Live from Jones Beach, the best rock show Pete Townshend ever played: “I loved every minute”
The legacy of The Who has as much to do with their live show as it does with the songs Pete Townshend wrote.
He wanted to create soundscapes whenever the band walked into the studio, but that could only be matched by putting on the greatest rock and roll performances that anyone had ever seen, whether that was through him doing his trademark windmill strums or Keith Moon bashing the life out of his drums. But even for a band that made Live At Leeds, Townshend felt certain gigs trumped nearly everything that they would ever do.
Then again, Townshend’s life as a live performer wasn’t exactly what he had in mind when he started making music. He liked the idea of having his own little gang when he started college, but despite having all intentions to split the band up after he graduated and moved on to better things, things often take a much different direction when you write something as timeless as ‘My Generation’.
The guitarist clearly had his work cut out for him as a songwriter, but when listening to the band in a live setting, it was a much different beast. The idea of anyone performing most of Tommy live feels almost impossible, but when looking at the bonus discs from Live At Leeds, they manage to pull it off almost flawlessly, almost like they had some sort of musical telepathy whenever Moon counted off a tune or John Entwistle took the low end to some far-off realm.
But for anyone around that much musical chaos at one time, there comes a moment when you need a break. The idea of continuing on without Moon behind the drum kit was practically nonexistent, and as much as Townshend liked the idea of writing new music, it was always better for him to have his solo career as an outlet rather than going back to The Who. It’s Hard was never that fun for him, so when he got the freedom to stretch out, he had a whole new set of tools to work with.
No longer did he have to cater to what Roger Daltrey wanted to sing, and when looking at a record like Psychoderelict, he was ready to test what he could do. Quadrophenia had really been the peak of his storytelling prowess, so this was a natural continuation of that kind of approach, but it was always going to mean something more to him once he performed the tracks live.
Every one of his rock operas was meant for the stage, but whereas Tommy ballooned into a massive Broadway piece, Townshend felt that his performance of Psychoderelict at Jones Beach was a cut above the rest, saying, “I loved every minute of it. The final show (at Jones Beach in NY) was probably the best rock show I’ve ever done outside The Who. I’m also very proud of the album. It was the last occasion when my old friend Richard Barnes and I worked together.”
Since this was around 1993, perhaps this is what helped kick Townshend back into gear when playing The Who’s reunion shows. He had reached the point where up-and-coming bands like Oasis were shouting their praise for his band, and when listening to the way that the band played at the end of the 1990s, they clearly still had that fire in them that had lain dormant ever since Moon’s passing.
Is one of Townshend’s solo records ever going to have the same fury as a proper Who project? Absolutely not, but Townshend never made music thinking about The Who first. He wanted to make albums that were works of art, and with Psychoderelict, you can hear him rediscovering what made him love that form of musical storytelling all those years ago.
