1963 – The Detours play Oldfield Hotel in Greenford 1964 – Melody Maker cites The Who in an article about the burgeoning R&B scene. It is the first national press mention of The Who. The same issue also has an ad for Marshall Amps citing The Who as clients. 1965 – The Who play Starlite… Read More »Today in Whostory: 3/14/2025
1965 – The Who play The Goldhawk Social Club in Shepherd’s Bush 1965 – “I Can’t Explain” dropped completely out of the NME chart after having reached #26 the previous week. 1966 – The Who play The Birdcage in Portsmouth 1966 – Pete and the battle of the Who singles is the cover story in… Read More »Today in Whostory: 3/12/2025
1963 – The Detours play Douglas House in Bayswater 1966 – The Who play The RamJam Club in Brixton, London 1966 – Talmy brings his call for an injunction against further sales of “Instant Party” by the Reaction label to the High Court. Talmy’s QC tells Mr. Justice Cross, “The group of young men who… Read More »Today in Whostory: 3/10/2025
1963 – The Detours play the White Hart Hotel in Acton 1964 – Pete fills in another form requesting an audition for the BBC Light Programme this time under the name “The Who”. 1965 – The Who play The Ealing Club in Ealing 1966 – The Who release their first single on Robert Stigwood’s Reaction… Read More »Today in Whostory: 3/04/2025
1963 – The Detours play the White Hart Hotel in Acton 1963 – The Detours play the Douglas House in Bayswater. 1965 – The Who play Le Disque a Go!Go! Club in Lansdowne, Bournemouth, Hampshire 1969 – The Who end the recording of Tommy at IBC Studio A after almost five months in the studio.… Read More »Today in Whostory: 3/03/2025
1944 – Roger Harry Daltrey is born at Hammersmith Hospital in West London. 1964 – The Who play St. Mary’s Hall in Putney 1965 – Roger is the first member of The Who to turn 21 1966 – The March issue of Beat Instrumental features an article titled “Making your own Recordings” by Pete Townshend… Read More »Today in Whostory: 3/01/2025
1963 – The Detours play the Douglas House in Bayswater in the afternoon 1963 – The Detours play the White Hart Hotel in Acton 1966 – The Who perform without Roger at the Victoria Ballroom in Chesterfield. Roger had come down with laryngitis 1967 – The Who play two shows at the Palazzetto dello Sport… Read More »Today in Whostory: 2/24/2025
1966 – The Who play the Esquire Club in Sheffield 1969 – The Who were scheduled to play Dreamland in Margate 1969 – Rolling Stone magazine publishes an article entitled “Who Finishing Rock Opera” 1970 – The Who play the City Hall in Hull 1971 – The Who hold their first official session for the… Read More »Today in Whostory: 2/15/2025
1959 – Mose Allison records his version of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Eyesight To The Blind.” Pete will later hear this version of the song at the Sunnyside Road flat and it will inspire him to include it in Tommy. You can listen to it on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAePxK6LO94 1964 – The Detours play the Oldfield… Read More »Today in Whostory: 2/13/2025
1965 – The Who audition for BBC Radio’s Light Programme. As The Detours, they had failed a BBC audition 10 months before. This time they pass with the approval of four of the seven judges. The other three call them “ponderous and unentertaining”, “at the limit of their capablilties” and “overall not very original and… Read More »Today in Whostory: 2/12/2025