Month: April 2024

1963 – The Detours play the Oldfield Hotel in Greenford

1964 – The Who play the Oldfield Hotel in Greenford. According to legend, this is likely the show that Keith showed up and “auditioned” for the band.

1965 – The Who play Town Hall in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.

1966 – The Who play the Corn Exchange in Chelmsford

1966 – “Substitute” hits its peak at #5 on Sweden’s Tio i Topp charts

1966 – Billboard carries a brief review of “The Who Sings My Generation”

1967 – The Who, accompanied by Chris Stamp, fly to Helsinki in Finland for the beginning of an eight-day mini tour of Scandinavia. They kick off the tour with a Sunday night gig at the Helsinki Jäähallissa (The Ice Hall).

1970 – Rolling Stone magazine carries a review of “The Seeker” written by John Mendelsohn

1970 – The Daily Mirror confirms that The Who will perform at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House on May 7

1975 – Keith joins Pete and John only to discover that, with almost two years off since he was last behind the drums in a studio, he has forgotten how to play! Nevertheless, Pete, John, Keith and guest pianist Nicky Hopkins manage to lay down the track “She Loves Everyone” that will later be retitled “They Are All in Love.” Roger will supply his vocals later as he is still on the set of Lisztomania

1980 – The Who play the first of two nights at the Saint Paul Civic Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota

1994 – Pete performs at a private party at the West Bank Café in New York City. The party is in honor of the first anniversary of the Broadway musical The Who’s Tommy

1996 – Pete performs at The Fillmore in San Francisco. The set is taped, is later broadcast on the Westwood One radio network and is officially released in 2000 as Live: The Fillmore at eelpie.com

2002 – Roger plays Mr. Wilkinson, a high school music teacher, on the 100th episode of That 70’s Show. The series was originally to have been called either “Teenage Wasteland” or “The Kids Are Alright” but Pete refused to sell the rights to either name. You see Roger in this show here

2012 – Roger and his solo band play Shi Kokaido in Nagoya, Japan

2019 – Pete and Roger attend a SiriusXM town hall at the G Star School of the Arts in Palm Springs, Florida

1963 – The Detours play at the White Hart Hotel in Acton

1966 – The Who play the Tiles Club in Soho, London

1967 – New Musical Express reports on The WHo’s upcoming tour with Herman’s Hermits and also that they will play the Monterey International Pop Festival. “Pictures of Lily” makes its debut in the “Top 30” at number 19

1967 – Record Mirror features a photo of The Who on the cover. Strangely, the issue doesn’t appear to have an article on the band.

1967 – Melody Maker features an article titled “Pictures of the Who” by Nick Jones. “Pop Think in with Carl Wayne” also mentions The Who

1967 – Disc reports that The Who will play the Monterey International Pop Festival. This issue also features an article titled “Violent? Not me! says Who’s Keith” and a mention of Pete’s plan to attend the “14-Hour Technicolor Dream”

1967 – Pete is a special guest at the “14-Hour Technicolour Dream,” a benefit for the underground newspaper International Times, at the Ally Pally (Alexandra Palace) in London. Pete films and records this acid-drenched musical spectacular scouting for new acts for Track Records and discovers a wild new singer named Arthur Brown (Brown says this happened at the UFO Club). He signs up the singer, telling him his discovery makes up for losing the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band to Liberty Records. Pete also plans to have Arthur Brown play Rael in his new rock opera.

1967 – Billboard magazine carries a short review of The Who’s “Happy Jack” album

1968 – The Who play the Top Rank Suite in Watford, Hertfordshire

1974 – Three more days of filming begin on the “Cousin Kevin” sequence at Harefield Grove

1975 – Keith and his steady girlfriend Annette arrive in London from Los Angeles

1977 – Pete plays “Layla” and “Crossroads” with Eric Clapton at The Rainbow in Finsbury Park, London.

1979 – Kenney is interviewed in Melody Maker. He says being picked to fill Keith’s chair has made him nervous

1980 – The Who play the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa

1981 – Kit Lambert is cremated and his ashes taken to Golders Green where Keith Moon’s ashes had been interred two and a half years before

1982 – The Who is honored for its Outstanding Contribution To British Music at the 27th annual Ivor Novello Awards held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel

1985 – The Mirror reports that The Who are considering reuniting for a one-off show for Ethiopian relief due to the urgings of Bob Geldof. Pete: “Yes, I have talked to the others about it…At the moment we are all vacillating wildly.”

