Andy Kershaw's diary

[Brian Cady]

http://www.newstatesman.com/200606260014

Diary: Live and kicking at Leeds 
Columnists
Andy Kershaw
Monday 26th June 2006 
 
As Pete Townshend slashed out the opening chords to
"Substitute" I found myself involuntarily yelling and
running towards the stage. They were playing just to
me!  
 
The guy at the edge of our group - dressed in
trainers, jeans and a loose, untucked shirt - was
babbling boyishly about his love of The Who and
leaping around like a spaniel puppy. "This man," I
said to Pete Townshend, steering him towards the
admirer, "is the deputy director general of the BBC."
Mark Byford, like many other former Leeds students,
was back at the university last Saturday for the
historic return of The Who. 

It was on 14 February 1970 that the band recorded
their landmark Live at Leeds album in the hallowed
2,000-capacity Refectory, and 36 years later, with a
little encouragement from me (a former Leeds Uni ents
sec), they were back to do it all over again. Only
louder. 



>From Orkney and Shanghai 

Tickets had sold out in 20 minutes the week before.
Some fans had travelled from as far as San Francisco
and Shanghai for the chance to see their heroes
perform close-up. Most satisfyingly, so did many
veterans of the 1970 concert, including several of
those who had organised the original event. 

Simon Brogan, the ents sec at the time, came down with
his family from Orkney, where he has been
sheep-farming since 1975. And we'd only tracked down
Pete Hart, student stage manager for Live at Leeds,
three days before last Saturday's concert. Pete
dropped everything to fly in from his home in Dallas.
Few of these veterans had seen each other in more than
30 years. 

The spirit on the day was ecstatic and moving: Pete
Townshend in particular seemed genuinely touched to
meet those who'd staged the original gig. A
good-natured, noisy crowd gathered on the Refectory
steps in the late-afternoon sunshine for the unveiling
of the "Live at Leeds" commemorative blue plaque. 

Welling up, I spoke about how, when I was ents sec in
the early 1980s, I felt a heavy responsibility to
maintain the highest standards for concerts, the
benchmark for which had been The Who. And that not
even in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would
happen again. Roger Daltrey and Townshend said it was
a thrill to be starting their world tour in a place
they had such affection for, and sounded like they
really meant it. I had to cajole them back indoors for
the soundcheck: chatting to fans and journalists,
their enthusiasm was obvious. 

Both are now in their sixties. Both have seen it all
and done it all. Yet here they were in a state of
youthful arousal! They were playing in the Refec not
for the money or for the big crowds, but because they
wanted to play there again. "Dr Kershaw, I'm so
excited about this," Townshend told me. "And it's all
your fault." 

One unforgettable day 

In a virtually empty hall, he slashed out the
ear-splitting opening chords to "Substitute". The
drums and bass kicked in with a wallop to the stomach
and I found myself involuntarily running, cartwheeling
and yelling towards the front of the stage as Daltrey
recalled the plastic spoon in his infant mouth. They
were performing just to me. For one unforgettable day,
I was Leeds University ents sec again. 

The gig itself was one of the most magnificent I have
ever seen. It ended with a terrifying "Won't Get
Fooled Again" amid beams of blinding white light,
Townshend leaping and slashing and windmilling those
mighty power chords from his guitar, Daltrey whirling
and snatching his flying microphone. 

The BBC deputy director general's post-gig verdict was
that if one had to make a list of the top 20
experiences in one's life, Live at Leeds Again would
have to be in there. I can't disagree. And Simon
Brogan (the Orkney shepherd who had booked The Who for
the 1970 concert) and his nine-year-old son Hamish
had, I was delighted to notice, managed to get right
to the front, against the barrier, directly below
Daltrey. 

The band had spotted this, too. As they took their
final bow, the drummer Zak Starkey bent down and
handed Hamish his drumsticks. Daltrey took a soaking
towel from round his neck and tossed it to Simon.
"Here," he said with a grin, "dry your fucking sheep
with that." 

Andy Kershaw's documentary about the concert (part of
his series School of Rock) is broadcast on Radio 4, 24
June, at 10.30am 


-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com

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