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These two shows were “make up” shows that they promised to do when Keith passed out at the Cow Palace in I think ’72, anyway, Winterland was an ice skating rink and held only 5000 for concerts with a balcony all the way around. Tickets were sold on a lottery basis: we had to send in a cashiers check via an envelope and a drawing would determine who got tickets. Two tix per envelope. So the drawing would select 5000 envelopes: 2500 for Sat nite and 2500 for Sun nite. 2500 X 2 = 5000 per show. Well, approx 110,000 envelopes were mailed in! You see, then, to see The WHO in such a small, intimate place was BIG !!! I sent in 6 and fucking A, I got three back! Two for Sat and one for Sun. I saw both! To this day, those two shows rank in my top 5, joining the likes of The Wall(1980 in the LA Sports Arena) and Led Zeppelin (1977 LA Forum). Winterland – The Who 1976 – the BEST I’ve ever had! Ha!
I became a lifelong Who fan after those two Winterland shows. Yes, I remember the lottery. We were lucky and four of us saw them both nights in Winterland. The Who were so much louder in those days, and we were only a few people deep from the stage. I had to wear ear plugs the second night because my ears were still ringing. Pete was leaping all over, Roger sounded magnificent, John was stoic, and Keith was a manic surrounded by enormous fans blowing air to keep him from passing out.
As Bill Graham said in his introduction that night:
“Please welcome the greatest rock n’ roll band”
Living in SF in the early to mid 70’s it seems I went to a concert every week, sometimes 2. I saw most all the greats of the day at Winterland. And The Who at Winterland was by far the greatest single performance I’ve ever seen…to this day. I lost out on the lottery and I was desperate to get a ticket when my kid brother, who was a freshman in high school, told me about a kid at school who won 2 tickets from the local radio station. I think it was KFRC. My brother secured the tickets for me and as his reward I took him to his 1st Rock N Roll show ever. To this day I don’t know a bigger Who fan than my brother. Can you imagine? Your 1st rock show ever being The Who…at their best? Thank you bro. I’ll never forget the night and I am forever grateful.
I went with a friend who sent in requests for twenty tickets and didn’t realize it was a lottery in a comparatively small venue to make up for the aborted 1973 show at the Cow Palace in SF. She somehow ended up getting about sixteen tickets and sold me one if I would help her scalp the remaining tickets outside Winterland.
Never scalped tickets before and it was so nerve-wracking, I never did again. Got kinda scary when buyers on the sidewalk figured out that we had a lot of tickets to sell.
What I remember about this show was that somehow one of my brother’s friends at Stanford (I was visiting from Oregon)knew someone that had scored some tickets and wanted to know if I wanted to go. Ah…YES. So, we get up there around 3 or so and start hanging around waiting so we can be first in. Eventually, after quite a wait we rush in, buy these gigantic chocolate cookies and sit on the floor in front of the stage. The first band comes on and is horrible with just a wall of noise pushing out. What is with the Who and their shitty warm up bands? I think they did that for the juxtaposition of what would follow. Then it began. Simply the greatest show I’ve ever witnessed. It was crazy how tight they were. At one point Roger got pissed about something and threw his mike at Pete who just ducked as it flew into a speaker on his left. No lyrics or notes were missed as a roadie had a mike in Roger’s hands immediately. Of course Moon with his nailed down drums and Pete were at it with each other seeing who would outdo the other. It was Powerful,Loud and Relentless. The end was remarkable as well when they finished with Won’t Get Fooled Again. The lights went on with the only notable thing was some roses being thrown on stage. There was some clapping and yelling but nothing sustained. Encore? No. Why bother? It was just DONE. They literally blew the audience away. Seen hundreds of concerts, but this one was a religious experience.
Was there with friends. Magic was in the air. Was also @ ’74 Van Morrison show – If you can imagine I remember loving Van over Who
2 different shows to be sure. Soul vs. Rock . Saw Who @ day on the Green same day as the G.Dead played too they combined equipment on stage. Extremely Loud full tilt. Both Who shows Keith was alive and pensive. The Who were vintage Good. But Van Morrison PLAYED
Winterland; something really special happened there; see videos!
