The Who Live, Montreal Forum, December 2, 1973

Looking back at the many concerts I've managed to see over the years, this concert in Montreal ranks near the top for many reasons. The Who concert guide, a fascinating account of virtually ever concert The Who ever did, provides a great account of the set along with comments from attendees here. Blogger Kanadianbakin also has a nice account.


I was living in Potsdam, NY at the time, in my last year of college. The excellent Quadrophenia album had recently been released, and a bunch of us decided to go - Montreal was about a 2 hour drive away.
Back in those preTicketmaster days, getting tickets was hit and miss, but I do remember putting cash or a check in an envelope and sending it to the Forum box office. I imagine the tickets were roughly $15 - $20 a piece, but I could be wrong.

A few days later I called the box office to confirm that our money had arrived. The gentleman on the phone - wish I could remember his name - confirmed that we were in. I asked him what kind of seats we had.

"They're not very good - way in the back."
Pause.
"Would you like front row seats?" (Golly, would I!)
"OK, kid - here's what you do. When you arrive for the concert, just go to will-call at window # 12 and ask for me. Bring me a bottle of Black Label scotch, and the seats are yours."


I can't recall if he used the term "Eh?" in our conversation, but he was true to his word, as were we. The bottle of scotch was exchanged at the window for seats in the front row, just to the left of Pete Townsend and close to a massive wall of speakers.

The concert itself was wonderful. And very loud. An unknown band to me, Lynerd Skynerd, opened the show and we hated them. Three annoying, screeching guitars, bad songs we thought - I continued to hate them up until the tragic plane crash some years later. I detected some tension onstage between Roger Daltry and Pete Townsend - at one point they were both leaping into the air and collided, and briefly exchanged sharp, angry looks. The show was also famous for the band being arrested for trashing their hotel suite and briefly jailed.

My ears rang for days following the concert, and I don't think my hearing has ever been the same. And I remember a bunch of scruffy, post-hippies driving back to Potsdam late that night, stoned, tired, and happy.

There are some sound clips from the 1973 tour available here.