1965 – The Who flew to Manchester to appear on “Top of The Pops”
1966 – The Who’s first U.K. EP “Ready Steady WHO” is released. It is supposed to be live tracks from The Who’s recent television special but is, in fact, studio tracks recorded between February and August 1966. It goes all the way to #1 on the U.K. EP charts but isn’t released in the U.S.
1966 – Shel Talmy releases the last of his “spoiler” singles, “La La La Lies” backed with “The Good’s Gone.” It reaches #17 in Sweden but fails to chart in the U.K.
1967 – Melody Maker’s Chris Welch writes about The Who’s recent show at the Walthamstow Granada
1967 – Record Mirror carries an article from Andrew Steele of The Herd about their current tour with The Who
1967 – The Who play the Imperial Ballroom in Nelson
The Who concert Guide indicates “The Who were supported by two local groups: Michael’s Angels and the Beathovens”, but this was apparently still part of the package tour. We’ve not found any local ads or reviews for this show!
1967 – The Who have an appearance on BBC’s Top Gear radio show.
1967 – “I Can See For Miles” enters the Dutch charts where it will peak at #28. In Sweden both “I Can See For Miles” and “The Last Time” enter the Tio i Topp charts. Incredibly “The Last Time” will be the bigger hit peaking at #9 to “Miles'” #15.
1967 – Disc magazine catches up with Pete and finds him unapologetic about his onstage violence during the first part of the package tour in October. “It’s a small paranoic thing that’s built up in me over the years, and now I find I can’t go to sleep unless I’ve smashed the gear up.” Disc also reports that The Who will play the Hollywood Bowl in November 18 (They played the 19th)
1967 – Billboard reports that The Who have signed a product endorsement contract with Vox and will use only Vox guitar and amps for the next five years in all public performances including radio, TV, movies and concerts.
1969 – The Who play the first of two nights at the Boston Tea Party in Boston. Tony Williams’ Lifetime is the opener
1973 – The Quadrophenia tour continues with a three-night run at the Lyceum in London. Problems continue as the venue proves to be too small for The Who’s gigantic stage rig, eliminating good seats in a venue that already had too few decent sightlines of the stage. This causes a crush to the front resulting in some twenty fans passing out from the pressure. The Who are forced to stop temporarily after the first three numbers so order can be restored.
Tony Palmer in The Observer wrote: Sunday witnessed the first of six concerts at the Lyceum by the most experienced of all British live groups, The Who. Alas,, the performance was bad. It was too loud and too long. The result was that the excerpts from ‘Quadrophenia’ which the group played were almost unrecognizable and no amount of apologetic introduction by Pete Townshend could excuse the nightmarish organization — or lack of it — at the concert.
John Blake in the Evening news was nicer and said “it was a magic evening”
1976 – All This And World War II has its world premiere in Los Angeles. Keith Moon attends, dressed appropriately as Field Marshal Rommel. The movie leaves critics incredulous that a movie made up of nothing more than Beatle covers with World War II footage over it was ever approved by 20th Century-Fox. It quickly vanishes rarely to be seen again
1977 – Pete’s “Street In the City” backed with Ronnie Lane’s “Annie” comes out in Britain
1979 – The Who play the second of two nights at the Brighton Centre in Brighton, East Sussex
1982 – THE WHO – THE END is the cover of Rolling Stone. Kurt Loder interviews the members. Pete and Roger say The Who will cease touring but will continue producing records. John tells Loder he sees no point in making more records if The Who won’t tour. Pete and Roger later say they were surprised by John’s remarks, claiming he never expressed these sentiments directly to them
You can read it here (pdf format)
1985 – Pete travels to New York to do promotion for the forthcoming White City video/album and his short-story collection Horse’s Neck. While there he attends the release party for Bob Dylan’s Biograph CD retrospective.
1985 – Pete releases his 5th solo record “White City – A Novel”. Visit our friend at petetownshend.net for more about this album here
1993 – Pete is on The Late Show With David Letterman performing “Don’t Try To Make Me Real” from Psychoderelict
1994 – Pete attends an award ceremony for Ahmet Ertegun, president of Atlantic Records
gettyimages has photos from the event here
1996 – The Who play the US Air Arena in Landover, Maryland (outside of Washington D.C.)
The Washington Post had the following review:
THE WHO’S 4-STAR ‘QUAD’ By Richard Harrington
The Who may not be interested in reviving themselves, but they’ve done a fabulous job on their “other” rock opera, “Quadrophenia.” The group didn’t sell out USAir Arena last night, but the 12,000 fans who came witnessed a bold, at times brilliant reframing of the work that took advantage of advanced technology, a greatly expanded band and the realization that “Quadrophenia” was never opera. It is theater, and composer Pete Townshend is clearly seeking the same kind of reconsideration afforded its fabled predecessor, “Tommy.”
