[Mr. Mojo]

I gotta Who story for ya. My dad was an ortho surgeon in L.A. back in the day, and one night in June of 1980 when I was 16 he came home from work and asked me if I knew who Pete Townshend was. I nodded expectedly. He then broke out a couple tickets and said “He just gave me these for tonight’s show at the Sports Arena.”

Pete came into his office with a broken hand from a misplaced windmill motion that landed on the side of his Telecaster. Dad put on a cast that would allow him to play out the rest of the tour, which lasted another month or so. Didn’t stop him from windmilling either.

Here’s a pic of him wearing it from that tour:

Helluva good show too. But unfortunately I never got to see them with Moonie on drums.

[mmichaels1970]

Dad put on a cast that would allow him to play out the rest of the tour

Wow. That is one COOL story. I'd have a hard time not sharing it with everyone I meet every chance I get.

I love the fact that you also have a picture of him in the cast!

So cool.

Just saw The Who a week and a half ago. Great show.

[drjimmy]

Great story! My understanding of the circumstances is that Pete punched a wall after the San Diego show and broke a few bones in his wrist. Despite the success of the band that year coming back from the Cincinnati debacle and Pete’s own solo album Empty Glass, Pete was in bad shape because of his drug issues.

I saw The Who for the first time a month later in Toronto and noticed no ill effects. 37 years later to the day, I saw them for the sixth time and they were still rocking.

[wardaddy]

That’s a fantastic story

Kenny Jones was drummer then

Small Faces

Faces

Who

Could do worse

[MarDav]

Oh man, here’s another Townshend windmill story:

The Who was playing Madison Square Garden (don’t remember the date, some time after Keith Moon had died - Kenny Jones was drumming). During one of the songs, Pete goes into his windmill routine and slices his hand open. He has to leave the stage, leaving Daltrey, Entwistle and Jones to play a brief trio set (if I remember there was a lot of harmonica, but Roger also picked up a guitar. ). Townshend comes back, but can’t play guitar, so, Daltrey finishes the concert on guitar with Townshend taking over most of the vocals.

[Oorang]

1967, the first year The Who toured in America I saw them in Anaheim, CA. The Who were opening for Herman’s Hermits (yes, you read that correctly). My friend was a big Herman’s Hermits fan, neither one of us had heard of The Who - what can I say - we were teeny bopper girls not even old enough to drive. My friend was enthralled with Herman’s Hermits; I was blown away by The Who. It was back in the day when they destroyed their guitars at the end of the set. Good times. Not old enough for trails, that came a couple of years later.