This was the night of the infamous 'tape disaster'. At some point in the show, the Quadrophenia backing tapes malfunctioned and Pete exploded into a furious rage. He screamed at soundman Bob Pridden, smashed his guitar onto the stage and began tearing down the backing tapes and equipment. Roger, Keith and John stared on in disbelief.
The curtain was dropped and the audience sat in the darkness for about ten minutes until the band reappeared. The rest of the show was devoted to a set of "oldies", concluding with 'My Generation' and a vicious display of Gibson guitar demolition by Pete. He smashed his second guitar of the night and threw one of his Hiwatt amps to the ground as Keith ploughed through his drums, spilling them across the stage. They received "thunderous applause" as they left the stage.
"The Who - A Ridiculous Display Of Unwarranted Violence" wrote Steve Hughes in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle (November 6): "The Who rock band lived up to its reputation for violence on stage with an expensive display of guitar and amplifier-smashing at the Odeon Cinema last night. The concert was stopped in chaos when guitarist Pete Townshend bawled out sound engineers, destroyed pre-recorded backing tapes and smashed up £100 worth of equipment during the group's presentation of its latest rock opera. It was a ridiculous display of unwarranted violence witnessed by thousands of easily-influenced teenage pop fans. Townshend, a temperamental but brilliant guitarist, is quite notorious for sudden fits of violence on stage which have almost become accepted as part of the act by his many followers. But this time stage hands rushed to disconnect electric amplifiers and Townshend's electric guitar after he swiped it into the stage floor. Tempers flared after drummer Keith Moon had trouble with headphones. He let the drumsticks fly as the sound engineers battled to fix them. Then Townshend intervened, yelling at the engineers behind control panels on the side of the stage. He ripped out backing tapes and heaved over equipment into the side curtains. The three other members of the band - lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon - just stared. The safety net was lowered to the stage but the lights stayed out. Fans sat, quietly at first in total darkness and usherettes - obviously quite frightened - frantically flashed torch lights across the audience. After 10 minutes, with absolutely no trouble from the audience, the curtain was raised and Daltrey launched the band into a medley of 'oldies'. Then he yelled four-letter words at the audience, calling them - among many other derogatory terms - bastards and tried to explain everything by singing 'My Generation', a song about the generation gap and how no one understands the younger generation. Then Townshend hurled his guitar against the upstanding microphone and smashed it into a score of pieces by banging it against the stage floor. He then turned on a row of piled amplifiers at the back of the stage and hurled a top one to the floor. Moon waded through his range of drums, spilling them across the stage and Daltrey took a last kick at his microphone. They all left to thunderous applause. It was, in my opinion, an extremely childish publicity stunt with potentially damaging effect on the thousands of youngsters who invariably follow their idols in all they do. Otherwise, they were musically immaculate, as always. Concerts tonight and tomorrow will go ahead as planned."
The local TV show Look North on November 6 had picked up on the story and invited Keith Moon and Pete Townshend into the studio for a live interview. It was confirmed that the two following concerts would commence as planned and Moon and Townshend attempted to explain the problems that had occurred and laugh the incident off. Indeed, Townshend said very little and Moon carried most of the conversation. When asked about how disappointed the fans were, Moon jokingly replied: "Well, nobody asked for their money back, did they?" Moon was wrong, however, to assume that some fans weren't disappointed.
"The Who's Antics An Insult To Fans", ran a headline in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, (November 8): "We are four girls who attended The Who concert on November 5, paying a total of £7 for tickets. Although we found the music and general conduct of the group exemplary, we feel justified in complaining about the antics of Pete Townshend. Halfway through the performance he, because of a fit of temper over a technical difficulty, saw fit to throw his guitar to the stage and walk off, followed by the rest of the group. There then followed a complete stoppage of about 25 minutes. On the group's return no apology was given for this delay and [Townshend] abused the audience by saying (using bad language) that the group was too good to play to an 'audience of no goodies' and that there was no appreciation for the music. This was followed by another session of guitar and amplifier breaking. While we appreciate that Mr. Townshend's guitar breaking is a recognised part of the act, his use of bad language and immature attitude was completely unnecessary and completely spoilt our enjoyment of an otherwise praiseworthy performance..."