1989 – Pete records a promotional interview at Atlantic Studios in New York City concerning his forthcoming album The Iron Man. The interview is later released as a promo LP called An Eye For An I.

1994 – Roger Daltrey and Pete’s brother Simon Townshend perform “Baba O’Riley” and “Summertime Blues” at a memorial concert for Mick Ronson and the Hammersmith Odeon in London

1996 – Pete performs two shows accompanied by pianist Jon Carin at The House Of Blues in Los Angeles

1997 – The Who play Deutschlandhalle in Berlin, Germany

2001 – The “Off The Mark” cartoon by Mark Parisi includes a reference to Pete Townshend. You can see the comic here

2004 – Kevin Russell comes out with the CD My Generation featuring a jazz instrumental cover of “My Generation”. You can listen to it on YouTube here

2004 – The press reports that Roger recently told a Radio Academy audience that he listens primarily to BBC Radio 4, adding that Woman’s Hour was one of his favourite shows. “But they f***ed up. Radio 4 used to be great until they moved The Archers. Then they’ve got these dreadful quizzes that no one listens to. If I listen to anything now it’s Kiss FM.” The moderator is former The Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris

2007 – Pete writes a piece on photographer Colin Jones for The Times

2015 – The Who play the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas

2016 – The Who play the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri

1963 – The Detours play Douglas House in Bayswater

1964 – The Who hear from the BBC. It’s a letter of rejection for the BBC Light Programme.

1965 – The Who play the Bromel Club at the Bromel Court Hotel in Bromley

1966 – The Who play “The Witchdoctor” at the Savoy Rooms in Catford, London

1967 – The Who are in De Lane Lea studios. During the sessions this week they record two Coca Cola jingles that were used for British TV ads

1967 – Decca releases “The Magic Bus” by the Pudding. The Who would not record the song for over a year You can listen to it on YouTube here

1969 – The Who play the Bay Hotel in Sunderland, Durham

1971 – The Seattle Opera premiers its version of Tommy at The Moore Theatre. Bette Midler stars as Tommy’s mother and the Acid Queen. It runs through May 16th. Bette Midler: “As we envisioned [The Acid Queen], it had nothing to do with drugs but was about the pervasiveness of female sexuality…larger than life, suffocating.”

1972 – Keith is on the Thames Television show Today debating the merits of open-air festivals with Tory politicians

1980 – The Who play the Checkerdome in Saint Louis, Missouri

1995 – Pete travels to Offenbach, Germany for the opening of The Who’s Tommy – Das Musical. In an interview there he says he will concentrate on writing for the theatre from this point on

1996 – Pete travels to Los Angeles to kick off a limited promotional tour of the U.S. by performing the new mix of “Let My Love Open The Door” and an acoustic version of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” at the VH1 Honors show at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.

1997 – The Who play the Ostseehalle in Kiel, Germany

2000 – Pete’s VH1 Storytellers episode premiers in the U.K.

2001 – The Guardian reports that Pete has convinced fellow rockers Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Phil Collins, Paul Simon, and Roger Waters to send cheques to the keep the Chaucer Clinic, a rehab centre for homeless addicts, open

2006 – The News & Star of Cumbria reports that a request by The Who to perform at Carlisle’s Sands Centre on 18 June has been denied as the Centre is booked on that date for a karate championship.

2012 – Roger and his solo band play Archaic Hall in Osaka

1963 – The Detours play the Oldfield Hotel in Greenford

1964 – The Who play the 100 Club in London opening for the Mike Cotton Sound

1965 – The Who play the Marquee Club in London ending a 16 week residency.

1967 – The Who appear on Top of the Pops miming to “Pictures of Lily”

1969 – The Who play the Kinema Ballroom in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland

1970 – The Who play the Civic Hall in Dunstable with Writing On The Wall opening

1974 – Pete reviews over a dozen current singles in New Musical Express including a new single from The Beach Boys, which he calls “mediocre.”

1974 – Filming of the “Fiddle About” sequence begins You can watch the end result on youtube here

1982 – Roger appears on the BBC talking about his fitness regiment

1998 – Roger and his wife Heather attend the world premier of the movie Sliding Doors at the Leicester Square Cinema in London.

