There is perhaps no image that screams ‘rock and roll!’ louder than the photo of The Who’s Pete Townshend using two hands to hold his guitar above his head, knees tucked in, leaping into the air at Isle of Wight Festival. It was as though he was making a sacrifice to the sun, the crowd, and a gods of rock n’ roll. As Mike Cody (Hotavy, KQ 98) described it, “This is a man enjoying his rock n roll.” The festival would be among the last shows Jimi Hendrix played before his untimely death in a London hotel room just off St. James' Park.
Inevitably the call was going to come. Some friend would
want to know if I could help him meet a musician. Usually this included the
“backstage experience.” Now, admittedly,
I enjoyed meeting and talking to famous people too. Asking wasn’t the negative
thing for me, making the magic happen was the challenge. If you’ve never had a
backstage experience, expect the unexpected. I’ve been graced with backstage
passes to Springsteen’s shows a couple of times, the Tunnel of Love tour in
Minneapolis, and a Meet n Greet in Kansas City. While I’ve met all the E Street
Band members a couple of times, Bruce never showed for either event. In
Minneapolis we sat with the label rep in a “green room,” and sat, and sat.
Eventually someone stuck their head in the room and said, “Bruce left over an
hour ago.” Bummer. To be fair, artists have to be “on” at these events, nice to
everyone, sign a gazillion things, and pose for pictures. If you’ve just put on
a three-hour show, I’ll bet the last thing you want to do is have to put on a
brave face and get pawed by people trying to connect with you and share how
important you’ve been in their lives. I get it. But I still like meeting famous
people.
This call came from a friend I’d know for years. An aspect of knowing ‘Fred’ is knowing Fred loves, I mean loves, The Who. Whenever I hear about a tour, see something special, or get a promotional piece, I give it to Fred. I know he’ll give it a good home. Fred is the son of wealthy people. But he’s a genuinely nice guy and, like a few people I know who come from money, you’d never know it, well, unless you knew it.
“Can you get us backstage at The Who?” he asked.
“Fred, I’ve been out of music retailing for a long time now. I don’t know.”
“Would you try?”
“Of
course” I said.
Now what? The band was not putting out albums, so there were
no label contacts. The radio station where I’ve been doing my show (for 30
years now) doesn’t play The Who, so that’s a no-go too. I knew a guy that does
an annual benefit show with Springsteen. I know that Michael J Fox is friends
with Townshend through some charity or another. I thought I could ask Bob to
ask Michael…no, that’s a dumb idea. The first rule of knowing famous or wealthy
people is, never, under no circumstance, ever, ask for a favor. Everyone they
know and meet just needs a favor. Ugh. What to do?
I recalled that reading the Townshend has set up a charity.
If Fred was willing to use his trust funds to make a donation to Townshend’s charity,
perhaps… It was my only lead. Turns out Fred was willing to make a very sizable
donation. Okay, that number would raise some eyebrows. I got online to find the name of the charity
that might be able to connect me. This meant calling England. It was a clunky
conversation.
“...and so, if Pete would be willing to meet my friend when the band plays in Omaha, my friend would make a donation to Mr. Townshend’s charity.”
“That’s a sizable donation.”
“Well, if you could ask, I would appreciate it.”
When I got up the next morning, there was an email in my AOL account. “Mr. Townshend would love to meet some people from Omaha but please, no donation is necessary. Please bring your friend, and your wives….(here are the details to connect.) ” Whoa.
Fate had smiled broadly.
I called Fred with the good news.
When the day arrived, the four of us met and prepared our
momentous moment. I had a program from The Who’s 1976 show in Glasgow where,
as a 16-year-old living in England, had taken the train by myself, found a BnB,
and attended the concert on the (sacred) Celtic football grounds. The line-up
was exceptional. Local heroes, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, preceded The
Who. Others on the bill included Widowmaker (feat Mott the Hoople’s Ariel
Bender), Little Feat (with Lowell George), and The Outlaws. I’d seen Little
Feat and The Outlaws in Newcastle City Hall two days earlier. I also had a
‘Maximum Rock n Roll’ poster for my friend Rich.