A retrospective account of this incident was given by Dave Marsh in Before I Get Old. Marsh believes that 'Irish' Jack's presence backstage at Newcastle, and his revelation that he had turned 30 (older than Townshend) had disturbed Pete unduly. Marsh wrote that: "Fifty minutes into the Newcastle gig, during '5.15', Townshend flipped out completely when the tape sync came in fifteen seconds slow. He stepped to the side of the stage, grabbed Bobby Pridden by the scruff of his neck and pulled the poor road manager bodily over the mixing desk, then tossed him toward centre stage. As Pridden sprawled in front of the crowd, Townshend began pulling at the sound board, yanking out wires, demolishing many of the prerecorded tapes it had taken so many weeks work to piece together." Pridden walked straight out of the Odeon and was pursued by John Wolff and Bill Curbishley, who persuaded him to return. Townshend later apologised and Pridden set about repairing the damage. Cashflow problems also necessitated Pridden buying a replacement guitar out of his own pocket the following day!
Simon Malia writes his personal review of the show here:
I was 16 when "Quad" came out, and I queued up overnight in snow,
ice, sleet, driving rain and more snow to get tickets for the shows at
Newcastle Odeon. I was born and raised in Newcastle, and even though I now
live in Liverpool and work in Manchester, I go home (as I still regard it)
for home matches of MY (soccer) team, Newcastle United - and I'll be there
when The Who play the Telewest Arena in November.
So - I was there all three nights of their stint at the Odeon - the first
night, the night it all kicked off, was the first time I saw the band.
As you say, it all happend about 50 mins into the show, which had started
with "I Can't Explain" and "Summertime Blues".
When it was obvious to Pete that the tape synch was all wrong, he just
snapped. He had seemed edgy beforehand, seemingly wanting more response from
the audience to the new material. It's worth pointing out that at this time,
Newcastle was regarded by most bands as being one of the best places to play
- it was (and still is) a proper "rock" town. "Quadrophenia" was available
in the shops before the tour started - I bought mine at JG Windows in town
on the day it came out. And got it signed by Pete and Keith on the afternoon
of the first gig - they were coming out of the theatre after the sound-check
as I was on my way home from school, and revving up for the gig that night.
So - SOME members of the audience were aware of the album. But (as has been
pointed out elsewhere by Brian Cady) the vinyl shortage of those days may
well have restricted the flow of copies of the album into the shops.
Anyway, the mood of the audience was such that they were waiting for the
band to really get into the show - and Pete seemed to waiting for us to give
him lift-off. So - the tapes went wrong, and he snapped.
I had never seen anything quite like that before, and I've never seen
anything like it since - and I've worked with some very volatile people. He
went utterly bonkers, his face absolutely twisted with rage. He lunged to
the side of the stage where Bobby was (quite clearly visible) at his bank of
tape equipment. And he spat at Bobby. Then he reached over the top of the
tape deck and shot a punch at Bob. Then he dragged him over the trestle on
which the tape deck rested, and bodily lifted him until he was face to face
with him. And he punched him again Very hard. Then he cast Bobby aside and
launched a frenzied attack on the tape machines and tapes themselves. He
pulled the tapes from the spools and ripped at them with his hands. Tape was
spooling everywhere. Pete then picked up his guitar, crashed out a horrible
chord or two and smahed that through the tape deck. Then he picked up the
guitar again and whacked it into the speakers. Then he stormed off the
stage.
Moon crashed out through his kit, and Daltrey made a half-hearted stab at
smashing Moon's cymbals with his microphone. John simply put down his bass,
resting it against his speakers stack. They all then walked off after Pete.
The crowd - and this I remember with complete clarity - were absolutely
stunned. You could have heard a pin drop. We sat like that for about 20
mins, in the darkness. The theatre management had dropped tr safety curtain
across the stage, and they kept the house lights off. I remember the
usherettes shining their torches into the crowd - they seemed nervous that
we'd all go crackers or something. Gradually, a slow hand-clap started,
which built up pace. We were encoraging the band to return.
Then - with the safety curatin still down on the stage - we heard the sound
of Moon bashing together his claves, the wooden blocks he used to intro
"Magic Bus". A real crowd pleaser.
They were back - and after "Magic Bus", they did "My Generation" and a
couple of other numbers (I just don't remember which, sorry). During "My
Generation", Pete really took off, haranguing the audience for their lack of
response. He was swearing at us, calling us "bastards". I was right down the
front, bang in front of the stage, looking up at him, and swearing back at
him. Talk about "The Punk and the Godfather" ...
The next night, there was quite a fuss in the local paper (Newcastle Evening
Chronicle), and Pete and Keith appeared on BBC's "Look North" to try to
limit the damage, by explaining as best they could what had happened. Keith
was calm and jokey, but Pete was drawn and quiet.
