Seeing The Who in concert for the first times were huge events as the band was already iconic and the “The Kids Are Alright” move was a great midnight movie staple since it’s release that June, 1979. A few thoughts about my three nights at the Garden with The Who: first was the shock when the band hit the stage that Roger Daltrey had cut the golden locks we were accustomed to seeing and went with a short haircut but his skill at twirling the microphone were undiminished. Secondly was the addition of drummer Kenney Jones who replaced the irreplaceable Keith Moon. Third was seeing John Entwistle singing “Boris the Spider” always stuck in my head for some reason. And lastly, I had bought my parents tickets to see singer Duck Haymes at the Westbury Music Fair and my father got so mad that I was going to see The Who three nights at Madison Square Garden that he ate the tickets and refused to go. Now part of his motivation to skip the show was that he was resistant to making the trek from Oakland Gardens, Queens to Westbury for any reason, even though Haymes was a favorite singer of his. He just could not understand why I needed to see The Who, or any artist for that matter, more than once and that I was effectively wasting my money. Forty one years later, for better or worse, not much has changed in that regard with only a pandemic slowing down the furious pace of attending live music.

Who’s Next?

Rick on!

GQ