Can’t remember which show I was at, but was able to get in the middle of the floor about 15 standing people from the stage and at 6’2″. Notable were how well Squeeze Box and Dreaming from the Waist held up against all the better know songs. Every song fantastic. Pete hada couple shot glasses on top of his amp and noted he had bloody fingers and went over and dipped his fingers in what one supposes was alcohol of some variety. And Roger leapt up on a monitor at one point and slipped, hitting the back of his head very hard as he fell. They rushed him offstage holding the back of his head and you could see them working on him with a towel. Pete and John kept looking over, while they continued the jam for what seemed like 8-10 min. Pete even looked over, and then looked at the audience then shrugged as if to say, “I have no idea if he’s coming back or not.” Suddenly Roger ran onto the stage with a mic and screamed something to end the song. Without a word they went right into the next one, with Keith laughing his head off.
I was at the first night right in front on the rail. Took a lot of great pictures. My BFF caught Keith’s drumstick as he jumped onto the kick drum knocking it over. What I don’t remember is who led them in. Some say Nils Lofgren but I don’t remember that. I remember someone named Steve with longish black hair in leather.
Drove to Anaheim to see the WHO at the Big A(where the angels play) on Sunday march 21 1976.
Serious pushing and shoving going on throughout the entire show.
Very uncomfortable and dangerous..
I had tickets for the next Saturday march 27 Winterland show and decided I was going to do whatever I had to do to avoid getting caught in that situation again..
I wanted to assure my safety and comfort so I could really enjoy what I knew was going to be another incredible event.
So I drove back to the bay area that night and when I got home early Monday morning, I started packing up everything I was going to need to survive a few nights sleeping on the corner of Post and Steiner and in the very early morning hours of Wednesday march 24 1976 I drove by myself to Winterland arena for the Saturday night March 27th show.
When I got there no one was there yet and so I set up camp and for the next 4 days and 3 nights that was home..
By the time Saturday rolled around there was very long line behind me.
Sometime around noon while doing his last minute rounds Bill Graham came over and asked me how long id been in line, when I told him I’d been there since Wednesday morning 1:00 am he immediately waved over to Willy his main man and instructed him to let me in a full hour before scheduled door opening and sure to his word I was allowed to enter the arena an hour before anyone else.
No one was inside but a few stage hands and concessions..
I took a piss and plopped myself down dead center against the stage and didn’t leave till the show was over and dust had cleared.
It was like seeing them in my living room just me and them. EXTREMELY PROFOUND AND LIFE CHANGING..
Flash forward 34 yrs. to summer 2010 while randomly surfing concert shots on line i stumbled onto several pics from that show and BINGO!!!! There I was looking directly into someones camera Lense who was sitting upper balcony .
I FOUND ALMOST A DOZEN VERY CLEAR PICS OF ME AND THE BAND IN CLOSE PROXIMITY .
Drove down to SF / Winterland from Chico State with a group of buds. Waiting in line outside we talked a security guard into letting us cuff him… he forgot his key !
Inside was just wild. People cramed so tight (just 2 heads back from the stage) Roger swinging his mic right over our heads. I have great pics I took and my original ticket stub ! Phenomenal concert !
Drove down to SF / Winterland from Chico State with a group of buds. Waiting in line outside we talked a security guard into letting us cuff him… he forgot his key !
Inside was just wild. People cramed so tight (just 2 heads back from the stage) Roger swinging his mic right over our heads. Music was cranked. I still have great original pics I took and my original ticket stub
! Phenomenal concert !
After catching the Tommy album tour (think Live At Leeds), in San Diego, I was sold. The organizer came on and said, the Fire Marshall has said its okay if we keep playing. As long as you and the band are fine with it, we’ll keep going. 5 encores later, the who finally came out in locked arms and bowed. Pete said, we’d love to keep playing for you, but we just don’t know any more. Incredible.
