The best description I've ever heard of Keith Moon's style of drumming was that it sounded like he was playing all of the drums in the kit at the same time, all of the time.
Just like the Who to change things up. They seldom played a tune the same way. I saw the original four many times starting in 1968. Keith was so unconventionable and unpredictable and played from his heart. He was very musical and inventive (although he didn't even know what he was creating sometimes.) Great bass drum work too. He was the jet engine that drove The Who. It was like watching a ballet when you watched him play that big Premier kit !
Way, way overrated. Lots of theatrics, but if you break it down, there’s nothing really intricate about his playing. Straight 4/4..16ths. Pounds the toms relentlessly. Little dynamics.
Pete's moves and gestures and jumps, the windmilling, everything... are iconic. Chuck Berry invented the duckwalk but everything else a guitarplayer did and does on stage came from Pete and just looked so fucking cool. IMO no one had this mesmerizing presence on a stage before and after
How much fun is it to watch Moonie behind the drums in his prime, he didn't so much play the drums as attack them, no wonder they had to drill holes in the bass drums and nail them to the ground. You know his kits didn't have a long shelf life. There are those that say Moon was going down hill after 73 as a player but watch this and you know that just isn't true, he was all there in 75 and 76. By 77 and 78 you could see he had slowed down and gained weight, but not during his last two tours.
I heard them properly for the first time when I was 12 - 1981. They changed my life. Yeah I did my degree etc. but I became a pro drummer. The greatest band there will ever be, xxx
I dont think I've ever seen Entwistle film of him playing his Alembic. He managed to make it sing like he only could. RIP John lay down and rest so you can run some more......
This Alembic at least, there are films of him playing one of his custom ordered Alembics with the thunderbird style body. I've heard he had humidity/tuning problems with the Alembic at Live Aid which led to him moving on to those graphite things...
I'd always dreamed of The Who as a three piece like The Jam. To my mind, this is the song where Keith goes the most manic, he is like a constant avalanche, keeping the beat effortlessly with the fewest drum beats necessary and then suddenly exploding into a blurred frenzy of playing.
What other band can have the guitarist hold the guitar over their head howling feedback and still sound so fucking good? They all play lead. That's what made the Who sound like they did. No wonder Daltrey felt like a spare part in his own band.
I was down I-71 getting my diploma from Ohio State but did catch them at Public Hall in Cleveland. I remember the power from their marshalls pulling my cheeks back as I approached the stage and seeing Townswend pulling out after the show. Truly the most powerful group in Rock during their prime.
Marty Creary Well back in '71 Entwistle still used Hiwatts for his bass. They did have Marshall PA cabinets in their arsenal along with the WEM cabinets though, that they had on the sides of the stage to louden the sound.
If I were rich and famous rock guitarist my set up would be a big Vox Vt modelling amp................for special effects ....Miked ,and fed into a marshal amp for power.........
Fuckin cameraman focusing on the wrong guy during lyrics c breaks....Pete twirling around while Keith off camera playing his fucking heart out for john.
I thought the version of this song from "The Kids Are Alright" was the best version I'd ever heard. THIS THING IS BEYOND THE BEYOND. OK, Stones are good, but......
+tulllguy Agree with that. The booze starts taking over Keith after 75 and the band just ain't the same. But the run they're on from 65 -75 is pretty fucking good though! Bands shouldn't really have more than a 10 year lifespan I think anyway.
+sratus can't agree thney played fantastic show 1976,1979-1981 (many of them far better with more energy than lot's shows. shows with Moon due his heatlh... ). they had fantastic "punk energy" during many shows 1980-1981 show..
I comment every time I watch this;......Can't help it......These guys were so good they could stretch this as long as they wanted;......Zeppelin was the same way......This level of musicianship doesn't exist today.
thats not true. I can almost play like this. But my name isnt on a billboard or marquee club or cd. I wouldnt say therere very many of us however. But who knows. Pun not intended.
I was probably at this concert I worked in the loge restaurants for years at the Richfield coliseum since 1974 until the Cavs moved out and they tore it down. I have seen thousands of acts
To be honest I felt irritated of this video the way the cameraman do his job, always focusing on Pete instead of the rest of the 4 members or Kieth moon
The Bloody 'Oo-Fall 1975 North America tour-absolutely UNFUCKINGTOUCHABLE. Last tour Moonie would do with the group BTW. Think this track made the LP for The Kids Are Alright. Rough. Gritty. Nasty. LOUD AS ALL HELL.
Dude! (Dudette?) I love your username! I bought Empty Glass when it came out and played it so much I had to buy a 2nd copy (both LPs), and finally a 3rd on CD! (I also did that with The Wall and of all things Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle.) It's only one of the most extraordinary albums in rock History. Not at all like a Who album, and it needed to be that way, though I'd love to have heard what bass line Ox would have put down for Rough Boys. That was very much an old school Who song IMO.
Don't know about Moon, but the other 3 did. John had to wear two hearing aids just to hear normal conversation. Pete talks about how John could't follow Zack very well in his solo at Royal Albert in 2000 because he couldn't hear Zack well at all.
@videostan There's plenty of footage of Entwistle playing Alembic basses, there's the Houston, Cleveland and Detroit shows from 75, the Kilburn show from 77, the Shepperton footage from 78, plus numerous concert from 79-82, as well as Live Aid in 85. But I think he said the technical problems he had with his bass at Live Aid was the final straw, and that's when he started looking for something different, which is how he ended up switching to the Warwick Buzzard models.
Actually this version of My Wife was recorded 20.7 miles Southeast of Cleveland at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield , Ohio on December 9th, 1975, the day after the Cincinnatti show on December 8th, 1975.
Which one? I guess if it was Mike Nesmith i could see it. If we're doomed, i want these guys playing the soundtrack when this shit goes up in flames! LONG LIVE KEITH MOON!!!!!!!
The other thing I I forgot to mention, but I’m sure they don’t care now is that we used to steal pictures of beer from the restaurant take the service elevator down to platform level look around until we found someone smoking marijuana and would go down to them give them some glasses. Pour them some beer and they would pass the joint to us. Did I say that man was that fun?
all i did was have a bit too much to drink..........amazing got my tckts for cardiff,but not gonna be the same without john,but the who were all about balls and pete and rog still got em you gotta respest that........THE NOTE IS ETERNAL
Apparently you’re not into history. I’m sixty now and this took place when I was only thirteen. As a long time fan, who’s seen countless concerts from this retired venue.. don’t rain on our perspective parade..bitch!!
