5 Oct 2025
Sunday 21 September 2025, Mountain View, CA
Show Report: September 21, 2025; Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View
In some ways, this is quite a lovely setting for a show!
Mountain View is one of the Bay Area’s (San Francisco Bay) nice suburbs. It’s right next to Palo Alto, which is the childhood home of our own Loren Gold on keyboards. He even worked here long ago, so this is certainly a memorable place for him. And I recall at least two shows here back in “the old days” of maybe 2002, 2004 I think – at least 2004, where I first discovered all the cool things about this venue.
For one, it’s an outdoor “shed” but unlike most, it has a huge two-peak tent over everything, rather than the metal roof of most sheds. Yes, it has covered seats and a lawn in back – this is one of the first of its kind in the US. And it was built back in the days of Bill Graham, whose presence is felt all over the San Fran area still, but especially in this venue. Backstage there are several big photo posters of Bill with artists, most-prominently Bill sitting here long ago – with Jerry Garcia and Carlos Santana – two of the bands that he helped make famous worldwide.
In our dressing room compound backstage, there is a great shot by Michael Zagaris of Bill with The Who back in 1976, a most-memorable day as it was a huge show with The Grateful Dead opening for The Who. What a pairing, yet it seemed to work. (As a side note, I’ve been working with The Grateful Dead on a lot of mixing projects of old albums, so far from 1970 to 1976. Inside one of Jerry’s notebooks is a bumper sticker he bought and affixed to the inside that says simply: “I ♥ Pete Townshend” – so, there you go, Jerry was a fan, too!)
This place is known for things like the setting, a nice set of small hills near the water (shoreline!) and backstage are some leftover visual props like the “skull and roses” prop from a Dead show and a globe that Bill Graham rode on for the New Year as Father Time. And also a giant psychedelic mushroom I saw . . . or maybe I was trippin’?
Catering has always been superb here, and it is again today. Soft-serve ice cream seems to be popular. And most of all, a total surprise, a set of puppies has been brought out!? A shelter group brings their newly-saved kiddos out for the visiting bands and crew to hold and enjoy. It’s good training for the pups as they get a lot of handling and touching, plus the team tells us these dogs don’t grow up fearing noises like fireworks as they’ve grown up around noisy PA systems like ours! It’s a popular attraction today, but they take them away at sundown, just before the bands start to play.
Simon with his wife, Janey (left) and Mera (centre) with one of the puppies
And so – then there’s the other side. Well, this attractive giant peaked tent over us is cool, but it causes some problems. For one, the PA system can’t go up very high, so it’s hanging right close by the band, and not very high up – right at shoulder height, instead of 20’ above everyone. This causes a LOT of sound system bleed onto the stage, so the monitoring is tricky; whatever balances the band wants to hear is mixed with the LOUD sound of this out-front PA that’s usually more distant. It causes constant issues throughout the show today, but not much anyone can do about it.
And for some reason, there are many little issues happening all since load-in starts. Everything is going slow (there’s not much room to move gear or people or trucks). I’m having some issues with the keyboards even until the minute the show begins, and various sound guys are getting strange behavior from their own gear. Random stuff that just happens, and it’s happening a LOT today…
Our VIPs come in for soundcheck and get the usual, plus a long conversation (probably not audible) between just Rog and Pete. They are discussing our private show – to be held after the proper tour ends. It’s a charity event for Teen Cancer America. We host a bunch of other bands and artists and raise a LOT of money for the charity each time we’re in LA. But they haven’t decided what to play and how we should do it – small stage, not much time, what songs etc. They’re cutting back on the size of the band, and choosing songs to add. Eventually, even though the crew and audience may not hear all of this, Roger takes some time to speak to the crowd present. It’s very moving and quite detailed. He talks about the formation and funding of the charity, and how the VIPs themselves are helping continue the work. Great stuff, and this is something the other VIPs didn’t get – each day is indeed different!
Candlebox are here opening, the first of three they will play with us; definitely a popular band, with several million records sold. They emerged from the Seattle area when that was most-happening in the 1990s. Their sound is harder song-oriented and vocal oriented stuff that goes down well. I was backstage eating when they kicked off – and it was SO LOUD we couldn’t believe it. Poor Rog and Pete had dressing rooms just behind the PA backstage, and I thought – how could they even relax. But when I went onstage to watch them – it wasn’t loud – just normal. So the acoustics of this high, peaked tent are actually bouncing sound back towards the stage and backstage in a weird way. A strange, strange thing that cannot be adjusted or changed.
