Better run hippie...
Posted on 07/20/2018 7:30:52 PM PDT by DoodleBob
In the seconds immediately after The Who concluded "Pinball Wizard", from Tommy, Hoffman, who had ingested LSD after working the past few hours at the medical tent, abruptly walked onto the stage and began addressing the crowd from Pete Townshend's microphone. He shouted, "I think this is a pile of sh**! ... While John Sinclair rots in prison ..." Alerted to the disturbance, Townshend (who apparently had been too distracted to notice Hoffman ambling onto the platform), snarled at Hoffman, "F*** off! F*** off my f***ing stage!" He then struck Hoffman with his guitar (which you can hear in the sound clip), sending the interloper tumbling. As the crowd let out an approving roar, Townshend returned to his microphone to add a sarcastic "I can dig it!"
Following the conclusion of the next song, the short "Do You Think It's Alright?" (on which the guitar is horribly out of tune, presumably due to it being used to beat Hoffman), Townshend issued a stern warning to those in attendance: "The next f***ing person that walks across this stage is gonna get f***ing killed, alright? You can laugh, [but] I mean it!"
Townshend later said he actually agreed with Hoffman on Sinclair's imprisonment, though he insisted he would have knocked Hoffman off stage regardless of his message. The incident can be heard in its entirety on unedited Woodstock tapes and bootleg CDs of The Who's performance. Additionally, an edited fifteen-second sound bite of the incident can be heard on The Who compilation set Thirty Years of Maximum R&B (Disc 2). The Woodstock documentary also depicts this event.
Sadly, there is no footage just audio of the Incident. It is rumored that
...it is rumored that footage was erased to avoid embarrassing the hippie darling.
That guitar, in a just world, would today be worth at least seven figures! ;)
As a huge Who fan, can I dig it?
Yes, I can.
Better run hippie...
If you watch the Who’s performance to the end, the last thing Townshend does is toss the guitar to a fan in the crowd before he leaves the stage.
I was alive during the 60’s
I don’t remember the 60’s—so I guess I was really there...but who was Sinclair other than the gas station chain?
If it had been Bill Ayers,and Townsend had killed him,we may have been spared eight years of The Kenyan.
The Grateful Dead routinely ejected activists off the stage. Eventually hiring bouncers to handle the chore. When asked, the response was that they had purchased the equipment and nobody was using their equipment but them.
Teenage wasteland
It’s only teenage wasteland
Teenage wasteland
Oh yeah, teenage wasteland
Pete should have used a metal microphone stand.
When I was young I had the same attitude about “my” stage. Anyone getting on w/o permission was getting off, now, by force if the person didn’t move fast enough. Had several encounters. Got away with them, by good fortune.
If you also notice it looks like Pete shat in his pants at Woodstock.
Pete admitted that when he’s on stage he’s totally a maniac and would probably try to kill you because he’s so focused on what he’s doing.
Pete Townshend is definitely the strangest member of the band and that includes the late great Keith Moon.
I noticed that a few years ago, when the deluxe edition came out. I know The Who supposedly was fed LSD-laced drinks backstage and were “flat-out tripping against their will” for their set. It wouldn’t surprise me if Pete indeed soiled himself that morning.
Yes, I can.
If you pay me FIVE bucks, I won't sing the sappy Chicago song you just quoted the beginning of. Gotta be careful on Friday nights around here!!
The Who wipes the floor of Chicago.
To get on stage Abby Hoffman
Do you thinks it's alright?
You've had a few too many.
What made The Who great was that all four were completely different.
Pete was “The Seeker” trying to find meaning, I must confess I don’t get the whole “Meher Baba” thing at all, but it sure inspired him to write some incredible stuff.
Roger is a street punk who’d kick your ass, he knocked Pete out cold during the recording of Quadrophenia.
Moonie of course was just the classic English eccentric, but the sad story is when he accidentally ran over and killed his assistant, it set him on the trajectory that ultimately killed him.
And John was “The Quiet One”, but the best bassist ever.
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