The Who briefly toured “Quadrophenia” in 1973 but technical problems stymied the effort; 1996 marks the first time this long-neglected work has been performed live and in its entirety. In retrospect, it may have been a brilliant move to abandon it for more than 20 years, because “Quadrophenia” seems new again. A sober expansion of “My Generation,” “Quadrophenia” is about the divide between adulthood and arrested adolescence. When it first arrived in 1973, the piece was envisioned as a way for the band to put both “Tommy” and the ’60s behind. Like “Tommy,” “Quadrophenia” has a linear plot: Jimmy the Mod gravitates to a seaside town, gets caught up in a rumble with the rival Rockers, has trouble finding either a job or a girl and finally realizes that neither life nor rock-and-roll is quite what it’s cracked up to be.
However, “Quadrophenia” centered on a fashion/music-driven ’60s subculture — Britain’s mods — that never had much impact stateside. Originally, neither did the double album, though it produced two great concert staples in “5.15” and “Love, Reign O’er Me.” In addition, Townshend’s concept of a four-way split personality (which, along with the soon-failed quad sound system, gave the work its name) proved too confusing for audiences. Each facet of Jimmy’s personality was supposed to reflect that of a band member while also representing youthful traits as disparate as aggression, insecurity, love and spirituality.
It’s easier now to see the work as a meditation on teenage existentialism — call it “Whospotting.” Like “Trainspotting,” “Quadrophenia” addresses boredom and despair, drugs, unemployment, sex and solitude. And Townshend’s finale, in which Jimmy steals a rowboat, gets stranded on “The Rock” and briefly contemplates suicide, sets the stage for Townshend’s variation on “Choose life!”
Onstage, Townshend, singer Roger Daltrey and bassist John Entwhistle were joined by drummer Zak Starkey (Keith Moon died in 1978 and his replacement, Kenny Jones, is not on this tour) and lead guitarist Simon Townshend, as well as two keyboardists, two backup singers, a five-man brass section and a percussionist, plus guest vocalists Billy Idol and Gary Glitter. The add-ons simply enriched the sound, giving it greater depth and vitality, but the focus was clearly on Pete Townshend (playing fiery acoustic guitar for most of the night), Daltrey (whose dynamo voice was in terrific shape) and Entwhistle (rapid-fire runs and rock-steady presence, as always)
To advance the story, the Who turned to Phil Daniels (who played Jimmy in the 1979 film version). They used some old film footage but relied on a newly shot narrative that appeared on a screen between songs, a process that occasionally slowed the music’s momentum but went a great way toward ensuring that the plot made sense.
While the propulsive “5.15” and the anthemic “Love, Reign O’er Me” provoked easy recognition and approval, they were not the evening’s highlights. The trilogy of “Helpless Dancer,” “Is It in My Head?” and “I’ve Had Enough” were roiling with expressive energy, and the last included some emotionally riveting ensemble vocals from Pete Townshend, Daltrey, Idol and Glitter as Jimmy’s disintegrated personality. In retrospect, “Doctor Jimmy” is a Who classic waiting for validation.
Townshend’s features — “Cut My Hair,” “I Am One” and “Drowned” — were searing; though his guitar was acoustic, the emotions were electric and the wonderfully yearning timbre of his voice is as mesmerizing as ever.
Overall, “Quadrophenia” is chock-full of guitar-driven crescendos and songs such as “The Punk and the Godfather” and “Bell Boy” that offer sharp but sympathetic takes on youthful disillusionment.
After a deservedly thunderous ovation, the Who returned for a mostly acoustic encore of “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Who Are You.” It felt oddly unnecessary and was certainly less urgent and dramatic than what had come before. In contrast, “Quadrophenia” sounded Who-ish, looked Who-ish and was most definitely Who-ish. The codgers are all right. CAPTION: Just like old times: Lead singer Roger Daltrey belted out a tune last night at USAir Arena as the Who revisited its 1973 theater piece, “Quadrophenia.”
1998 – The John Entwistle Band continue their U.S. tour appearing at The Hi-Pointe in St. Louis
2006 – The Who play the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California
2011 – Pete and Roger are photographed with Who fan Jeremy Clarkson alongside the Lotus Evora designed by Roger for an auction benefiting the Teenage Cancer Trust
2012 – Japanese band Kuhombutsu release their album Ikiteru tochuuni shindara doushiyou featuring the song “Pete Townshend”
You can listen to it here
2012 – The Who play the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2014 – Roger attends “An Evening of The Who Music In Aid of Teenage Cancer Trust” at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London.
2018 – Roger appears on CBS Sunday Morning
You can watch it on youtube here