EDDIE VEDDER/PETE TOWNSHEND

vito

Just going to leave you with this critique from EV on The Who for Rolling Stone...

The Who

By Eddie Vedder

The Who began as spectacle. They became spectacular. Early on, the band was in pure demolition mode; later, on albums like Tommy and Quadrophenia, it coupled that raw energy with precision and desire to complete musical experiments on a grand scale. They asked, "What were the limits of rock & roll? Could the power of music actually change the way you feel?" Pete Townshend demanded that there be spiritual value in music. They were an incredible band whose main songwriter happened to be on a quest for reason and harmony in his life. He shared that journey with the listener, becoming an inspiration for others to seek out their own path. They did all this while also being in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's loudest band.

Presumptuously, I speak for all Who fans when I say being a fan of the Who has incalculably enriched my life. What disturbs me about the Who is the way they smashed through every door of rock & roll, leaving rubble and not much else for the rest of us to lay claim to. In the beginning they took on an arrogance when, as Pete says, "We were actually a very ordinary group." As they became accomplished, this attitude stuck. Therein lies the thread to future punks. They wanted to be louder, so they had Jim Marshall invent the 100-watt amp. Needed more volume, so they began stacking them. It is said that some of the first guitar feedback ever to make it to record was on "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere," in 1965. The Who told stories within the confines of a song and, over the course of an entire album, pushed boundaries. How big of a story could be told? And how would it transmit (pre-video screens, etc.) to a large crowd? Smash the instruments? Keith Moon said they wanted to grab the audience by the balls. Pete countered that like the German auto-destructive movement, where they made sculpture that would collapse and buildings that would explode, it was high art.

I was around nine when a baby sitter snuck Who's Next onto the turntable. The parents were gone. The windows shook. The shelves were rattling. Rock & roll. That began an exploration into music that had soul, rebellion, aggression, affection. Destruction. And this was all Who music. There was the mid-Sixties maximum- R&B period, mini-operas, Woodstock, solo records. Imagine, as a kid, stumbling upon the locomotive that is Live at Leeds. "Hi, my name is Eddie. I'm 10 years old and I'm getting my fucking mind blown!" The Who on record were dynamic. Roger Daltrey's delivery allowed vulnerability without weakness; doubt and confusion, but no plea for sympathy. (You should hear Roger's vocal on a song called "Lubie [Come Back Home]," a bonus track from the reissue of their first album, The Who Sings My Generation. It's top-gear.)

The Who quite possibly remain the greatest live band ever. Even the list-driven punk legend and music historian Johnny Ramone agreed with me on this. You can't explain Keith Moon or his playing. John Entwistle was an enigma unto himself, another virtuoso musical oddity. Roger turned his mic into a weapon, seemingly in self-defense. All the while, Pete was leaping into the rafters wielding a Seventies Gibson Les Paul, which happens to be a stunningly heavy guitar. As a live group, they created momentum, and they seemed to be released by the ritual of their playing. (Check out "A Quick One While He's Away," from the Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus.)

A few years ago in Chicago, I saw Pete wring notes out of his guitar like a mechanic squeezing oil from a rag. I watched as the guitar became a living being, one getting its body bashed and its neck strangled. As Pete set it down, I swear I sensed relief coming from that guitar. A Stratocaster with sweat on it. The guitar's sweat.

John and Keith made the Who what they were. Roger was the rock. And at this point, Pete has been through and survived more than anyone in rock royalty. Perhaps even beyond Keith Richards, who was actually guilty of most things he was accused of.

The songwriter-listener relationship grows deeper after all the years. Pete saw that a celebrity in rock is charged by the audience with a function, like, "You stand there and we will know ourselves." Not "You stand there and we will pay you loads of money to keep us entertained as we eat our oysters." He saw the connection could be profound. He also realized the audience may say, "When we're finished with you, we'll replace you with somebody else." For myself and so many others (including shopkeepers, foremen, professionals, bellboys, gravediggers, directors, musicians), they won't be replaced. Yes, Pete, it's true, music can change you.

vito

Eddie joining the Who at the Royal Albert Hall for I'm One...Eddie sounds majestic...btw it was the last show ever for the incomparable John Entwistle 

https://youtu.be/LrjW0ZNfNhM

vito

How could this little exercise be complete w/out the first great cover PJ did by the Who, Baba O'riley one of the all-time great anthems in rock 'n' roll live from La Plata, Argentina 2015...The reaction from the crowd is as wild as you will ever see a crowd get, Buenos Aires fans might be the best in the world?!...Also I figured I throw in the first great anthem by PJ to set the tone for Baba...

https://youtu.be/gzUlAc2ouB8

 

vito

Some great photos of Pete Townshend and Eddie Vedder...

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Happy 75th Birthday to PT. Long Live Rock...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maD5k-vUI4o

GlowGirl

Happy Bday Pete. 

