more memories

[BearInLV@aol.com]

I really enjoyed writing my last post, and hearing comments on it. A couple
of other memories:

First time hearing The Who:

It was 1970, and I was at a church retreat (!) in upstate NY.  A friend had
brought his portable stereo, and one night said he was going to play his new
album that was really great.  It was Tommy.  I liked it, and the real stanout
song, that I couldn't get out of my head for months, was Acid Queen.  I don't
know why, it just stuck.  It was the beginning of a 25+ year obsession.

First Who album:  

After the retreat, I was in a record store and decided I wanted to buy Tommy.
 At the time, I owned one other record--The Worst of the Jefferson Airplane.
 When I saw how much Tommy cost (an expensive double album in those days $9
or $10) I decided I couldn't afford it, and bought Live At Leeds instead.  I
thought it sounded nothing like Tommy, but I liked it anyway.  I played it
until it wore out.  I solved my dilemma with Tommy by asking for it for Xmas,
and got it!

First Who concert:

August 4th 1976, Largo, MD.  It was a perfect summer evening.  I had to ride
a bus from Williamsport, PA to Harrisburg, PA to take a bus tour to the
concert, a total of about 6 hours.  It cost $25 including the ticket.  I
really couldn't believe I was actually going to see them until the lights
went out after the opening act (the first in a long series of barely
endurable opening acts I suffered through to see the Who).  They came out and
I started to shake, and when they hit the first chord of I Can't Explain, I
stared to cry!  I can't imagine what the people around me thought of this.  I
managed to calm down util the 4th song, Baba O'Riley when I started the
waterworks again.  B O'R has always been my favorite song, and I had no idea
they played it in concert.  I thought they wouldn't, because of the synths
and violin.  After the show, I was so exhausted that I passed out on the bus
as it left the parking lot, and didn't wake up util we were back in
Harrisburg.  That night remains as one of the few in my life that were so
important it was integral to making up who I am.

I'd love to hear from other listers the experiences that made them the Who
fanatics they are today.  I was so glad when I hooked up to the internet and
found out there are so many others like me.  I really wondered sometimes.

Another note:  I figure I have bought 25-30 copies of Who' Next over the
years, on LP, CD, 8-track, and cassette.  Some I still have, but the majority
I gave away as gifts, often with the inscription: "If you really want to know
me, listen to Behind Blue Eyes.  Its the story of my life".

John