I thought about the many times I’d see The Who. Keith Moon was still alive the first time I saw them. Glasgow is like Detroit except meaner. The crowd was wildly intoxicated and really difficult to understand. While some suggest Geordies, folks from Newcastle Upon Tyne, are hard to understand, Wegies or Glaswegians are damn near impossible to understand without some sort of translator in your ear.
Famously, during the song Won’t Get Fooled Again, green lasers were short over the crowds head during a lull in the song. Smoke danced across the sharp green planes of lasers that slowly pointed down towards the crowd. Although sober, I was only 16 and alone is a foreign country, the lasers wiped out any sense of horizon and things became akimbo and tilted. At a precise moment in the song, Townshend lept across the stage, and in his famous wind-mill motion stuck a power chord that launched the band back into the song. “I move myself and my family inside…”
Magic.
When we got to the Omaha Shed, the cell reception was
sketchy. Damn, we couldn’t reach our contact. I paced around wondering what to
do. Here we stood, waiting for our moment, knowing our contact was waiting for
our call, but the phones weren’t working. It was cold out but I walked down the
street and made my call. “Yes, we’re here.” “Great, I’ll meet you and give you the
passes, You’d better hurry.” Racing back I grabbed our foursome and took off
for the rendezvous point. Eventually we
got ushered back. A quick handshake with Pino Palladino (bass) and Zak Starkey
(drummer & Ringo’s son, who also played with Oasis). Pete was cordial,
asked a few questions, and posed for some photos. “Now, what’s your name
again?” “This one’s for Rich.” When Fred set his materials down, Pete focused
on Fred and his wife.
I spied Roger Daltrey about 15 yards away; completely
unplussed. I walked over, Even in his mid60s, Roger Daltrey was cut. When I
meet people I’ve admired, I try to think about the meaningful moments in their
career. With Daltrey it was seeing live, swinging a microphone in 20’ circles,
grabbing it at the last moment and pulling it in to scream
“Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh” at the crescendo in Baba O’Reilly. What a stud.
I’ve probably seen The Who 20x, such a great band. The magic always shows up.
 |
"I have to be careful not to preach |
As I neared I could tell his nose had been broken. He’s shorter than me. “How’s it going?” Roger grunted out a reply and was clearly not interested in any false adulation. Having recently read his autobiography, Daltrey views his role in The Who as a singer. That’s his job. Pretty much like working in a factory but the pays a bit better. He’s just a working-class guy who’s hung onto his Cockney roots and has taken an unpretentious approach to a life that could easily have otherwise gotten out-of-control.
I mentioned that Omaha was a college football market and if
he wanted to rev up the crowd he could use the phrase, “Restore the Order.”
“I’m not saying that” he replied. “Um, Jagger did a couple of weeks ago.” “He
did, eh?” said Roger, looking over the top of his glasses. He was a nice enough
guy but I knew from being around for a while when a musician is getting ready
to go onstage, they are mustering the focus and energy necessary to put on a
great show. Roger was mustering and therefore I was pestering.
We made our way to seats. Fred had gotten us in the second
row right in front of Townshend. The band came out. While the crowd cheered,
Townshend walked over to Daltrey and pointed out some friends, whom they both
waved to and smiled. I’d love to know who that was. It was after the third
song, Daltrey, with a cup of tea in hand, for his obviously hoarse throat,
stepped up, “We’re The Who and we’re here to restore the order!” The crowd
cheered as the band took off into the rest of their set.
Video: The Who, Omaha December 8, 2006
Mission accomplished.
Footnote: while reading Daltrey's recent autobiography, he
mentions using a bulldozer to create a trout fishing oasis so he and his
friends from the “old neighborhood” could get together. Today visitors can rent
a cottage and fly fish for trout on Daltrey’s estate. https://www.lakedowntroutfishery.com/.
If you decide to go, call me…