And so – our show kicks off as usual. It’s a medium sized crowd but they are cool and chilling outside in the evening air. And the sound is different onstage and Roger is having some issues with his body-pack, the wireless thing he clips on his trousers to get sound. “The gremlins have crept in!” he laughs. “Let’s hope they creep back out! I couldn’t hear a f’***ng thing! Amazing what the deaf can do . . .” Evidently he came out and got no sound at all – and managed to get through a song totally without us knowing. Then they try start the next song, and it falls apart “1-2-ah!!” and Pete even changes a guitar because it’s gone out of tune too fast. But two at once – Roger and Pete – are incredibly rare. Gremlins! They’ve been here all day, I guess..
Well, I’ll say one good thing – this is the LOUDEST crowd sound yet – but maybe it’s just that tent thing – bouncing sound back towards the stage. I guess there’s a “win” in there in that.
Video courtesy of Pure and Easy
It’s a little weird – the front row is set back eight-to-ten feet from the front of the stage, so there’s a big gap, a concrete floor open there. And the front row people – paid the most for those choice seats – have wandered forward to the edge of the stage. So the band sees a big hole, then a row of empty seats, then the rest of the crowd. Just weird, visually. Eventually, about halfway thru the show, Pete speaks up “How much did this concrete cost!?” (He thinks they paid $$$ to reserve the whole area as their own . . . no!) It’s f***ing awful!! Just come down here and take it over!!” and the crowd does – at least those in the front seats – they fill up the space and suddenly the vibe is so much better. Of course it is – they’re more excited AND the band isn’t playing to a weird blank space in front. Strange stuff here.
Video courtesy of Kien Lam
Of course, the security aren’t supposed to let that happen – and the people who work here are SO good and nice, very well-trained. But they do let it happen, while still trying to keep it under control – it could get wild or dangerous if too many come down; and they can’t say “your ticket doesn’t go here” anymore!
It’s still a great show – all the recent ones have been getting better and better. They’re “on the road” literally and that means exercise, practice, constant repetition – like lifting weights; it gets easier and easier to be good at it. More control, where needed.
Video courtesy of Eric P
‘Love Reign O’er Me’ doesn’t quite hit the heights though, yet the audience goes MORE crazy – and a standing ovation that lasts and then starts again. They just loved it! Which is a nice boost, everyone’s feeling it. ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ – well, this is another one – the big scream and power chord and so on – it gets missed and is sloppy for the second or third night in a row. It’s usually always perfect – everyone in-sync and nailing that important moment. But not tonight AND then Roger doesn’t hear a cue and sings the closer in the wrong place, so Pete tries to sort-of correct by adding stuff. It’s a mess, and Roger falls down onto the stage laughing and kicking his leg in the air…! A good save of a messy ending. ‘Baba O’Riley’ is great, though. Not ideal but sounding SO powerful – maybe it’s just the tent sound or the crowd – but it’s a strong closer, always. Followed by the denouement, the quieter two pieces of goodbye messages . . . .
Video courtesy of Pure and Easy
At the end chat, Pete mentions seeing this guy he’d seen with the “rock and roll hairdo” (Rog) holding a white guitar: Roger had made his own guitar in his woodshop! He was very cool to Pete and in May 1961, he asked Pete to join his new group. History thanks you both . . .
This was a weird one, all the way to the load-out of the trucks at the end. I’m glad we came, but it was a struggle.
Onward! . . .
Tonight’s set list follows this photo so if you don’t wish to know it, look no further!
Binky keeps an eye on his band and sees that everything is OK and as it should be
I Can’t Explain
Substitute
Who Are You
I Can See for Miles
Long Live Rock
Pinball Wizard
See Me, Feel Me / Listening To You
Another Tricky Day
Behind Blue Eyes
Eminence Front
My Generation
Cry If You Want
You Better You Bet
Going Mobile
The Real Me
I’m One
5:15
Love, Reign O’er Me
Won’t Get Fooled Again
Baba O’Riley
The Song Is Over
Tea & Theatre
Check out The Who Store for exclusive tour merchandise including this Limited Edition Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA 2025 Poster