6 years on, when there was a lottery for their show at Winterland, where shows were intimate, and Bill Graham was generally in the house. I put in and good God Almighty, I was chosen. Amazing, again.
The Who were so tight, they played their asses off. I saw the set list and one song is missing. Slip Kid. Maybe they didn’t play it both nights. In and amongst all their meaty beaty big and bouncy offerings that night, that song reigned supreme. Big wow.
All of the great bands of the day paled in comparison when talking about pure excitement. We’re still talking about it, nearly 50 years later.
These two shows were “make up” shows that they promised to do when Keith passed out at the Cow Palace in I think ’72, anyway, Winterland was an ice skating rink and held only 5000 for concerts with a balcony all the way around. Tickets were sold on a lottery basis: we had to send in a cashiers check via an envelope and a drawing would determine who got tickets. Two tix per envelope. So the drawing would select 5000 envelopes: 2500 for Sat nite and 2500 for Sun nite. 2500 X 2 = 5000 per show. Well, approx 110,000 envelopes were mailed in! You see, then, to see The WHO in such a small, intimate place was BIG !!! I sent in 6 and fucking A, I got three back! Two for Sat and one for Sun. I saw both! To this day, those two shows rank in my top 5, joining the likes of The Wall(1980 in the LA Sports Arena) and Led Zeppelin (1977 LA Forum). Winterland – The Who 1976 – the BEST I’ve ever had! Ha!
I became a lifelong Who fan after those two Winterland shows. Yes, I remember the lottery. We were lucky and four of us saw them both nights in Winterland. The Who were so much louder in those days, and we were only a few people deep from the stage. I had to wear ear plugs the second night because my ears were still ringing. Pete was leaping all over, Roger sounded magnificent, John was stoic, and Keith was a manic surrounded by enormous fans blowing air to keep him from passing out.
As Bill Graham said in his introduction that night:
“Please welcome the greatest rock n’ roll band”
Living in SF in the early to mid 70’s it seems I went to a concert every week, sometimes 2. I saw most all the greats of the day at Winterland. And The Who at Winterland was by far the greatest single performance I’ve ever seen…to this day. I lost out on the lottery and I was desperate to get a ticket when my kid brother, who was a freshman in high school, told me about a kid at school who won 2 tickets from the local radio station. I think it was KFRC. My brother secured the tickets for me and as his reward I took him to his 1st Rock N Roll show ever. To this day I don’t know a bigger Who fan than my brother. Can you imagine? Your 1st rock show ever being The Who…at their best? Thank you bro. I’ll never forget the night and I am forever grateful.
I went with a friend who sent in requests for twenty tickets and didn’t realize it was a lottery in a comparatively small venue to make up for the aborted 1973 show at the Cow Palace in SF. She somehow ended up getting about sixteen tickets and sold me one if I would help her scalp the remaining tickets outside Winterland.
Never scalped tickets before and it was so nerve-wracking, I never did again. Got kinda scary when buyers on the sidewalk figured out that we had a lot of tickets to sell.
What I remember about this show was that somehow one of my brother’s friends at Stanford (I was visiting from Oregon)knew someone that had scored some tickets and wanted to know if I wanted to go. Ah…YES. So, we get up there around 3 or so and start hanging around waiting so we can be first in. Eventually, after quite a wait we rush in, buy these gigantic chocolate cookies and sit on the floor in front of the stage. The first band comes on and is horrible with just a wall of noise pushing out. What is with the Who and their shitty warm up bands? I think they did that for the juxtaposition of what would follow. Then it began. Simply the greatest show I’ve ever witnessed. It was crazy how tight they were. At one point Roger got pissed about something and threw his mike at Pete who just ducked as it flew into a speaker on his left. No lyrics or notes were missed as a roadie had a mike in Roger’s hands immediately. Of course Moon with his nailed down drums and Pete were at it with each other seeing who would outdo the other. It was Powerful,Loud and Relentless. The end was remarkable as well when they finished with Won’t Get Fooled Again. The lights went on with the only notable thing was some roses being thrown on stage. There was some clapping and yelling but nothing sustained. Encore? No. Why bother? It was just DONE. They literally blew the audience away. Seen hundreds of concerts, but this one was a religious experience.
