Guitarist, co-founder, and leader of The Who, Pete Townshend, turns 75 today! Townshend is the principal songwriter of the legendary band that has gifted the world with songs like "Pinball Wizard," "My Generation," and "Magic Bus."
To celebrate his legacy, we're throwing it back to 1969 when The Who embarked on their historic Tommy Tour, in support of the rock opera album of the same name. Their stop in Toronto, ON, Canada at The Rockpile landed on Townshend's birthday, May 19th.
Tommy was composed almost entirely by Townshend, and it tells the story of Tommy Walker, a "deaf, dumb and blind" boy. The album explores his experiences with life and his relationship with his family. The record took six months to record and dropped on May 17th, 1969, two days before the Toronto birthday show!
The band's line up during that time was OG - with Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, and John Entwistle. That night, they performed a 14-song set that carried 5 songs off Tommy.
They opened up with the non-album single "Heaven and Hell." The Who used this track to open up all their shows during the Tommy Tour from 1969-1970. They haven't performed the song since 1975.
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The first Tommy songs came after a performance of "I Can't Explain" and Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues." "It's a Boy," "1921," "Amazing Journey," and "Sparks" all play in and out of each other, mimicking the album.
From there they jump into "Pinball Wizard," the most commercially successful single off the album, and their second most performed song to date. The rest of the set featured rare gems like "I'm a Boy," a cover of "Shakin' All Over" by Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, and household favorites like "Substitute" and "Magic Bus."
They ended the night with an early version of "Naked Eye." This song was last performed in 2017.
Check out the full setlist below!
Listen to the entire audio from the show below:
Townshend's magnum opus is still highly regarded to this day. Him and Daltrey both keep The Who spirit alive as they still write new music and tour to this day. Keep up-to-date with the band over on their official website.
