[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: 1st Who show



For those who have seen this story before, I beg indulgence...

It was at Greensboro, NC 11/28/75. My first Who concert. The show I'd been
waiting for. I'd seen other heavyweights before (Zep that Spring, in fact)
but this was the big one.
Toots And The Mayalls opened. They sucked. Waste of time.

The stage was dark. The crowd was semi-milling. No annoucement.
A spotlight came on, transfixing Pete in mid-leap. He hit the stage and the
first chord of I Can't Explain at the same time...the crowd goes crazy...the
lights go up as Keith and John come in, still no Roger onstage. He suddenly
comes running out as if he isn't going to stop at the edge of the
stage...sings the first verses, throws the mike into the air, turns and
speaks to Keith, catches the mike without even looking up, and sings the
next bit...
I was already blown away, and we were only 30 seconds into the show...
They were incredible. Powerful. Organic Rock. It was hard to hear the
individual instruments, but together it was a force like no other. Is there
only three instruments there? Amazing. I've heard orchestras that couldn't
touch it.
During the TOMMY segment (much shorter than on the KC show 3 days later),
they had the laser light show. Drowned was the only song from QUAD (my only
disappointment), and Rog dedicated it to the people in the front row. I
leapt every time Townshend did. Daltrey had us sing along to Squeeze Box.
Keith made a great joke about going off to have a smoke (also on KC). They
did Roadrunner/MG Blues. I lost my voice by the end, from screaming.
No encore. Best damned two hours of my life (with apologies to all of my
girlfriends).



                   Cheers                   ML

"I think you should keep on playing Rock as long as you have an axe to grind
and then if you haven't got an axe to grind you should go into cabaret."
                                                                 Pete Townshend