Set list
- I Can't Explain
- Summertime Blues
- My Generation
- I Am The Sea
- The Real Me
- The Punk And The Godfather
- I'm One
- Helpless Dancer
- 5.15
- Sea And Sand
Line Up
Roger Daltrey: Harmonica, Vocals
John Entwistle: Bass, Vocals
Keith Moon: Vocals, Drums
Pete Townshend: Vocals, Guitar
Note
Dave Marsh wrote about the Newcastle gigs in 1973: "Fifty minutes into the Newcastle gig, during '5.15', Townshend flipped out completely when the tape synch 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 center stage. As Pridden sprawled in front of the crowd, Townshend began pulling at the sound board, yanking out wires, demolishing rnany of the prerecorded tapes it had taken so many weeks work to piece together. The rest of the band watched in a daze. When Townshend finished wrecking the gear, he stalked off the stage. The rest of the band made their apologies, said they'd try to be back and followed him, leaving the audience even more dumbfounded. Pridden was already out the backstage door, walking down the alley, when John Wolff and Bill Curbishley caught up to him. 'That's it,' Pridden insisted. 'I'm finished. Never again.' But he let himself be steered back inside. Meantime, the Who were pacing their dressing room, trying to cool Townshend. After twenty-five minutes, they retook the stage and finished out the show with a medley of oldies." (Dave Marsh, Before I Get Old, p. 429).
Fanreports
Mc Kelvie
I was at the Newcastle diaster show! The story is different than the story you have. Anyways, I have the set list and review.
The set list: I Can't Explain, Summertime Blues, My Generation, I Am The Sea, The Real Me, The Punk And The Godfather, I'm One, Helpless Dancer, 5:15, Sea And Sand.
I got front row tickets. The story you have of the show is incorrect! Here is the story of the show:
They got on stage and crashed into I Can't Explain and Summertime Blues. Roger introduced My Generation by saying, "We're going to take you back to 1965!" Then they went through Quadrophenia up to 5:15.
What Really Happened:
It was 35 minutes into the concert. The Who did made it through the whole song of 5:15 without the incident, but the tapes were off throughout the whole song. After 5:15 Pete went crazy and ripped out all of the tapes and threw Bobby Pridden to the front of the stage like you said. They did go backstage to calm down. When they took the stage again they didn't play a medley of oldies! What really happened is when they took the stage again they played a 10 minute jam of Sea And Sand, then they left.
Simon Malia
I'd got my copy of 'Quadrophenia' a few days earlier, so I already knew the material fairly well. We'd all read in the music press that this tour was going to focus on the new album, so we were ready to hear it. Audiences in those days were more ready to accept that large chunks of shows would be devoted to new material, some of which you wouldn't know.