1963 – The Detours play the Grand Ballroom in Broadstairs
1964 – The Who play the Majestic Ballroom in Luton
1965 – The Who play “Good Lovin'”, “Anyway Anyhow Anywhere”, “Leaving Here”, “Please, Please, Please” and “Just You And Me, Darling” for broadcast on the Mary 29th episode of “Saturday Club” on BBC.
1965 – The Who play the Majestic Ballroom in Reading
1965 – The Who record for BBC’s Top Gear performing “Good Lovin’,” “Anyway Anyhow Anywhere,” “I Don’t Mind,” and “Daddy Rolling Stone.”. The show would be broadcast on June 19
1967 – The Who were back at De Lane Lea studios on this day in 1967 to record a different version of Eddie Cochran and Jerry Capehart’s ‘Summertime Blues’. This as yet unreleased version is a much faster version than the other studio recording made in October 67 for the BBC and released on 1998’s reissue of Odds & Sods. It was thought that ‘Summertime Blues’ might possibly be the next Who single with John Entwistle’s delightful ‘Someone’s Coming’ as the b-side. As it turned out ‘Someone’s Coming’ became the b-side of ‘I Can See For Miles’, released in October 1967.
1968 – The Who play The Great Hall at City University in Clerkenwell, London
1969 – New Musical Express carries a review of Tommy titled “Who’s Sick Opera” calling it a “disappointment”
Transcript: (unverified)
WHO’S SICK OPERA
THE WHO: TOMMY (Track stereo 613 013/4; 75s ld)
I REALLY was looking forward to this “pop opera,” which has occupied Pete Townshend’s mind for so long. Really I was. But what a disappointment, even though I tip it for the NME LP charts.
Admittedly the idea is original, even though other groups seem to be jumping on the bandwagon now, but it doesn’t come off. Running for over an hour, it goes on and on and isn’t totally representative of the Who; maybe it’s time for a change in style, but if this is it, I long for a return to the old days.
Beautifully packaged in a tri-fold out sleeve, the double album also includes a twelve-page brochure containing the words of the songs and pictures to illustrate the numbers.
Pretentious is too strong a word; maybe over-ambitious is the right term but sick certainly does apply. One line goes: “Sickness will surely take the mind.” It does. RG.
Tracks: Overture, It’s A Boy, 1921, Amazing Journey, Sparks, The Hawker, Christmas, Cousin Kevin, The Acid Queen, Underture, Do You Think It’s Alright, Fiddle About, Pinball Wizard, There’s A Doctor, Go To The Mirror, Tommy Can You Hear Me, Smash The Mirror, Sensation, Miracle Cure, Sally Simpson, I’m Free, Welcome, Tommy’s Holiday Camp, We’re Not Gonna Take It.
1969 – Record Mirror reviews Tommy giving it a 5 Star rating and calling it “one of the most incredible feats ever accomplished in music”
Transcript: (unverified)
THE WHO: Tommy — Overture; It’s A Boy; 1921; Amazing Journey; Sparks; The Hawker (A); Christmas; Cousin Kevin; The Acid Queen; Underture; Do You Think It’s Alright?; Fiddle About; Pinball Wizard; There’s A Doctor; Go To The Mirror!; Sensation; Miracle Cure; Sally Simpson; I’m Free; Welcome; Tommy’s Holiday Camp; We’re Not Gonna Take It (Track 613 013/4 Stereo, Double LP set).
THIS is the long awaited album set you read about in Record Mirror, folks. The Who present a pop opera lasting all of an hour and a quarter and it’s a sound success. Get it? sound? Seriously, my committee, known popularly as the Modern Booze Quartet, sat down and had a stern listen-in and the united opinion was that this has got to be one of the most incredible feats ever accomplished in music. The subject is Tommy; the boy who saw his mother pollenating the wrong flower, which caused him to go deaf, dumb and blind with shock. Various external factors such as Gypsy the Acid Queen and her bag of imported tricks help Tommy to negotiate things inside his head and he becomes a very practised competitor in carnival games of skill; hence the Pinball Wizard.
All of the selections in Tommy’s progression are penned with precision by Peter Townshend and his boys. The famous style of slam bang guitar work credited to the Who, is in full swing where it’s appropriate and the tone is levelled off to quiet, smooth orchestrals where those suit best. They have managed to create a number of different moods throughout the opera and used all facets of the power spectrum, from the heaviest and loudest to the gentle and the subtle; in fact, all the ingredients needed to classify it a fine opera. The top secret members of the Modern Booze Quartet have cast their ballots and it looks good. For the Who and Tommy, it’s a FIVE STAR RATING!
1969 – Melody Maker features a full page ad for Tommy. They also carry a brief report on The Who’s recent Fillmore incident
1969 – The Who play the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1975 – New Musical Express carries the interview Pete gave to Roy Carr on May 19 (Pete’s Birthday)
You can read it here
1985 – Gerry Marsden releases a charity single as a benefit for the victims of the Bradford City Disaster Fund after their horrible football stadium fire. The single is “You’ll Never Walk Alone” backed with messages of support and credited to “The Crowd.” One of “The Crowd” is John.
1985 – Pete appears on the BBC talk show Wogan.
1989 – John receives his custom-made black-and-white Union Jack jacket from the Mayor of London to wear on the tour.
1999 – The Spells (Mary Timony of Helium and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney) release the EP The Age Of Backwards featuring a cover of “I Can’t Explain”
You can listen to it on YouTube here
2000 – Pete has an online chat through barnesandnoble.com. He says his favorite album is Frank Sinatra’s Songs For Swingin’ Lovers!
2001 – Pete receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Ivor Novello Awards at the Dorchester Hotel in London. Roger is in attendance. Pete thanks The Who but admits that “I do find these things incredibly boring. It’s really sunny out there and I did all this music shit so that I could have a swimming pool and I want to be in it.”
2001 – Substitute: The Songs Of The Who, a collection of Who covers compiled by longtime Who soundman Bobby Pridden, is released in Europe.
2006 – In a cover story, The National Review declares “Won’t Get Fooled Again” the greatest conservative rock song of all time. In response, Pete says on the 27th that the song has no party-allied political message, “a song that pleaded ‘leave me alone with my family to live my life, so I can work for change in my own way.'”
https://www.nationalreview.com/2006/05/1-michael-long/
2015 – The Who play the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut