The Who @ MSG

I've seen a slew of articles that said this was their first late night appearance on American TV since the Smothers Brothers in 1967 (which was in prime time) and they've also overlooked their appearance on Letterman in 2006 during the Endless Wire tour. That finally got a mention in Rolling Stone.

A night after the Who brought their 50th anniversary tour to New York's Madison Square Garden, the rock legends dropped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to make their first U.S. late-night performance in nearly a decade. For the visit, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend delivered a rousing take on "Who Are You," featuring a phenomenal, climatic solo by the guitar god.

The Who's Tonight Show performance marked the first time the band had appeared on an American late-night show since September 2006, when Daltrey and Townshend appeared on Late Show With David Letterman to perform "A Man in a Purple Dress," a cut off their then-new LP Endless Wire. That appearance marked the Who's first late-night stop since 1967, when they played an explosive, very destructive "My Generation" on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

Prior to the Who's Madison Square Garden concert, both the band and the venue paid tribute to David Bowie, who died January 10th.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/watch-the-who-bring-rousing-who-are-you-to-tonight-show-20160305#ixzz428r0d4oC

I loved it that they did a full on WAY and not some abbreviated version of another hit. Unless I'm hallucinating there was some expert dubbing as Roger dropped a couple of f bombs. They tore it up indeed.

brianlux said:

Who Princess said:

I hope I don't steal your thunder, Brian, but since you sent me prints of those photos a few years ago, I'm gonna post 'em.

Windmill approaching.



Birdman!



John and Keith

Whoa! That threw me at first when I saw these- it was like, "Hey, those look just like... Oh, it is them!" Haha!

Now the good news is, there's more! And the Jimi and Noel Redding photos are cool as well. I hope the stories do them justice. Unfortunately, I cannot find the ones I took of Mitch Mitchell or Jimi playing drums.

Wow, Brian. I am always in awe of your rich history whenever this stuff come up.

brianlux said:

Who Princess said:

I hope I don't steal your thunder, Brian, but since you sent me prints of those photos a few years ago, I'm gonna post 'em.

Windmill approaching.



Birdman!



John and Keith

Whoa! That threw me at first when I saw these- it was like, "Hey, those look just like... Oh, it is them!" Haha!

Now the good news is, there's more! And the Jimi and Noel Redding photos are cool as well. I hope the stories do them justice. Unfortunately, I cannot find the ones I took of Mitch Mitchell or Jimi playing drums.

Brian, don't know if you'll remember but this show took place on Monday, August 26th, 1968. Incredibly, four days earlier the band was involved in a pretty severe auto accident on their way back from a gig in Missouri. Although shaken up and requiring an overnight stay in the hospital none of the band were seriously injured.

Croos1226 said:

brianlux said:

Who Princess said:

I hope I don't steal your thunder, Brian, but since you sent me prints of those photos a few years ago, I'm gonna post 'em.

Windmill approaching.



Birdman!



John and Keith

Whoa! That threw me at first when I saw these- it was like, "Hey, those look just like... Oh, it is them!" Haha!

Now the good news is, there's more! And the Jimi and Noel Redding photos are cool as well. I hope the stories do them justice. Unfortunately, I cannot find the ones I took of Mitch Mitchell or Jimi playing drums.

Brian, don't know if you'll remember but this show took place on Monday, August 26th, 1968. Incredibly, four days earlier the band was involved in a pretty severe auto accident on their way back from a gig in Missouri. Although shaken up and requiring an overnight stay in the hospital none of the band were seriously injured.

I didn't know about that accident. So glad none were seriously injured!

The show I saw was in February. Here is my as yet unedited chapter on the Who show I saw (for some reason indentations won't post here):

WHO?

