“Someone mean it”: The band so phoney they made The Who go back on tour
Live performance is the bread and butter of any half-decent rock and roll outfit, but particularly during the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was an increasing move towards studio work within rock and roll. This shift in focus did conjure up some of the most groundbreakingly inventive rock records of all time, but it left the concert-going public a little lost. Thankfully, the colossal sounds of The Who have always thrived in a live setting, providing an awe-inspiring alternative to rock’s studio focus during the 1970s.
The Who arrived on the rock and roll scene of the 1960s with strong foundations in live performance. Prior to their renaming, or the release of their debut single ‘I Can’t Explain’, the band had amassed a dedicated following as The Detours; in fact it was that early incarnation of the group which attracted Keith Moon during that early period. In turn, Moon’s awe-inspiringly anarchic playing style quickly became an essential aspect of The Who’s spectacular live shows.
Ringing ears, raucous rock, and a high likelihood of witnessing an explosion, The Who typified the rebellious new era of rock through their shows. The fast, loud, and often abrasive playing style you can hear on live albums like the seminal Live at Leeds gives a good indication of the band’s appeal, as well as their subsequent influence on the development of hard rock, punk, and metal. Nevertheless, The Who weren’t very impressed by the other touring bands they would cross paths with over the years.
After all, The Who witnessed the changing landscape of rock and roll as they progressed from the youthful rock rebels of the 1960s, to the rock opera experimentalists of the 1970s, and the elder statesmen of rock that they have been ever since. By the late 1970s, the band couldn’t find much to relate to within mainstream rock, tending to prefer the emerging grassroots sounds of punk and alternative rock. Seemingly, a key aspect of their dismissal of the rock mainstream during that period was just how dreadful the live shows were.
During a 1978 interview with Rolling Stone, months prior to the tragic death of drummer Keith Moon, Who frontman Roger Daltrey lamented the state of rock performance in the United States. ”I’ve seen some things on television since I’ve been here, like that California Jam II,” he shared, name-dropping the 1978 festival at Ontario Motor Speedway, which featured the likes of Aerosmith, Heart, Foreigner, Santana, and–bizarrely–Jean-Michel Jarre.
Jarre aside, the festival captured the pinnacle of mainstream rock during that period, and The Who were less than approving. Having witnessed Woodstock, the rise of the counterculture era, and the countless iconic rock outfits emerging from the swinging sixties in London, the bubblegum rock of Aerosmith was bound to be disappointing for Daltrey and the gang.
As the vocalist put it, “Fuckin’ hell, man. Who was it, Santana?” Seemingly, though, an upside of the festival was that it spurred The Who on to get back out on tour. “I just thought. ‘Someone get out there and mean it, please.‘ The Who should get back on the road if that’s what’s around.”
Inevitably, the death of Keith Moon months after that interview scuppered those plans for a while, as they debated over carrying on as a band or not. Eventually, they chose to carry on in honour of their fallen comrade, going out on tour in 1979 with Kenney Jones behind the sticks. Since then, despite multiple ‘farewell’ tours, The Who have continued performing live in venues all across the world. It was only last month that the band revealed their plans to finally retire after an American tour in 2026, marking over 60 years as one of the greatest live rock bands of all time.
