| The Indie's Turn This month we go back to the heyday of 60s soul, and look at the historic Stax label; home of Sam & Dave, Booker T. & The MGs, and Otis Redding. |
| Getting to Know... David Bowie has released more than twenty albums since blazing on the scene with 1969's hit "Space Oddity." Here's some advice for those interested in becoming familiar with this fascinating musical chameleon. |
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Globetrotting |
| Advice To Graduates In which our hero, Zayne Reeves, offers homespun wisdom from the heartland. |
| Been There The Who unveil their masterpiece, Tommy, at a venue just as legendary as the group and the album: New York City's Fillmore East. |
| Watching the Music George Harrison pleads to court and jury in "This Song," a song an inspired by true legal events. |
| Couch Festival Too lazy to go to a real film festival? Try one of our couch festivals. This month, a holiday special: "When Christmas Gets Weird" |
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Oops! |
| 8 x 5 Our contributors pick five things they're digging this month. |
The Moment: The Who perform Tommy at New York City’s legendary Fillmore East in October 1969.
By Amy Miller
It was 1969. The year of Woodstock. The year of political protests over the Vietnam War. Peace and love. It was also the year that The Who came to New York City for five days in October to perform Tommy at the Fillmore East, only three months after the album had been released. And I was there! It wasn’t my first rock concert as a young teenager. I was fortunate to see Janis Joplin in one of her last concerts at Madison Square Garden and reluctantly admit to having seen Alice Cooper at the Fillmore East in 1971. But this was the first rock concert that I went to with a friend, without my older brother as chaperone. Little did my best friend Sue and I know that we were going to be part of rock history at the legendary Fillmore East, which was a venue built for rock and roll, only to last a few years.
The mood in the audience was electrifying. Playing to a packed crowd in a venue that only housed about 3000 people, we were all enthusiastic to hear the entire rock opera that most of us had repeatedly listened to, and by then, even memorized most of the words. So what was it about that concert, now over thirty years ago, that one could possibly remember? Wanting to catch a glimpse of Roger Daltrey’s beautiful head of curly hair, the chance that Pete Townshend might destroy a guitar or two (which incidentally he did), whether Keith Moon would lift his shaking head and smile to the audience (which incidentally, I don’t think he did), or whether John Entwistle would play with the audience. Each member of the band seemed so different, yet so together in their performance. And they were there for the fans, for the music, for the 60s.
Sue and I anxiously sat in the first row of the first balcony. Fantastic seats. Fantastic concert. Fantastic psychedelics. The Fillmore East was more than a venue for a band to play their songs; the Fillmore East was an experience. Bill Graham, the brilliance behind the Fillmore East and West, believed in rock theatre. So here was The Who, playing their songs with an incredible light show, accompanying every tune in what was once a movie theatre, transformed into Graham’s “rock palace.” The Joshua Light Show was well known as the in-house psychedelics behind many rock concerts at the Fillmore East. This was not cool; this was “far out.”
The Who did the entire Tommy rock opera, encouraging the audience to sing, getting us onto our feet to dance. But hey, this was New York in the late 60s, where no one was too uptight to dance, sing, shout and let it all hang loose. We were part of the story, we were part of history and little did we know it. Thinking back now, the concert seemed to last forever. There was no opening act as I recall and when The Who finished playing the 75 minute rock opera, and we thought they were done, they just played on. Which songs of that second set do I remember the most? “Summertime Blues” and “My Generation.” Nothing like being only 13 years old, thinking there was nothing better in life than going to rock concerts and listening to songs about ME! I actually remember thinking that this was the best day of my life.
So here it is 35 years later, and when I listen to The Who, some things have changed. I not only can still remember many of their lyrics but, I have my son Adam, the Editor-in-Chief, sitting next to me singing along as well. Now to me, that is cool.
