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In 1970 The Who recorded one of many best reside albums of all time, Stay At Leeds. 36 years later, because the band ready to headline the Wi-fi Competition at close by Harewood Home, they returned to the scene of their authentic triumph, at Leeds College Refectory, to play once more. Basic Rock was there.
Had it not been for some defective recording gear being utilized by The Who on the evening of February 15, 1970, The Who’s Live At Leeds album would have been titled Stay At Hull. The Leeds College refectory would have gone again to merely serving dinners to hungry college students as a substitute of attracting the likes of Thin Lizzy, Lynyrd Skynyrd and AC/DC and Hull’s rock’n’roll repute would in all probability stretch a bit additional than Mick Ronson and Wealthy Rags.
As a substitute, the gig taped at Leeds the earlier evening grew to become one of many best live performance recordings of all time: a no-holds-barred heavy rock reside album, from – mockingly – the Kings of the Mods.
Take into account this: the very day earlier than The Who performed Leeds, a little-known Brummie outfit known as Black Sabbath launched their first album on an unsuspecting world; Queen and Styx have been simply forming. It was formally A Lengthy Time In the past.
So way back, actually, that the event is now deemed worthy of a blue Civic Belief plaque, which Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend have proudly seen unveiled this afternoon. When first arranging their attendance on the plaque ceremony, broadcaster Andy Kershaw (a former Leeds College entertainments secretary) had a brainwave.
“By sheer coincidence, simply weeks after talking to Professor Arthur in Leeds about their plans, I met the band’s supervisor, Invoice Curbishley, backstage at WOMAD,” Andy stated. “I informed Invoice I assumed it will be nice if we bought some members of the band to unveil the plaque. Then I stated, ‘And whereas they’re there…’ Invoice completed my sentence. ‘They’ll do it’, he stated. And so the thought of a live performance started.”
With the band deciding on a world tour in 2006, all the pieces fell into place. What higher place to begin the tour than the venue which cemented The Who’s repute as the perfect reside rock band of their time?”
So it’s that 2,000 Who fanatics, many right here 36 years in the past, are crammed into this sweatbox on one of many muggiest nights of the yr. The steam is rising from the gang and moisture is dripping down the partitions however there aren’t any concessions to age – both within the viewers or on stage (Daltrey is 62, Townshend 61) – because the present begins with a ruthless winklepicker to the temple within the form of Who Are You.
Correctly resisting the nostalgic temptation to revive the unique Stay At Leeds setlist, The Who as a substitute plump for his or her best hits. And what hits they’re: Can’t Clarify, The Seeker, Substitute and Baba O’Riley thunder by this low, slender venue, and it turns into obvious simply how highly effective The Who’re – an extra echo of their 1970 present right here, after which they unfurled their wings and soared throughout America, changing into a bona fide rock beast to rival Led Zeppelin within the course of.
Songs from their forthcoming “mini rock opera” (sure, once more) Wire And Glass are previewed. A lot of the viewers haven’t heard them, and this isn’t actually the ambiance for a cerebral consideration of lyrical twists and musical complexity.
Highlights from Tommy resume regular service, and a monstrous Gained’t Get Fooled Once more brings down the curtain on an evening that was imbued with an intoxicating sense of event.
As Daltrey, Townshend and their band – Pino Palladino on bass, Zak Starkey on drums, John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick on keyboards and Pete’s brother Simon on guitar – absorb the applause, you possibly can nearly hear a burst of mischievous laughter from the again of the corridor.
You get the sensation Keith Moon and John Entwistle would have permitted.
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