February 21, 1968: The Who, Blue Cheer. San Jose Civic Auditorium, San Jose, CA
One day out of the blue a friend of mine in high school, David Meyerhof, came up to me and said, “Guess who’s coming to San Jose?”
“I don’t know. Who?”
“Yes!”
“What?”
“Who!”
“Who?”
“Right! The Who!”
“The Who?
“Yes, The Who!”
“Wow!”
“Yeah, The Who and Blue Cheer!”
“Whoa!”
“Do you want to go?”
“Heck yeah!”
David was one of the first people I knew back then who had a strong interest in current events, politics, social changes and so forth. He always seemed to be well ahead of the rest of us adolescents in terms of knowing and caring about what was going on in the world besides girls and music and sports. He also knew how to have a good time and he was a great guy to hang out with.
David and I paid big bucks, $4.75 each, for second row seats on the floor section of the San Jose Civic Auditorium. That’s right, two rows from the front of the stage to see Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry, John Entwhistle and the amazing Keith Moon. Incredible!
The Who were a hugely favorite band of several of my friends and me. The show we were about to see was part of The Who’s North America tour following the release of their “The Who Sell Out” LP. This great album remains a somewhat lesser known favorite amongst die-hard Who fans.
Paul Sommer was also in attendance a few rows back at the San Jose show with some other friends and we would later compare notes about the performances. He also gave me some excellent prints of some of the incredible photographs he took at that show. He and I used to goof off during gym when we were taking tennis lessons together and pretend our rackets were guitars and use them to play Cream’s song, “Anyone For Tennis?” or imitate Pete Townshend’s famous windmill guitar. I remember he and one of his bands performing a few excellent Who covers at a talent show our school put on one year.
The San Jose Civic Center was a great venue to see these bands and we were incredibly fortunate to get such good seats. Back in those days there was no such thing as a “mosh pit” and shows in seated venues like the San Jose Civic generally sold tickets for specific seating rather than general admission (which today is simply referred to as “GA”). The other big difference with major headlining band performances at that time was that very often there were no security guards lined up in front of the stage. As popular as The Who had become, the audience was enthusiastic but well mannered. There was no rushing the stage, no shoving, no pushing. Just a great time.
The San Francisco psychedelic/power-based trio, Blue Cheer, opened the show for The Who. It was announced just prior to the start of the show that a third band had cancelled and we were informed that we would only (only, hahaha!) be seeing Blur Cheer and the Who. I have a vague recollection that the band that cancelled that night might have been The Anonymous Artists of America but I can’t confirm this.
The Blue Cheer line up for that date consisted of the late Dickie Peterson on bass and vocals, Leigh Stephens on guitar and Paul Waley on drums. David and I had seats facing just to the left of center stage so we received the full gale force of Stephens’ heavy duty Marshall driven guitar. Stephens played like a workhorse with the sleeve shirt of his right arm rolled up and with a look of intense concentration on his face. Peterson was a solid rock on bass and with his gravely vocals and stern, almost statuesque stage presence, he was the anchor that held the band firmly in place throughout their hard-driving set. Waley thrashed on his drum kit throughout the entire performance like a man possessed, head slightly bowed over his drums with his beautiful long flowing blonde hair all but covering his face during the entire performance. All I could see of his face in brief glimpses was his teeth-bared grimace and his tightly shut eyes. Though not the master drummer that I would soon experience in watching Keith Moon, Waley played with an intensity that left me mesmerized.
Blue Cheer were renowned for their massive volume and while we watched them thrash through their numbers, I was completely electrified, but when their set was over I was dazed and had quite a bad headache settling in from the pummeling from this astonishing band.
During intermission I said to David, “Man, my head is pounding!”
“You’ll be alright,” he said in his typically kind and gentle manner. “Once The Who come on you’ll forget all about it and we’ll have a great time.”
He was so right.

Wow, Brian. That is some great writing. Great story. Makes me wish I had been there.

Brian, you are right about the date being February 21, 1968. I saw the August date and just assumed that one was correct. Funny how back in the day bands sometimes did multiple tours in the same year. Your date was actually the kick off of a six week American and Canadian tour which was supported by Blue Cheer and a band named Sagittarius. My apologies!

mcgruff10 said:

Brian thank you so much for sharing and I must say, I love you how you write. Please let us know when the book is done. I still can't believe you had 2nd row for under $5!!!
By the way, this is one of my favorite lines from your story: "As the last song neared the end, Pete formed an elongated “X” with his long spidery arms and legs, spreading his feet apart and holding his arms out wide, fingers straight, hands held flat, all the while his white Gibson ES-355 guitar hanging on its strap around his neck and shoulder, bleeding out glorious feedback while white clouds of smoke-bomb haze billowed forth from behind his Sunn amplifier, enhancing the overdriven, overheated grand finale. It was a glorious ending to a superb show." Man I can so picture this in my head.

Nowadays, that Pete pose is nicknamed "The Birdman," but Brian's way sounds better.

Excellent, B!

Amazing how Roger and Pete can still rock it the fuck out almost 50 years later.

RIP Ox and Moon.

Holy f@ck did The Who rock the UC tonight. Flawless. So glad to make it to that show. Getting to meet Simon and Loren before the show was the cherry on top. Simon pretty much made my whole year just by calling me pretty. What a sweetheart.

Crazy to think we may not get to see The Who tour again after this. Live in the moment.

Amazing show at the UC last night, PT was on fire and if it was the last major show in Chicago they went out in style! This music from this band has been the soundtrack to my life and as cliche as that is, it's the absolute truth! 13 shows for me and no regrets well, except never seeing them with Moonie! Long Live Rock and Long Live the Who!!