1964 – The Who play The Refectory in Golders Green, Brent Cross, London. This is The Who’s last show at the Refectory as it marks their first banning, the result of turning their amps up after a request to turn them down.

1965 – The Who play the Town Hall in High Wycombe. Roger leaves after a short set, but Pete, John and Keith stay to jam with the opening acts singer, Tony Benson

1965 – The Who play the “All Nite Rave” at Club Noreik in Tottenham

1965 – Pop Weekly features The Who in an article titled “The Way To Success” by Barrie Hilt

 

Transcript:

THE WAY TO SUCCESS

by BARRIE HILT

With everyone talking about images and being “in,” one of the groups who come into both categories and who are possibly one of the few groups to really show that they are going to make the scene in a big way in such a short time are The Who. It’s amazing but the number of groups who manage to dent the charts with weird names grows daily. The Who have now established themselves as such a powerful group for Mods and the like that they are currently racing up the charts with their latest release Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere which is one of the most unusual group sounds I’ve heard since Manfred Mann dropped a mike on his toe in a recording session and came out with a string of words on a single which would have taken it to the top of his own personal hit parade.

But seriously, this business of having an image is a very important thing. Mainly because just about everyone is battling away to get the right sort of image that gets you away from being just a Top Twenty star to being a star who pulls in the crowds without having a record in the Top Ten. Like Donovan for instance, and like The Stones and The Beatles. They could stop recording for a year and I guarantee they would still pull the crowds in, whereas there are some artistes today who are simply trying hard to get somewhere and are not succeeding because although they are in the Top Ten with their latest record their name doesn’t really get through in an exciting way to the kids.

The Who have just about made the grade as an image group. To all those people too, who shout about groups not being in the trend of things, no one can deny that The Whos’ records are trend-setting in their own way. For every Who record has its own unique stamp of individuality and that is something that is sadly lacking with many of today’s groups.

Certainly The Who aren’t going to be left behind in this group race to see who is going to stay alive after most of the one-hit wonders and the “overnight successes” have died away. They have their own ideas about publicity, their own ideas about how their image should be presented and their own idea of how things have been going with their fans simply by asking their fans what they think they ought to do with their next record and whether or not they should try and make something really happen differently.

The Who. You may hear a lot about them as a different group and you may think some of their ideas a little bit mad, but don’t let that worry you. They sometimes bust their guitars whilst they are onstage, but they can afford to bust their guitars now. For the fans simply won’t mind what they do as long as they are there. The Who may be crazy about their own music, but they have found, where so many others have failed, that the way into the right image has to be made and is not a natural talent. Most gimmicks are despised by record-buyers except when that gimmick is especially appealing to a certain type of person and that is just what The Who have managed to do.

I believe that The Who fully deserve their success. They have thought out their success and have made a great deal of money and a great amount of publicity from their careful planning. I suspect it won’t be long before everyone will be saying, “The Who!” instead of “who?”

1966 – The Who play Britannia Theater at Britannia Pier in Great Yarmouth. The Who were to have been a regular act on Sundays in Great Yarmouth but they were fired after this show when Keith throws his drumsticks into the audience and hits someone in the eye.

1969 – Pete is trapped in tour booker Frank Barselona’s apartment while Barselona attempts to talk Pete into having The Who return to the U.S. in two months for a one-off show. Having just had a brush with the U.S. law and exhausted from the recent tour, Pete is in no mood to give in. After an all-night argument, Pete finally acquiesces, allowing The Who to appear with the cream of Barselona’s acts at an outdoor festival named after the town in New York where it is then scheduled to be held, Woodstock.

1970 – The Who play the second of two nights at the Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio

1971 – Keith introduces Sha Na Na’s headlining set at the Reading Festival.

1980 – The Who play the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. Supporting them are The Only Ones, whose lead guitarist John Perry will later write a book on The Who’s album Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy.

1980 – Rolling Stone magazine features an interview with Pete as well as a cover featuring Pete You can read it here

1995 – Ringo’s All-Star Band featuring John and Zak play the first of two nights in Tokyo at the Nippon Budokan Hall.

Watch a press conference from this date on YouTube here

2001 – “A Walk Down Abbey Road: A Tribute To The Beatles.” featuring John play at the Houston Arena in Houston, Texas

2002 – John arrives at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas where The Who are set to start their 2002 North American tour. He spends the afternoon shopping for Western wear and boots, then spends some time with friend Cy Langston and others at the hotel bar where his last picture is taken. Later that night he retires to Suite 658 with Déjà Vu Showgirls dancer Alison Rowse. John warns her not to let him sleep on his back as so many of his friends have died that way choking on vomit.

2007 – The Who play at Wembley Arena in London

2010 – Roger and his solo band play at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Missouri

2015 – The Who play Hyde Park in London as part of the “British Summer Time” concerts

2015 – Pete, Roger and Bill Curbishley are photographed for Variety magazine