Music - Live At Leeds - All those years ago

June 17, 2006



The Who (or the Two still surviving) will be playing at Leeds University tonight - 36 years after their landmark concert at the University Refectory there in 1970. The UK newspapers "The Guardian" and "The Independent" are full of news about the concert and the anticipation it has generated. After all, these guys are the only reminder of the old days - along with the Rolling Stones. The Yorkshire Evening Post had a picture of the people lined up for tickets with the caption "Hope I buy before I get cold" - a clever take on the song "My Generation" with its immortal teenage rebellion lyrics "Hope I die before I get old".


The 1970 concert was made into the greatest live rock album of all time - titled simply "Live at Leeds". It was an awesome album.

Listen to the long instrumental break in the "Magic Bus-My Generation" jam - simply the greatest live guitar playing ever (apologies to Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan), with Keith Moon's possessed drumming somehow laying a impeccable backbeat, perfectly in sync: John Entwistle's thunderous, fluid melodic bass guitar playing and Pete Townshend weaving chords in and out of the thunderous rhythm section, all the while leaping about like a monkey, without missing a single beat. This is rock music at its finest - great thought-provoking lyrics, humor, muscular, crisp instrumentals, not a note wasted, not an ounce of flab. Loud and melodic at the same time, beautiful yet simple, awe-inspiring yet accessible.

36 years later, after drugs, death, the Vietnam war, divorces, civil rights, nervous breakdowns and everything else, the remaining two members will be playing at the Leeds University Refectory tonight. It is a far cry from 1970, when student unions ruled the roost at American and British universities. Guitarist-songwriter Pete Townshend is 61 years old, singer Roger Daltrey is 62. Founder-members Keith Moon and John Entwistle are dead.

But some things never change. The janitor at the Leeds University Refectory is the same woman now, who as a young woman in 1970 found Roger Daltrey attractive, and had a beer with him at the local pub after the show. Their sound engineer Bobby Pridden will still be around to record the show. Some of the old students who were hippie rebels in 1970 and saw the show have now become conservative Tory MPs, accountants and anesthetists. But they'll still be there. And though Keith Moon is dead, his god-son Zak Starkey (son of Keith's best friend and ex-Beatle Ringo Starr) will be there playing drums.

And the Who will unveil songs from their first album since 1982.

So, jump, Pete jump!! This is the closest thing to eternity that ever comes around in our short lives. Hopefully, some things never change, they only get better.