My high school boyfriend snuck a camera into the first Who show we saw. He got some great shots. I have a whole photo album from that show. This is my favorite photo that he took. 

vito

MF117973 said:

Happy Bday Pete. 

My high school boyfriend snuck a camera into the first Who show we saw. He got some great shots. I have a whole photo album from that show. This is my favorite photo that he took. 

Wow that is awesome would love to see some more photos from what I'm sure was a most memorable night.

GlowGirl

vito said:

MF117973 said:

Happy Bday Pete. 

My high school boyfriend snuck a camera into the first Who show we saw. He got some great shots. I have a whole photo album from that show. This is my favorite photo that he took. 

Wow that is awesome would love to see some more photos from what I'm sure was a most memorable night.

Sure. When I get some time, I will scan them. I think the quality will be better than taking a picture of a picture with my cell phone. Also, when that boyfriend and I broke up he gave me the negatives. I still have them all carefully stored in plastic sleeves. I should enlarge some of them and frame them. I would have to find a place that would still print film.

vito

MF117973 said:

vito said:

MF117973 said:

Happy Bday Pete. 

My high school boyfriend snuck a camera into the first Who show we saw. He got some great shots. I have a whole photo album from that show. This is my favorite photo that he took. 

Wow that is awesome would love to see some more photos from what I'm sure was a most memorable night.

Sure. When I get some time, I will scan them. I think the quality will be better than taking a picture of a picture with my cell phone. Also, when that boyfriend and I broke up he gave me the negatives. I still have them all carefully stored in plastic sleeves. I should enlarge some of them and frame them. I would have to find a place that would still print film.

Sounds perfect, thank you

cutz

MF117973 said:

vito said:

MF117973 said:

Happy Bday Pete. 

My high school boyfriend snuck a camera into the first Who show we saw. He got some great shots. I have a whole photo album from that show. This is my favorite photo that he took. 

Wow that is awesome would love to see some more photos from what I'm sure was a most memorable night.

Sure. When I get some time, I will scan them. I think the quality will be better than taking a picture of a picture with my cell phone. Also, when that boyfriend and I broke up he gave me the negatives. I still have them all carefully stored in plastic sleeves. I should enlarge some of them and frame them. I would have to find a place that would still print film.

You can scan and post photos but you had a difficult time posting YouTube Links>HAHAHA. I have NO clue how to scan and Post photos. 

Very NICE picture of Pete.

GlowGirl

cutz said:

MF117973 said:

vito said:

MF117973 said:

Happy Bday Pete. 

My high school boyfriend snuck a camera into the first Who show we saw. He got some great shots. I have a whole photo album from that show. This is my favorite photo that he took. 

Wow that is awesome would love to see some more photos from what I'm sure was a most memorable night.

Sure. When I get some time, I will scan them. I think the quality will be better than taking a picture of a picture with my cell phone. Also, when that boyfriend and I broke up he gave me the negatives. I still have them all carefully stored in plastic sleeves. I should enlarge some of them and frame them. I would have to find a place that would still print film.

You can scan and post photos but you had a difficult time posting YouTube Links>HAHAHA. I have NO clue how to scan and Post photos. 

Very NICE picture of Pete.

I know 😆. It took a few tries but I did finally post YouTube videos thanks to you. My printer has a scanner. So I can easily scan the photos into my computer and then upload them. That might be a good lockdown project. I am in NYC so I bet we are the last city in the country to start reopening. 

vito

We All Believe said:

Was fortunate enough to:

A) Get tickets right in front of Pete & Eddie on Letterman after waiting in front of the theater the WHOLE day.

2) Via my brother's gig at Fairfield's radio station at the time, get into the Pete/Ed Supper Club show later that night. Didn't get to meet them, but being at the show was more than enough.

Wow, amazing my 2 favorite artists a special moment like that doesn't happen often. As I stated above I was lucky enough to have the exact same thing happen at the House of Blues in Chicago. Literally 5 feet from me and Eddie was looking right at my wife who wasn't a big fan at the time but, has since become her favorite 🤔

vito

vito said:

I was maybe 10 feet from PT just off the center getting crushed by the oversold crowd at the HOB, 1999 and PT's guitar sounded amazing! Eddie just had that scowl on his face for the whole 8 minutes. At the 4:35 mark PT starts torturing his Strat...a quote from Eddie to RS "A few years ago in Chicago, I saw Pete wring notes out of his guitar like a mechanic squeezing oil from a rag. I watched as the guitar became a living being, one getting its body bashed and its neck strangled. As Pete set it down, I swear I sensed relief coming from that guitar. A Stratocaster with sweat on it. The guitar's sweat."
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7lfu8

Funny, that I have watched this many times but, just now noticed that even though PT was torturing his strat beautifully it was Eddie that broke a string. Man and they both look magnificent, PT was 54 and EV was 34.😎

demetrios

https://twitter.com/pj_history/status/1552687428057677824