The Who Flaunt Curfew at Tour Opener

The Who got off to an explosive start on their tour at Sheffield, in North England several weeks ago. Traffic, the Herd and the Tremeloes had all done their spots, and because nobody had scheduled the length of these spots, the first show overran by an hour.

Finally the Who thundered on stage ready to blow everybody’s minds – but after three numbers the stage manager just dropped the curtain in the middle of the group’s act. Not a clever thing to do in the presence of the ever-energetic Who. Pete Townshend went mad. He continued playing and rocking his gigantic wall of amps and speakers backwards and forwards. Finally the stage manager walked on stage and Pete picked up an amplifier and threw it at the guy. Fair comment.

The next concert at Coventry was lively as well. That ended in a flurry of arguments, moodies, hundreds of pounds worth of smashed Who equipment, lighting, microphones and dressing rooms. This one tour didn’t start in the most savoury fashion – but the publicity has been real good.

This story is from the December 14th, 1967 issue of Rolling Stone.