Month: August 2021

1966 – The Who are in the studio yesterday and today recording “Barbara Ann”, “Man With Money”, “Batman Theme” and “Heat Wave”.

Also around this time, Kit Lambert directs a promotional video, similar to the earlier “Substitute” video, of The Who performing “I’m A Boy.”

1967 – The Who play the Public Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio

1968 – Record Mirror carries an article titled “Who: Explosive in States” featuring clips from various U.S. newspapers during the 1968 tour.

1971 – Pete records the song version of Meher Baba’s universal prayer “O Parvardigar.” It is later released on the Meher Baba album I Am and Pete’s Who Came First LP. You can listen to it on YouTube here

1972 – The Who play the Grugahalle in Essen, Germany. You can listen to it on YouTube here

1997 – Roger hosts part two of the documentary Pirate Tales on TBS. Part One aired the week before. It is later issued on VHS.

2001 – The London Evening Standard reports that Pete has waived the fees and allowed permission to stage Tommy in Maidstone Prison after several inmates wrote to him.

2002 – The Who play the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York

2004 – Pete writes the poem “Homage to Picasso.”

2009 – The Daily Mail prints paparazzi photos of Pete riding a 50cc Vespa around his neighborhood, then parking it in his home. See the article online here

2017 – Roger auctions his custom-made Rolls Royce, decorated with the Tommy cover, to raise £208,945 for teenage cancer sufferers

1963 – The Detours play the Notre Dame Church Ball in London

1964 – The High Numbers play two shows at the Queen’s Theatre in Blackpool supporting the Searchers and the Kinks

1965 – The Who play Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales. This show is the first for The Who placed by their new booking agent, Australian Robert Stigwood. Two Stigwood acts, The Merseybeats and The Graham Bond Organization, open for The Who.

1966 – The Who begin two days of recording at IBC Studios and Pye No. 2 Studio in London. During the sessions The Who record The Regent’s “Barbara Ann,” The Everly Brothers’ “Man with Money,” Martha and the Vandellas’ “Heatwave” and the theme to the then smash hit TV show “Batman.” The tracks are intended for a new album tentatively titled Jigsaw Puzzle. Kit Lambert produces and Paul Clay engineers.

1967 – The Who play the Rochester Community War Memorial in Rochester, New York

1968 – The Who play Hi-Corbett Field in Tucson, Arizona

1969 – The Who play the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival in Wooton Bridge, Isle Of Wight. Their daytime performance is filmed by French television. Bob Dylan, despite his own sizable fee, uses The Who’s PA for his concert.

1972 – The Who play the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin, Germany

1974 – The Harry Nilsson album Pussy Cats, produced by John Lennon and featuring drumming by Keith on some tracks, is released in the U.K. edition. It does not chart.

1980 – Record Mirror carries a full page ad for McVicar

1989 – The Who play in Oakland at the Coliseum

2002 – The Who play the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey

2002 – In an interview in The Times, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones has this to say about The Who continuing without John Entwistle: “…I was glad they carried on. It’s real showbiz, like a vaudeville tradition. I find it intriguing that old ‘trousers’ Townshend and Daltrey still have a certain desire to get out there and do it. And good fucking luck, they’re not shabby at what they do.”

2011 – BBC Radio Two has part two of a special with Pete Townshend discussing his history. Part one aired on the 23rd

1963 – The Detours play the Oldfield Hotel in Greenford

1965 – The Who play The King Mojo Club in Sheffield, Yorkshire

1967 – The Who play the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia

1968 – The Who play the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara, California

1969 – The Who play the Pavilion Ballroom in Bournemouth, Hampshire

1970 – The Who make their second appearance at the Isle Of Wight Festival, with one of the greatest ever line-ups including performances by Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. The promoters envision it as a British version of Woodstock. However an attempt to raise money to pay for the festival by keeping out non-paying attendees with fences and guard dogs turns into chaos as 600,000 people, nine-tenths of them not paying, descend on the music event. The fences are soon trampled, fans from France and Germany get blamed and the anger of those who demand a “free festival” reaches all the way to the stage. Some performers are booed or interrupted by hecklers. Keith Moon spends an hour talking to folk artist Melanie to calm her down and get her to perform after hearing she is too nervous to take the stage. Fortunately for the well-being of the hecklers, none of them interfere with The Who’s performance that begins around 3am Sunday morning. The Who roar through a two-hour set featuring a live Tommy. John wears a specially made skeleton suit (so tight he is unable to sit down while wearing it). Pete takes two things with him from the festival; the image of fences being torn down that will appear in the songs “Let’s See Action” and “Put The Money Down” and the question of the purpose of music festivals that will become a theme in Lifehouse.

The Who’s set is released on CD as The Who Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970 and as the film Listening To You: The Who at the Isle Of Wight, both in 1996. As for the Who themselves, they, minus John and Keith, will not appear at another Isle of Wight festival until 2004.

1971 – The Who planned to perform a free concert in Central Park but it was banned by Mayor John Lindsay

1974 – Pete is interviewed by Melvyn Bragg at BBC Television Centre, London. The interview later airs with the television showing of the recent Charlton concert and is used throughout the movie The Kids Are Alright.

1974 – Keith flies back to London from Los Angeles for further dubbing work on Tommy.

1989 – The Who play in Oakland at the Coliseum

1995 – MCA releases Who’s Next as a gold CD in the U.S., only two months before the release of the expanded, remastered CD

2000 – The Who play in Woodlands, Texas at the Woodlands Pavilion.

2005 – The TV movie Trafalgar Battle Surgeon with Roger as the surgeon’s singing assistant premiers on Channel 4