The Who

THE WHO Released Their Notorious Live Album ‘LIVE AT LEEDS’ 55 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Significant LongPlayers from the past

12 May 2025

THE WHO recorded their live LP LIVE AT LEEDS at the University of Leeds Refectory
on Valentine’s Day of 1970 and released it on 11 May 1970 today 55 years ago.

The band wanted to follow their 1969 album Tommy with a live one. They had
registered several shows on tours supporting that album, but disliked the sound.

They booked a show at Leeds University, along with one at Hull City Hall the following
day, specifically to record a live album. Six songs were taken from the Leeds show, and the cover was pressed to look like a bootleg recording. The songs got hard rock arrangements that were typical of the band’s live shows.

The record has been reissued on several occasions and in several different formats.
Since its release, it has been ranked by several music critics as one of, if not the greatest, live albums of all time. (My top live LP is Lou Reed‘s Rock ‘N’ Roll Animal).

Rolling Stone was one of the rare papers that criticized the album: “While Townshend’s packaging for the album is a tour-de-force of the rock and roll imagination, the music was dated and uneventful. The album functions simply as a document of the formal commercial
end of the first great stage of The Who’s great career.”

STREAM


.

Back cover

THE WHO Announce North American Farewell Tour ‘THE SONG IS OVER’

Posted on by JL

9 May 2025

The imperishable rock legends will visit North America for the last time.

The tour is billed as the ‘The Song Is Over North America Farewell Tour’,
a reference to their classic 1971 track. When asked if they’ll tour the UK
and Europe too singer Roger Daltrey answered vaguely that it can or
can’t happen.

“The historic 2025 ‘The Song Is Over’ tour will mark the final face-to-face celebration
of this timeless connection with North American Who fans, forever appreciative of the
band’s ability to dispense with nostalgia and deliver authentic rock moments time and
time again.”

AUGUST

16 – Sunrise, FL – Amerant Bank Arena
19 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
21 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
23 – Atlantic City, NJ – Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall
26 – Boston, MA – Fenway Park
28 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
30 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden

SEPTEMBER

2 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage
4 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage
7 – Chicago, IL – United Center
17 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
19 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
21 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
23 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
25 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
28 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena

Still one of my favorite who-hoo tracks.

Instagram – All Albums

30 April 1976 – Wild Party Animal KEITH MOON Did It Again

Posted on by JL

30 April 2025

The Who’s legendary drummer KEITH MOON was great at three things.

One, hitting his gear like a madman. Two, non-stop partying. Three, thrashing hotel rooms.

To do that last thing he was very inventive. On 30 April 1976, this day 49 years ago he paid nine cab drivers to block-off both ends of a New York street so he could throw the contents of his hotel room out of the window. Crazy, just crazy.

But fate would hit the at times self-destructive star.

In mid-1978, Moon moved into a flat in Mayfair, London renting from Harry Nilsson.
Singer Cass Elliot of the Mamas & the Papas had died there four years earlier, at the
age of 32. Nilsson was concerned about Moon getting in, believing it was cursed.

Moon, alcoholic by then, died in September that year of an overdose of
medication to battle his drink problems. Like Mama Cass he was only 32.

Story

THE WHO Released Debut Single ‘I CAN’T EXPLAIN’ Today 60 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Top singles from the past

15 January 2025

Legendary proto-punks THE WHO released their debut single I CAN’T EXPLAIN
(more than 32 million streams on Spotify) 60 years ago today, on 15 January 1965.
Actually, it was their first single as The Who after they dropped their first band name
The Detours.

Pete Townshend wrote it when he was 18. Jimmy Page played rhythm guitar
as a session musician but his contribution didn’t make the final version. The
Ivy League did the backing vocals. It reached #8 in the UK and flopped in
the States at #93.

“Got a feeling inside (can’t explain)
It’s a certain kind (can’t explain)
I feel hot and cold (can’t explain)
Yeah, down in my soul, yeah (can’t explain)”

Instagram – Story

Happy B. To GRACE JONES (76) – JOEY RAMONE (73) – PETE TOWNSHEND (79)

Posted on by JL

19 May 2023

GRACE JONES was born Grace Beverly Jones OJ
on 19 May 1948 in Spanish Town, St. Catherine,
Jamaica.

Happy 76!

Me too.

.
GRACE: Bio – Discography
________________________________________________________________________________________________

JOEY RAMONE was born Jeffry Ross Hyman on 19 May 1951 in Forest Hills,
Queens, New York. The immortal punk icon would have turned 73 today.

Gabba Gabba Joey!

JOEY: Bio – Discography
________________________________________________________________________________________________

PETE TOWNSHEND was born Peter Dennis Blandford
Townshend in Chiswick, London on 19 May 1945.

Happy 79!.

His generation.

PETE: Bio – Discography
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Images.
Joey Ramone: cover of his solo debut solo LP
Pete Townshend: cover of solo debut album
Grace Jones: cover of her biography