Odds & Sods: Ten Of The Who’s All-Time Greatest Live Performances

To see The Who live is to see one of the greatest performing rock bands of all-time. The band’s original line-up of Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, the late-great John “The Ox” Entwistle and the late-great Keith Moon, were inarguably one the best live band line-ups “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere.” Their fierce and combustible live energy could teeter on the brink of chaos and exultation, and usually both, and at times spill into utter anarchy. Their pure rock power and tension, stone cold classic catalog and masterly musicianship is something to behold and makes for some of the greatest live performances of all time. Here then are a selection of ten of the Who’s finest live shows (in chronological order).

Read More: The Who Wrap Prolific, Six-Decade Live Career With Farewell Tour
Ten Of The Who’s All-Time Greatest Live Performances

1. Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Los Angeles | Sept. 17, 1967
The Who’s combustible live act came to full glorious fruition when drummer Keith Moon filled his kick drum with explosives which went off during the shambolic end of “My Generation” with Pete Townshend throwing his guitar into the heavens and then using it as a battering ram to destroy his amplifier. The stunt did not help Townshend’s hearing and earned the group a de facto ban from American TV that would last decades.

2. The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus , London, Dec. 11, 1968
“That was a great performance,” Daltrey told Pollstar of The Who’s incredible performance of “A Quick One (While He’s Away)” that actually upstaged the Rolling Stones. “I don’t usually like watching myself at all, but when I look at that show and how tight it was between the four of us, it’s an extraordinary performance. We’d only just come off being out there for three months in America, so we were highly rehearsed.” (Look for The Stones’ Brian Jones at the song’s end).

3. Woodstock, Bethel, NY, Aug. 17, 1969
Despite being a disorganized mud fest with endless traffic, bad sound, bad acid and interminable waiting, in retrospect Daltrey appreciates Woodstock’s importance to their career: “It’s obviously become a legendary event, but for us it was complete and utter chaos. We thought we’d done a terrible show. We came off very unhappy … And, of course, the film came out and Woodstock was one of the things that gave us the success we’ve had.”

4. The Isle of Wight, UK | Aug. 29, 1970
The Who were 15 months into their “Tommy Tour” and firing on all cylinders when they played before some 600K at the Isle of Wight Festival. The 2 a.m. set also included staples like “Substitute”, “My Generation,” “Magic Bus,” “Can’t Explain” and a medley of “Shakin’ All Over/Spoonful/Twist and Shout.” Thankfully, it was filmed by Murray Lerner and made into a documentary and released as a double CD and triple vinyl album.

5. Live At The Oval, South London | September 18, 1971
No Who performance would be complete without Pete and Keith trashing their equipment for the grand finale. And that’s exactly what happened during The Who’s headlining set at the “Goodbye Summer: A Rock Concert In Aid of Famine Relief for the People of Bangladesh” in London. The set, only available as a bootleg, will be released this summer with a new mix of the original recording made by the great Glyn Johns. | The Who Archives

6. The Who, U.S. “Quadrophenia Tour” with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Fall 1973
For many a music fan, a double bill of The Who and Lynyrd Skynyrd is why we need time machines. The Who were touring their masterpiece Quadrophenia and Skynyrd had released their classic debut. Outdoing each other in the rock ’n’ roll mayhem, but nobody beat The Who: Keith Moon collapsed during the tour’s opening date in San Francisco with an audience member taking over; and the band spent seven hours in a Montreal jail after wrecking a hotel suite on Dec 3. | The Who Archives / Michael Ochs Archives

7. Day On The Green, Oakland-Alameda CountyvColiseum (with The Grateful Dead), ,Oct. 9-10, 1976
Sure, The Who and Grateful Dead were in very different places musically in 1976, with The Who touring The Who by Numbers and The Dead releasing Steal Your Face. “There was a particular (show) in Oakland with The Grateful Dead that was a zonked-out afternoon, I’ll tell you,” Daltrey told Pollstar. Not a surprise considering it was the Dead’s home turf, Bill Graham promoted the show, and well, when in Rome… (The Who Archives)

8. Live Aid ’85, Wembley Stadium, London, July 13, 1985
Having not played since late 1982, an appearance by The Who at Live Aid ’85 was a big deal with Entwistle, Daltrey and Townshend as well as Kenny Jones (drums) and John Bundrick (keyboards). Technical difficulties marred the live TV transmission, but a packed-out Wembley got to hear a power set of “My Generation,” “Pinball Wizard,” “Love Reign O’er Me” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” It was a proof of greatness concept and presaged their 1989 return.

9. The Concert for NYC. | Oct. 20, 2001
“Obviously, the 9/11 concert in New York, for the rescue workers, was one of the most emotional ones,” Daltrey says. “I hope I’ll never have to play another one that will create that much emotion in me as that one … It was so moving to look out at an audience of all those blue uniforms, some with their children wearing their dad’s hat that they’d lost in the explosion. That’s something I’ll never forget.”

10. Super Bowl XLIV halftime show | Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, Feb. 7, 2010
“In a sense, the Super Bowl is emblematic of where Roger and I are currently,” Pete Townshend told Pollstar’s Ray Waddell in 2010 before putting on one of the best Super Bowl halftime performances ever. “We were lucky in a lot of ways,” Townshend continued, “we hit the spot with our audience, particularly in America, in a way that was pretty accidental.” Try telling the fans that who afterwards increased song sales by 400%. (Photo by Kevin Mazur / The Who Archive)