2004 – Geffen releases Tommy: Deluxe Edition on DVD-A in the U.S

2009 – The Pinball Wizards release their CD My Generation (The Ultimate Who Tribute) featuring 10 Who covers. You can listen to it on YouTube here

2010 – The website Wolfgang’s Vault releases the audio from The Who’s 1970 Tanglewood concert in an online streaming format

2012 – Roger and his solo band play Kenmin Hall in Kanagawa, Japan

2015 – The Who play the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas

2016 – The Who play the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2018 – Roger performs at the We Are Family Foundation Celebration Gala at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City

1964 – The Who play the White Hart Hotel in Acton

1965 – The Who play the Town Hall in Bridgewater, Sumerset

1966 – The Who play The Lynx Club in Borehamwood

1966 – The Who’s first album is released in the U.S. on Decca. Retitled The Who Sings My Generation it features a different cover, drops “I’m a Man” for the Shel Talmy-produced “Instant Party,” edits the instrumental break out of “The Kids Are Alright” and reverses the order of “A Legal Matter” and “The Ox.” It is released in both mono and stereo although both are simply mono electronically processed as stereo. Billboard says: “the four boys from London have an ear-splitting, gut-busting and best-selling package in this program of blues-oriented rock numbers.” It fails to reach the U.S. charts, but does get airplay on Detroit radio stations.

1967 – The Who record for Top of the Pops, miming “Pictures of Lily” at Lime Grove

1967 – The Who are in De Lane Lea studios recording a proposed all-instrumental EP. Among songs recorded this week is “Hall of the Mountain King”

1969 – The Who play the Community Centre in Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland

1969 – “Pinball Wizard” reaches its U.K. chart peak of #4 staying there for the next three weeks

1971 – The Who perform some of their new material, mixed with oldies and covers, at the Young Vic, professionally recorded by Glyn Johns’ younger brother Andy and engineered by Ian Stewart outside in The Rolling Stones’ mobile recording van. It does not come out at the time but does leak out as a popular bootleg, before being released in small batches beginning in the late 1980’s with the primary bulk of the show released as disc 2 of 2003’s Who’s Next: Deluxe Edition.

1973 – Rolling Stone magazine carries a story titled “Roger Daltrey: A Who Sings His Out in the Country” by Andrew Bailey

1980 – The Who play the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri

1984 – Roger is interviewed by Scott Muni in London for a live transmission to WNEW-FM in New York.

1985 – Newspapers report that Pete will be selling tee-shirts at concerts to raise money for the “Stay Alive in 85” campaign.

1997 – The Who play the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway

2000 – Pete’s VH1 Storytellers episode premiers on VH1 U.S. The U.K. broadcast follows on the 28th

2004 – Sanctuary Visual Entertainment releases the restored The Kids Are Alright on DVD in Europe. It tops the DVD sales chart there

2011 – Roger announces that he will be touring Tommy with a solo band. Pete says he won’t be coming along but “will be there in spirit.”

1963 – The Detours play the Oldfield Hotel in Greenford

1963 – The Beachcombers place an ad for a “good, reliable rock drummer” in the Harrow Observer. Despite the apparent disqualification for the “reliable” part, Keith applies and succeeds in landing the job

1965 – The Who play the Trade Union Hall in Watford

1966 – The Who play The Pavilion in Bath, Somerset

1967 – The Who play the Town Hall in High Wycombe

1968 – “Call Me Lightning” reaches #5 in the “instant Sound survey” put out by CKOC radio in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

1969 – The Who play the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow

1970 – The Who play the Portland Hall at the University of Nottingham in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

1970 – Pete is interviewed by Penny Valentine in Disc and Music Echo. He says Tommy has provided The Who with fans “…I’d be pleased to lose again, especially the American psuedo-intellectuals who kept reading things into it.” You can read it here

1970 – Billboard magazine carries a full page ad for “The Seeker”

1971 – The Who return to the Young Vic Theatre in London to rehearse for the next day’s recording.

1984 – Pete is interviewed by Scott Muni in London for a live transmission to WNEW-FM in New York. During the interview, Pete’s brother Paul calls in

1987 – New Musical Express prints a letter sent to Roger that reads: “Dear Mr. Daltrey, seeing as Keith Moon is dead, could you possibly give me his old drum kit? Also, if any of your smashed-up guitars are still intact, could I have them please? We are trying to set up a band but don’t have any money. Yours sincerely, Mark, Leeds.”

