1963 – The Detours play the White Hart Hotel in Acton
1965 – The Who play the Waterfront Club at the Cliff Hotel in Southhampton
1966 – The Who play the Odeon Cinema in Derby
1967 – New Musical Express carries a full page ad for “Pictures of Lily” as well as a review of the single titled “Intriguing Who: A Sure Hit!”
1967 – Melody Maker announces that The Who have been signed to support Herman’s Hermits on a U.S. tour that summer. In the meantime, The Who will go back in the studio on the 26th and 28th to record more tracks for their next album to be called “Who’s Lily?” One track they list as already recorded is Pete’s “Glittering Girl.” that will not be officially released until 1995. This issue also features a review of “Pictures of Lily”, an interview with Mick Jagger who compliments The Who, an interview with Eric Clapton describing the recent Murray The K Shows, and a letter from a reader describing The Who’s April 11th show in Dussledorf
1969 – The Who play the Bolton Institute of Technology social at the Casino Club in Bolton, Lancashire
1972 – Melody Maker prints an interview with a surprisingly sober Keith. Chris Charlesworth conducts the interview. The interview is available in the book “The Who – Uncensored on The Record”
1972 – “Behind Blue Eyes” backed with “Going Mobile” enters the Dutch charts and peaks at #27
1973 – The programme Roadies, featuring The Who and their performance in Stockholm August 23rd, 1972, is shown on Swedish TV.
1974 – The filming of Tommy begins.. The first scenes are interiors at Harefield Grove, a country estate in Middlesex, and involve Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Robert Powell and Barry Winch. Pete watches on set for changes which would require re-writing of the score
1976 – Rolling Stone magazine carries an article titled “The Who on Tour: Leaps and Faints”
Transcript:
The Who on Tour: Leaps and Faints
SAN FRANCISCO—Last December, at the end of the first leg of the Who’s American tour, Peter Townshend announced the group would allow only 21 days for their March/April second round. This meant they’d have to work their way cross-country through 19 dates in 18 cities with split-second timing and mind-boggling speed. They’d have only one night to play at New York’s Madison Square Garden and only a single show at Los Angeles’s Anaheim Stadium. Not surprisingly, it didn’t all work out quite the way they had planned.
At the first date—Boston’s Coliseum on March 9th—drummer Keith Moon looked fat, puffy and bleary-eyed as he flailed away at his kit haphazardly during the opening number, “I Can’t Explain.” Then, midway into the second song, “Substitute,” Moon began to fall backwards from his drums in a faint. Roadies quickly jumped out to support him and carried him from the stage, followed by the other members of the band. A few moments later, Roger Daltrey announced on-stage that the concert was postponed until April 1st, when the Who would return on their way back to England. Moon could not continue, said Daltrey, because he had the flu. There was some hooting from the capacity crowd of 16,000, but the auditorium emptied without incident.
Moon’s poor health forced the Who to postpone the Madison Square Garden show from March 10th to the 11th. After announcing the delay on WNEW, DJ Scott Muni dedicated Paul Simon’s “Run That Body Down” to the convalescing Moon.
New York has always been the Who capital, and this single concert meant a great deal to the group, especially to Townshend. Five years ago, the Who played four dates at the Garden and flopped, giving amazingly inconsistent concerts. This time around, the concert was the ticket on this season’s rock & roll circuit, and the audience responded by almost tearing up the hall. It was classic Who, tight and polished.
They ran through a two-fisted set that included “I Can’t Explain,” “Substitute,” “Baba O’Riley,” “Squeeze Box,” “Magic Bus,” a Tommy medley (coupled with a laser show), “Summertime Blues” and “My Generation,” and ended with “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
When it was over, the Garden management begged the Who to return to the stage to keep the crowd from pulling the chairs out. They came back from their dressing rooms to do a set of “Let’s See Action,” “Naked Eye” and Bo Diddley’s “Road Runner.” Playing as well as they ever have, with Townshend’s guitar work highlighted by his energetic stage leaps, it was the first and only encore of the current tour.
Moon is holding up well and the post-New York shows have been uneventful, except for a cancelled Denver date caused by storm-stalled equipment trucks. The Denver concert was re-scheduled for March 30th, following a double date at San Francisco’s Winterland arena.
And will there be a Part III to the Who’s American tour? Bill Graham wants the Who badly for a summer “Day on the Green” at the Oakland Stadium, but Townshend has put a stipulation on his return to America: “I’ll never come back if I don’t win an Academy Award for Tommy.”
Photo Caption: Who in the world? (left to right) John Entwistle, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon and Peter Townshend
1977 – Keith checks back into Cedars-Sinai for further treatment for his alcoholism and drug abuse
1977 – The first single from the One of The Boys album, “Written on the Wind” backed with “Dear John,” is released in Europe. The delicate ballad, released just as punk rock becomes the rage in the U.K., stalls at #46 in the charts. The song will be dropped for the North American and Dutch release of the album.
1980 – The Who play the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah
1993 – The Who’s Tommy opens on Broadway at the St. James Theater. Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle attend along with a large number of celebrities. Frank Rich raves about it in the next day’s New York Times calling it “the authentic rock musical that has eluded Broadway for two generations.”
Watch a clip of the celebrity arrivals on YouTube here
You can listen to a radio show from the event here
2022 – The Who play the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida