The Who - My Way

The Who were well-known for their cover of "Summertime Blues" written by Eddie Cochran and his manager Jerry Capehart. "My Way" is another Cochran-Capehart song covered by the band. The audio comes from a show on April 6, 1968 at the Fillmore East in New York.

John Entwistle's Final Concert

Today would have been ten years since John Entwistle last played with The Who. I decided to post two videos from that concert: the Teenage Cancer Trust benefit at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The first is of John singing probably his best known song, "My Wife," which is off of Who's Next (1971). That is audio only.

The second video - "The Kids Are Alright" - contains a couple of brief shots of John, which is par for the course as the camera was always on Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey and rarely on Entwistle. "The Ox" used to don a skeleton costume in the early 1970s in order to get more attention from the cameras.

John Entwistle, the great bass guitarist, passed away on June 27, 2002 at the age of 57.

The Who - Shakin' All Over / Spoonful

From the Live at Leeds Complete bootleg, The Who sing "Shakin' All Over" with a portion of "Spoonful." The song "Shakin' All Over" was written by Johnny Kidd and released in 1960 by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. "Spoonful" was penned by Willie Dixon and recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1960.

The Who - Isle Of Wight (1970)

The Who at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. The video is the conclusion of "Water" and includes a jam involving Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon.

The Who - Pure and Easy

Today would have been Keith Moon's 65th birthday. One of my favorite songs by The Who, "Pure and Easy," opens with trademark Keith Moon drumming. The audio above of "Pure and Easy" comes from the Record Plant in New York on March 17, 1971.

The master tape of this recording was mistakenly thrown in the garbage. Years later it was auctioned off and included on a bootleg, From Lifehouse to Leeds. In 1995, the tape was recovered by executive producer Chris Charlesworth and put on the reissue of Who's Next.

The Who - Sparks (Amsterdam 1969)

Pretty good audio from a concert The Who did in Amsterdam on Septembr 29, 1969. The "Sparks" portion begins around the 3:20 mark.

The Who - Sparks (New York 1970)

The quality of the sound is not great for this version of The Who's "Amazing Journey/Sparks," which comes from a concert at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on June 7, 1970. "Sparks" begins around 3:17.

The Who - Woodstock 1969

We are coming up on the anniversary of Woodstock which took place from August 15-18, 1969. A big moment for The Who was when they played "See Me, Feel Me/Listening to You" as the sun began rising at the festival in upstate New York. The above video comes from the movie.

The Who - Sparks (Madison Square Garden July 31, 2002)

Great memories from a great tour. I was at this show at Madison Square Garden in 2002. Robert Plant was the "opener."

The Who - I'm London (1979 Passaic)

Let's go back to September 10, 1979 and the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey. Pete Townshend makes up "I'm London" using the riff from "Join Together." The song was never recorded for any studio albums and was only used one other time during the 1979 tour.

The Who - "5:15" (Royal Albert Hall 2010)

On March 30, 2010 The Who played Quadrophenia at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the week-long Teenage Cancer Trust benefit shows. The above video is "5.15."

The Who - The Kids Are Alright (2006)

The Who performed "The Kids Are Alright" during the BBC Electric Proms from the Roundhouse in London, which was later shown on MTV.

The Who - Pure and Easy

One of my favorite songs by The Who is "Pure and Easy." It was the centerpiece of Lifehouse, but for whatever reason was left off of Who's Next when the album was released in 1971. This recording, which was done by The Who in New York, was included on the deluxe edition of the album that was released in 2003. The song contains some of my favorite lyrics:

"There once was a note, pure and easy
Playing so free, like a breath rippling by
The note is eternal, I hear it, it sees me
Forever we blend and forever we die."

Later on in the song:

"We all know success when we all find our own dreams
And our love is enough to knock down any wall
And the future's been seen as men try to realize
The simple secret of the note in us all....in us all."

The Who - Amazing Journey/Sparks (Fillmore West 1969)

We've covered the Fillmore East here, so now let's travel to the west coast for the Fillmore West. This version of "Amazing Journey/Sparks" took place at a concert on June 19, 1969. The "Sparks" portion of the song begins around the 3:13 mark.

The Who Come Home

Roger Daltrey proclaims "We're Home!" and The Who go right into "I Can't Explain" at the Empire Theater in their hometown of Shepherd's Bush in December of 1999. Eventually the band would release this song along with a number of others on the Blues to the Bush live album, which combined shows the group did at the Empire and also at the House of Blues in Chicago.

The Who - Amazing Journey/Sparks (Minneapolis 1969)

The collection of great versions of "Amazing Journey/Sparks" grows with this one from the Guthrie Theater on June 8, 1969 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Who - Early in the Morning (Minneapolis 1969)

Following "Shakin' All Over," The Who launched into another fantastic song at the Guthrie Theater on June 8, 1969 in Minneapolis. The song is a cover of Elmore James' "Early in the Morning," which can be found here and here.

The Who - Join Together

Back in January, The Who performed at the "Concert for Killing Cancer" charity show. The "Join Together" finale included The Who with Debbie Harry, Bryan Adams and Jeff Beck and features a classic "Pete Townshend" moment at around the 5:08 mark. I'm not sure if he is referring to the crowd singing "Join Together" or to something else that he is not pleased with.

I've watched this video several times now and mostly focus on the exchanges between Pete and Jeff Beck. But there is another notable exchange which occurs around the 1:50 mark, Bryan Adams comes over to ask Roger Daltrey for help because he has forgotten the words. Daltrey, who appears to be a pretty good-natured person in general, helps Adams out with some cheat sheets that are on the stage.

Oh well, it's for charity so what can you do.

The Who - Long Live Rock (1979)

One more song from that concert in London at the Hammersmith Odeon. Here and here are the previous posts. "Long Live Rock" was written as part of the Lifehouse project which became Who's Next. For whatever reason, "LLR" was not included on the 1971 album, but eventually appeared on the 1974 rarities album, Odds & Sods.

The Who - The Real Me (1979)

This is a really good concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on December 28, 1979. Thanks to the YouTuber that posted it. Here The Who perform "The Real Me" which is off of their 1973 album, Quadrophenia.