1989 – Pete, Roger & John are interviewed on Good Morning America

1997 – The Who play the Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden

2006 – Pete’s Eelpie company asks for submissions of “video-movie files, DVDs, videotapes or podcasts” for round-the-clock streaming on his website. It is tentatively called “OO-TV”. The channel never launches.

2007 – Pete Townshend holds a media event at his Oceanic Studios in London to unveil a computer software program that will enable fans to compose personalized music tracks at the click of a button. “You can put data in and get a piece of music out. It’s as simple as that.” Based on an idea Pete had in 1970 that was the partial basis of his Lifehouse concept, the “Method” software was developed by mathematician/composer Lawrence Ball and software developer Dave Snowdon.

2011 – The History Channel series “Pawn Stars” entitled “Pom Pom Pawn” features someone selling an autographed photo of The Who.

2015 – The Who play the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana

1964 – The Who play the Glenlyn Ballroom in Forest Hill opening for The Merseybeats

1965 – The Who play the Ricky-Tick Club in Windsor

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

1965 – Pop Weekly features The Who as a “group on the way up” while ‘I Can’t Explain” is still in their “Top Thirty” chart at #16.

1966 – The Who play the Birmingham Theatre in Birmingham

1966 – John and driver Richard Cole pick up Keith at his house to head to the Birmingham gig. As they pull away, the vehicle is struck causing serious damage but leaving John and Keith uninjured.

1967 – The Who play The Pavilion in Bath. This show was originally scheduled for March 20

1969 – The Who tape another appearance on Top Of The Pops. Any hopes that Keith will be under control this time are dashed when Tony Blackburn, the BBC DJ who had branded “Pinball Wizard” as “sick”, appears as host. Keith answers his criticism by hurling drumsticks at his head.

1971 – Pete and Karen’s 2nd daughter, Aminta Alice, is born

1971 – NME carries an interview with John entitled “I had to do a solo album or I’d go out of my mind.”

1973 – John and Keith are photographed by Michael Putland

1974 – Filming begins of the “Cousin Kevin” sequence at Harefield Grove

1975 – Rolling Stone magazine features a full page on The Who with two articles: “Townshend’s Mixed Blessing” by Judith Sims, and a review of Tommy titled “‘Tommy’: Too Big, Too Late” by Jon Landau

1980 – The Who play the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado

1987 – The movie The Secret Of My Success is released. The soundtrack features “The Price Of Love” performed by Roger. You can listen to it on Youtube here

1989 – Pete, Roger and John Entwistle appear together at a press conference at Radio City Music Hall in New York City to announce they will again tour as The Who that summer. Pete tells the press that he still experiences hearing problems and gets a laugh when he says, “we will play very, very quietly.”

2002 – An interview with Pete Townshend about Scooped and the re-release of My Generation appears in ICE magazine.

2010 – Roger performs at the Imagine A Cure II concert at the Snoqualmie Casino in Washington. Joining Roger to raise money for Susan G. Komen For The Cure are Alan White and Simon Kirke

2012 – Roger and his band play at the International Forum in Tokyo

1964 – The Who play the Oldfield Hotel in Greenford

1965 – The Who play the Oasis Club in Manchester

1966 – The first issue of the magazine Disc and Music Echo hits the stands. It includes information on obtaining the “Sounds of The Stars” disc that contains a short interview with Pete. This issue also includes a quick description of The Who’s current tour with Spencer Davis titled “Who-ha! Spencer tour a hit”. Roger is also featured in the “name game” by Rod Harrod.

1966 – Record Mirror comes out with an interview with Kit Lambert who says The Who’s legal matter is keeping them from recording another album.

1966 – “A Legal Matter” enters the Dutch charts where it will peak at #22.

1966 – The Who play the Odeon Cinema in Rochester, Kent

1968 – The Who play The Marquee Club in London

1969 – The Who continue rehearsing their new Tommy-centered act at the Community Centre, Westcott Crescent in Hanwell. Pete recalls in his autobiography that, after this last rehearsal, Keith took him for a drink, looked him in the eye and said, “Pete, you’ve done it. This is gonna work.”

