"The Who" are on tour, again!
Guess "Who" is go'n?
And I'm take'n my daughter too!
I originally wrote this post after our family's vacation in the Dominican Republic 2005 .
I'm back from vacation and everyone had a great time. I'll have allot to say about our time in Da Dominican in a future post.
I glanced at my comments to see what was happen'n while I was away and... I received a huge surprise! Low and behold there's a comment by..."P.T." I was floored that Pete Townsend read my Blog and he kind'a liked it !? "WOW"! "Holy Shit"!
I've seen "The Who" a number of times in their hay-day. Way, way back in da seventies and early eighties. I was at the "Okeefe Center" to see them perform "Tommy Live". I think that was 1972? Ya I'm sure it was "72"! After that I 've been to "Who" concerts at Maple Leaf Gardens four times including the " Farewell Gig"in "82". Twice at the ol' "Ex" in Toronto and a couple of more times in Buffalo. My favorite concert of theirs, was probably my favorite concert of all time! It was in 1975 with my best friend Andy. The "Who By Numbers Tour". We bought obstructed view seats, cause...That's all we could get are hands on! There was no-way we thought would have great site lines, we though we would be blinded by stage props and "amps", but fuck were we wrong! We sat right next to the stage! We where so close we could see them sweat! This was "The Who" at their performance best. We had just seen "The Stones" in May and they were great , but "The Who" were... (((KABOOM))) ! "A pure fury of angst"! Watching Rodger Daltrey whip that "mike" around, I dunno how he didn't kill Townsend? He would come so close to him sometimes Pete would have'ta duck! Daltrey would constantly be pacing in a circular motion sometime running sometimes walking, waiting for his chance to scream out the lyrics. Keith Moon would be going crazy on that drum kit , brake'n his drum sticks on almost every beat! Of coarse the show stopper was Pete Townsend masterfully windmilling his arm around his guitar, smashing his "Axe" down , dancing around , jumping and diving across the stage. The laser lights where fucking amazing! "The Who's" best act was their finale. They would kick the shit out of everything on stage drums , guitars , mikes , amps ...Everything! The real goof was after destroying the stage the roadies would be go'n nuts trying to reset everything. I'm sure they would be pull'n their hair out just to find a "amp" that would work! The Who would always come back for 2 or maybe 3 encores. In Toronto "The Who" were "Rock Gods". They were popular here way before they were popular in the U.S. They never have forgot Canada was their second home and they always repaid their fans in Toronto. That night I think they did 4 encores and I remember Andy saying to me it was the greatest concert he had ever seen! He loved the song "Behind Blue Eyes". I remember Andy having the nicest eyes. He had sky blue color eyes! I guess most guys think it's kind'a gay to think about your best friend that way? I don't. It's just something I will always remember about him. Andy died a year later in a tragic car accident. The night of his death almost killed me emotionally. That evening Andy and I were going out to a party, but I cancelled to go somewhere else. It was two weeks before my 18th. Birthday and 2 months after his 19th. Andy was a person of God, he believed religiously in Christ. Andy brought God to me. I'll always thank and bless him for that. Andy is now my Guardian Angel. This might sound crazy? He sometimes comes to me in my dreams and we talk. I'm now quite a bit older but I still miss him so much it hurts. I know, "Wally that sounds very Gay"! I don't care!
I'll always remember Andy. The times we had together, of us talking all night, acting da fools at parties, and that "Who" concert way back in "75" .
I wish you were here, more than anything!
Da Wallycrawler.
