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recollections of Oct. '76 Portland show (fwd)



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>From list-owner-thewho  Wed Oct 18 09:33:12 1995
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Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 09:30:56 -0700
From: Jeff Williams <jeffw@mxim.com>
Message-Id: <199510181630.JAA15517@macs.mxim.com>
To: thewho@cisco.com
Subject: recollections of Oct. '76 Portland show

A few details emerge from my beer-soaked brain of this show.... (hey, I 
can't help it - we've got GREAT microbrews here in stumptown!).  Kevin, back
me up on this....  

Moon was wearing baseball knicks and a tank top with a scarf-like thing tied 
around his waist.  He was really the spirit of the show.  He'd jump over the
drums and announce songs, basically hamming it up.  The crush of the crowd was
incredible!   The barrier center stage broke, so those thinking they had the
best sardine spot in the house were s.o.l.   I was stage right, under Entwhistle, and the barrier took a jog, so the sides were o.k.  I remember a large
column of pot smoke rising from the crowd up to the roof of the coliseum...
Loud music - lotsa drugs - stadium seating - original band lineup - aahhhh
how I wax nostalgic for the good ole days... 

I hadda skip school at about 12:30 to get in line.... Jr. yr. H.S.  Attended
the show clean and sober on accounta my youth.... 

Anyhow, we were screaming for Quadrophenia, and Entwhistle motioned us to 
settle down. Of course they played nothing from Quad.  Daltrey impressed me
on how short he was.  Also totally musclebound... He was wearing the George
Davis is Innocent T-Shirt... Anyways, my recall was that it was extremely loud,
the playing was EXCELLENT (yes, Moon was absolutely great - very top of form)
and they announced "Summertime Blues English style" on their encore...  
I was deaf for days.... Drank two 32 oz. pops immediately thereafter....
This show was a bit of vengeance for me, as I had missed the March show
(Now just contemplate - the REAL Who playing in your hometown TWICE in seven
mos.) 'cause it sold out in fifteen minutes or something.....
Loud loud Hiwatts, twirling microphones (I'd never seen this trick before!)
crashing drums, bass sounding like the amplified lower keys on a piano -
the ONLY proper bass tone!), windmills, jumps, and not to mention excellent
performance and an adoring crowd that was almost as loud as the 100 kilowatt
P.A.... The makings of a fine show...

My buddy was stage right, and he got excellent photos of the show...
He also got a shot from the back of the Coliseum towards the stage. 12,666
people with their fists raised in the air!  Quite a sight.....


JW