1971 – The Rolling Stones’ album Sticky Fingers, featuring uncredited background vocals by Pete on “Sway,” is released in the U.K.
You can listen to “Sway” on youtube here

1973 – Keith plays in a charity football match as a member of “The Ducks” against Monty Python’s Flying Football Circus at Payne & Co. Sports Ground, Croyden, Surrey. In the second half, Keith drives a Rolls Royce into the opposition’s net and sets up a portable bar at the goalmouth. The final score is 4-1 Pythons and £1,300 is raised for a local homeless shelter

1980 – The Who play the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado

1996 – Pete releases his best-of solo compilation CD coolwalkingsmoothtalkingstraightsmokingfirestoking – thebestofpetetownshend. In addition, there is a CD single released in Britain and Germany of the new “e. cola” remix of “Let My Love Open The Door”. Neither CD charts. Their release marks the end of Pete’s 16-year turn as a solo artist on Atlantic. You can listen to the remix here

1996 – Roger and Pete hold a press conference in London to announce that, after a hiatus of over six years, Pete, Roger and John will perform together in a band at Hyde Park for a performance of Quadrophenia at the Prince’s Trust Concert. They will not be listed as The Who but rather under the individual names

1997 – The Who play the Forum Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark

2001 – Pete announces in his diary that he no longer needs his huge London recording studio as he can do everything at home. He also says he is going in for several days of Quadrophenia: The Musical workshops with music supplied by a band including John Bundrick on keyboards, Pete’s brother Simon on guitar and British playwright Joe Penhall supplying the script

2012 – Roger and his band play at the International Forum in Tokyo

2015 – The Who play The Arena At Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia You can listen to the show on Youtube here

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 – The Who’s first single on Track records, Pictures of Lily” backed with “Doctor, Doctor” is released. It reaches #4 in the UK.

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.

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!”

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”

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

1963 – The Detours play Douglas House in Bayswater

1966 – The Who play the Benington Football Club Gala Ball at the Locarno Ballroom in Stevenage

1967 – The Who play the Brighton Dome in Brighton along with Cream and The Merseys. In Pete’s later recounting of this evening: “…I drove Eric Clapton and Gustav Metzger…down to Brighton Pavilion where we were playing with Cream; Gustav was doing the lightshow…though he was pleased to have been such a powerful influence he tried to explain that according to his thesis I faced a dilemma; I was supposed to boycott the new commercial pop form itself, attack the very process that allowed me such creative expression, not contribute to it..”

1969 – The Who continue rehearsing their new Tommy-centered act at the Community Centre, Westcott Crescent in Hanwell

1973 – Melody Maker, in an assessment of Britain’s major rock groups, gives The Who a “cautious” outlook saying they “said everything with their third single.”

1975 – With Roger busy on Lisztomania and Keith not yet in London, John borrows his solo band’s drummer Graham Deakin and he and Pete begin rehearsing for The Who’s next studio album.

1977 – A promotional film of the title song for Roger’s solo album One Of The Boys is shot this day and the next around West London, directed by Tony Klinger. Roger plays a Teddy Boy, a Hell’s Angel, a skinhead, and a punk rocker. It is shown that summer in the U.S. before certain shows of Star Wars.

1980 – Pete’s solo album, Empty Glass, is released in the U.S

1997 – Roger again plays Hugh Fitzcairn on Highlander: The Series in an episode called “The Stone Of Scone.”

1998 – Roger rehearses with the British Rock Symphony in New York City

2000 – Sonic News reports that Roger says The Who will attempt to record a live album of new material, perhaps during the upcoming tours. This does not occur.

2004 – The Japanese heavy metal band Outrage releases their CD Cause For Pause with a cover of “I Can See For Miles” sung phonetically in English. You can listen to it on Youtube here

2005 – John Entwistle’s family auction off the entire contents of his £3 million mansion. The auction nets £123,000 with a model of Henry VIII’s armour raising £900, a leather art sculpture of a male torso £2,200, a snakeskin tambourine £160 and a microphone presented to The Who for an awards poll in 1975 £480. You can read more about it here

2011 – Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson announces his run for the U.S. Presidency. “I look at the rest of the field running for President, and that song by The Who comes to mind. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”

2015 – The Who play the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina