obviously quite frightened – frantically flashed torch lights across the audience. After 10 minutes, with absolutely no trouble from the audience, the curtain was raised and Daltrey launched the band into a medley of ‘oldies’. Then he yelled four-letter words at the audience, calling them – among many other derogatory terms – bastards and tried to explain everything by singing ‘My Generation’, a song about the generation gap and how no one understands the younger generation. Then Townshend hurled his guitar against the upstanding microphone and smashed it into a score of pieces by banging it against the stage floor. He then turned on a row of piled amplifiers at the back of the stage and hurled a top one to the floor. Moon waded through his range of drums, spilling them across the stage and Daltrey took a last kick at his microphone. They all left to thunderous applause. It was, in my opinion, an extremely childish publicity stunt with potentially damaging effect on the thousands of youngsters who invariably follow their idols in all they do. Otherwise, they were musically immaculate, as always. Concerts tonight and tomorrow will go ahead as planned.”
Setlist: I Can’t Explain, Summertime Blues, My Generation, I Am The Sea, The Real Me, The Punk And The Godfather, I’m One, Helpless Dancer, 5:15.
Return to the stage: Magic Bus, jam, Spoonful?, My Generation.
23 Dec
The Who Newcastle Odeon 30th October 1971
The Who Newcastle Odeon 30th October 1971
Support from Quiver.
I was so excited about seeing the Who. They were at the height of their powers in the early ’70s and, along with the Stones and Zeppelin, were easily one of the greatest rock bands in the world, and they knew it. In fact, in many ways they were the best band in the world. Their performances, or at least the ones I witnessed, were consistently solid, and they had great pop tunes, and class rock tracks to draw from. As showmen and musicians they were all individually excellent. Pete Townshend was the angry young man, stomping around the stage, swinging his arm like a windwill, and I was always hoping to see him smash his guitar, as we had witnessed in the “Woodstock” and “Monterey Pop” films. Roger Daltrey was the ultimate front man; his mod style had developed into a full-on rockstar, with his suede fringed suit, throwing the mike out to the audience and immediately pulling it back to twirl around his head. John Entwistle was the solid, silent, excellent bassist with the deep voice that would emerge in “Boris The Spider” or “My Wife”. And Keith Moon, was the mad, hyper active kid, who would bash away at the drums, grin at the audience, and every now and then interject a few random jokes.
Tickets for concerts at Newcastle Odeon were sold at The Queens Theatre. I went through to buy tickets on the morning that they went on sale, only to find that the queue was absolutely massive, stretching around from the Queens, across the square where the city library now stands and right down the next street. I joined the queue but realised that I had little chance of scoring a ticket. The box office opened and people starting emerging with their tickets. One guy came down the queue with a few spare, offering to sell 50p tickets for £1. I bought one. It was a rear stall ticket, not a particularly good seat, but I was in 🙂 ! I was delighted and counted the days to the gig.
The Who began their short Autumn 1971 UK tour at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, and concluded it at Greens Playhouse (The Apollo) in Glasgow, Scotland. They also played three nights at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, North London, the first events taking place at the theatre under its new name (it was previously the Finsbury Park Astoria). The tour featured the first live performances of “Baba O’Riley” (played with a synthesizer backing tape as was “Won’t Get Fooled Again”) and the return of a “Tommy” section featuring “Overture”, “Amazing Journey”, “Sparks”, “Pinball Wizard” and “See Me, Feel Me”. “I Can’t Explain” and “Substitute” began regularly serving as the opening songs, where they remained for many tours after this one. Demand for tickets was incredible with extra nights being added at Glasgow where 6,000 people queued for 3,000 tickets.
The Who had just released the classic “Who’s Next”. “Who’s Next” had started out as a follow up to Tommy: “Lifehouse”, which was to be a multi-media project symbolising the relationship between an artist and his audience. Townshend developed his new ideas for the concept in his home studio, using lots of synthesizer and a series of experimental concerts were booked for the Young Vic in London. These concerts were originally imagined as a grand concept where the audience themselves would somehow contribute to the music and the performance. However, the concept proved too complex to implement and it eventually became a much more straightforward rock album, drawing from the “Lifehouse” music, and was released as “Who’s Next” in August 1971, reaching No. 1 in the UK and the US. “Baba O’ Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” were soon to become great live favourites.
I arrived at the Odeon in time to catch support band Quiver, who you could rely on to warm up the audience. The Who exploded on stage to a massive roar from the audience, and for 90 minutes or so, played a loud, incredible high energy performance. Those opening songs of “Can’t Explain” followed immediately with no time for breath with “Substitute” just can’t be bettered. Townshend commented on the “Baba O’Riley” backing tape, saying “We’ve been waiting for the day that we’d stop playing before the tape finished, and this was it!” “Magic Bus” included a lengthy jam, with mouth harp from Daltrey and much arm swirling by Townshend. “Won’t Get Fooled Again” had recently been in the charts and was a crowd favourite, and a personal highlight of the concert for me. Townshend closed by throwing his guitar in the air, letting it crash to the stage, but didn’t smash it, even though the audience, including me, were willing him to do so, and shouting “smash it, Pete!”.
An absolutely amazing gig, and for me the start of a journey with The Who which continues to this day.
Setlist: I Can’t Explain; Substitute; Summertime Blues; My Wife; Baba O’Riley; Bargain; Behind Blue Eyes; Won’t Get Fooled Again; Baby Don’t You Do It; Magic Bus; Overture; Amazing Journey; Sparks; Pinball Wizard; See Me, Feel Me.
Encore: This was normally My Generation; Naked Eye on this tour. However, published setlists suggest that these were not played at the Newcastle gig. My memory is patchy and I really can’t remember whether or not these two songs were played. I suspect they may have been, and that the setlist orginates from an audience recording which exists (you can find it YouTube) and which does not include the full set.
I reckon I’ve seen the Who 19 times, so this is going to take a couple of weeks. I have already blogged about some of those occasions, but there are lots still to cover. Tomorrow I’ll write about when the Who returned to the Newcastle Odeon two years later during the “Quadrophenia” tour.
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