1962 – The Everly Brothers’ LP Instant Party is released in the U.K. Pete will lift the title for a song recorded in January 1966 intended as the B-side to “Circles,” that will then be applied to the song “Circles” when “Substitute” becomes the final A-side.
1966 – The Who play Winter Gardens in Malvern, Worcestershire. The show is filmed in color by CBS-TV for an hour-long special on British teenagers. The footage has yet to re-surface.
1967 – Ralph Gleason, early rock critic and co-founder of the Monterey festival, denounces The Who in the San Francisco Chronicle: “This decadent, destructive, cynical ending (they use the same amplifier to hit on every show and smash a special cheap guitar) is really a Roman Circus spectacle and has nothing at all to do with music. In fact, it is really anti-music and disgraceful.”
Transcript:
THE repercussions of the Monterey International Pop Festival last weekend are really only now beginning to be felt and there will be discussion and re-evaluation for a long time.
The weekend went out in a blaze of glory with Ravi Shankar’s moving performance Sunday afternoon which received a standing ovation, the crowd insisting that he return for bows three times. It was a beautiful moment when he stood and threw flowers to the audience.
Sunday night opened with a good set by the Blues Project, the best portion of which was “Wake Me Shake Me.” Tom Smothers opened the evening as emcee, saying he was used to working with his brother as straight man and there weren’t very many straight people at the festival!
* * *
THE GRATEFUL DEAD did a fine set with some marvelously exciting and interesting guitar solos by Jerry Garcia and a great demonstration of their tightness and swing.
The British group, The Who, are all but indescribable. The lead singer, Roger Daltrey, dresses in long flowing robes and swirls and poses on stage and Peter Townshend, the lead guitarist, was the tallest person at the festival. Their music is hard driving and wildly performed. The songs are interesting, being kind of electronic fairy tales. Their act is climaxed by the release of smoke bombs from the drums, while the drummer throws sticks into the audience and the guitarist smashes his guitar on the amplifier, finally demolishing it by pounding it on the stage.
This decadent, destructive, cynical ending (they use the same amplifier to hit on every show and smash a special cheap guitar) is really a Roman Circus spectacle and has nothing at all to do with music. In fact, it is really anti-music and disgraceful.
Jimi Hendrix, the young guitarist from Seattle who came from London with his new group, is a remarkable guitarist and a good singer but his act, like The Who, is show biz. He sang some unoriginal material, did “Like a Rolling Stone” rather badly, and ended HIS part of the show by pouring lighter fluid on a cheap guitar and kneeling on the stage while it burned. I yawned.
1968 – The Who play the June Ball at Dunelm House at The University of Durham in Durham
1969 – Tommy drops one spot on Melody Maker’s Top 20 albums chart to number 4
1970 – The Who play the Ellis Auditorium in Memphis, Tennessee
Listen to the show on YouTube starting here
1974 – Shooting for the “Champagne” and “Smash The Mirror” sequences are held and continue on the 22nd, 24th, 25th and 26th. Ann-Margret’s scene wallowing in foam, chocolate and baked beans has to be postponed at one point after she cuts her hand on shards of the broken television from which the conglomeration emerges.
Watch the final results of the “Champagne” scene on YouTube here
1975 – Billboard magazine carries an ad for the “Rock Around The World” syndicated radio show. This weeks show featured the premiere of Roger’s “Ride a Rock Horse” album
1980 – The Who play the second of two nights at The Forum in Inglewood, California
1980 – “Let My Love Open The Door” reaches the British charts. British fans get a different b-side with the previously unreleased tracks “Greyhound Girl” and “Classified.” Apparently they don’t appreciate the bonus as the single peaks at #46
1980 – Billboard carries a photo of Roger at the preview of ‘McVicar” the previous month at Cannes
1989 – The Who play open their 1989 tour at the Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York
1999 – The British Rock Symphony CD is released in Germany on Point Music. Roger sings “Kashmir” and “Let It Be” with the symphony. You can listen to it on YouTube here
2003 – Roger Joins Kevin M Buck playing I Cant Explain at The Bottom Lounge in NY
You can watch it on youtube here
2004 – A Lonnie Donegan tribute concert at Royal Albert Hall. Roger performs “Times Are Getting Hard,” “Ham And Eggs” and sings on the finale “Goodnight Irene”. Proceeds go to the British Heart Foundation.
2015 – The Who play the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, County Antrim