10 Days -- 10 great live performances The Who

[Mr.Mystery]

from 1975 - 1985

THE WHO

The third biggest British band behind The Beatles and The Stones, they almost invented rock's most iconic moves, and this performance has them all: the twirling drumsticks, the high mic swings, and the windmilling guitar strum. Roger Daltry's lion mane of hair and Pete Townsend's take-no-prisoners lead / rhythm guitar, they could put on a show that could mesmerize a stadium. Meanwhile, John Entwhistle--the stoic rock on bass--concentrated solely on his extremely complex lines. On edit: Hugh_L (in comments to follow) reminds me that their drummer in this clip was the one and only Keith Moon, considered by many to be the best rock drummer ever.

Here's what I'm talking about . . .

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. Great performance, shitty recording

Bass and (esp) drums are way too low in the mix for my liking. In the beginning can't even hear Moon tapping on the drums to build it up.

Not the band's fault but I've watched this vid plenty of times, and the recording/mix always pisses me off.

[Mr.Mystery]

2. You know, I thought the SAME thing watching it just now.

It almost made me wonder if they were playing over a recording (lip synching), but then the sound guy cranked up the drums or something . . . and it was clear that it was live.

Also the reverb-y synthesized piano was apparently brought in from somewhere. Nobody's playing keyboards here.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. What's funny is that the KB line was a 'recording' even at the time they cut the track

That organ line is Townsend playing it, but it's from his first/original demo of the song he made before they went in studio. They basically played along to an existing recording from Townsend when they recorded the studio version we're all used to. It's piped in again here in the live setting, as they did in the studio version.

In a sense, it's kinda 'supposed to be' pre-recorded

[Mr.Mystery]

4. Thanks . . . I always wondered how that worked.

It's a clever use of an electronic effect. Usually they don't really fit, but this one does.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. The Quadrophenia Tour Did That

The night we saw it, it was OK, but early on in the American tour Moon had a hard time hearing the tap3d orchestration and things got wildly out of time.
BTW: the organ part is the output patched into a Moog sequencer and synth filter banks so the volume & pitch envelopes open & close at different rates. That's why it has that sound, plus the machine like timing. Pete just had to hold down chords on the organ and let the electronics do their thing.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Agreed!

The drums & bass sound like they're in a different room.