The 1970s saw The Who at its zenith. There was no better live band. The 1970s saw the death of Keith Moon. The 1970s also saw the “new” Who with Kenney Jones.
1970 produced the famous Live At Leeds show but also the end of Tommy. They would not play it complete again until 1989. Material from Who’s Next (Pete’s aborted “Lifehouse” project) would surface at the Young Vic shows and dominate the ‘70-’72 tours. The recording of Who’s Next brought synthesizers and prerecord- ed tapes to the stage.
While Quadrophenia was a spectacular sounding LP, the band required backing tapes for most of the show. This technical challenge of the backing tapes and Pete tiring of trying to explain the concept to the audience eventually led to most of the Quadrophenia material being cut from the show. Key shows from 1973 were the heavily booted Philly show (Tales From The Who), the San Francisco Cow Palace show (where Keith passes out) and the Edmonton Sundown, UK, shows (Merry Christmas Mr. Who).
The 1975-76 tours were highly successful and extremely well played. Many shows have been booted from these tours including Swansea, UK (Better Boot), Houston 1975, and the Toronto shows of ‘75 and ‘76 (Keith’s last paying gig).
After Keith’s death and 2 years of no touring the “new” Who returned to the stage in 1979 with renewed vigor. The MSG and New Haven, CT (Gonna Rape You) shows have been booted on LP and are excellent examples of the 1979 sound.
This Page Last Updated by "Baba O'Riley" on 01/26/2013 at 19:00
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