Was there with friends. Magic was in the air. Was also @ ’74 Van Morrison show – If you can imagine I remember loving Van over Who
2 different shows to be sure. Soul vs. Rock . Saw Who @ day on the Green same day as the G.Dead played too they combined equipment on stage. Extremely Loud full tilt. Both Who shows Keith was alive and pensive. The Who were vintage Good. But Van Morrison PLAYED
Winterland; something really special happened there; see videos!
Can’t remember which show I was at, but was able to get in the middle of the floor about 15 standing people from the stage and at 6’2″. Notable were how well Squeeze Box and Dreaming from the Waist held up against all the better know songs. Every song fantastic. Pete hada couple shot glasses on top of his amp and noted he had bloody fingers and went over and dipped his fingers in what one supposes was alcohol of some variety. And Roger leapt up on a monitor at one point and slipped, hitting the back of his head very hard as he fell. They rushed him offstage holding the back of his head and you could see them working on him with a towel. Pete and John kept looking over, while they continued the jam for what seemed like 8-10 min. Pete even looked over, and then looked at the audience then shrugged as if to say, “I have no idea if he’s coming back or not.” Suddenly Roger ran onto the stage with a mic and screamed something to end the song. Without a word they went right into the next one, with Keith laughing his head off.
I was at the first night right in front on the rail. Took a lot of great pictures. My BFF caught Keith’s drumstick as he jumped onto the kick drum knocking it over. What I don’t remember is who led them in. Some say Nils Lofgren but I don’t remember that. I remember someone named Steve with longish black hair in leather.
Drove to Anaheim to see the WHO at the Big A(where the angels play) on Sunday march 21 1976.
Serious pushing and shoving going on throughout the entire show.
Very uncomfortable and dangerous..
I had tickets for the next Saturday march 27 Winterland show and decided I was going to do whatever I had to do to avoid getting caught in that situation again..
I wanted to assure my safety and comfort so I could really enjoy what I knew was going to be another incredible event.
So I drove back to the bay area that night and when I got home early Monday morning, I started packing up everything I was going to need to survive a few nights sleeping on the corner of Post and Steiner and in the very early morning hours of Wednesday march 24 1976 I drove by myself to Winterland arena for the Saturday night March 27th show.
When I got there no one was there yet and so I set up camp and for the next 4 days and 3 nights that was home..
By the time Saturday rolled around there was very long line behind me.
Sometime around noon while doing his last minute rounds Bill Graham came over and asked me how long id been in line, when I told him I’d been there since Wednesday morning 1:00 am he immediately waved over to Willy his main man and instructed him to let me in a full hour before scheduled door opening and sure to his word I was allowed to enter the arena an hour before anyone else.
No one was inside but a few stage hands and concessions..
I took a piss and plopped myself down dead center against the stage and didn’t leave till the show was over and dust had cleared.
It was like seeing them in my living room just me and them. EXTREMELY PROFOUND AND LIFE CHANGING..
Flash forward 34 yrs. to summer 2010 while randomly surfing concert shots on line i stumbled onto several pics from that show and BINGO!!!! There I was looking directly into someones camera Lense who was sitting upper balcony .
I FOUND ALMOST A DOZEN VERY CLEAR PICS OF ME AND THE BAND IN CLOSE PROXIMITY .
A great story, Daniel! Thanks for posting it.
Drove down to SF / Winterland from Chico State with a group of buds. Waiting in line outside we talked a security guard into letting us cuff him… he forgot his key !
Inside was just wild. People cramed so tight (just 2 heads back from the stage) Roger swinging his mic right over our heads. I have great pics I took and my original ticket stub ! Phenomenal concert !
Drove down to SF / Winterland from Chico State with a group of buds. Waiting in line outside we talked a security guard into letting us cuff him… he forgot his key !
Inside was just wild. People cramed so tight (just 2 heads back from the stage) Roger swinging his mic right over our heads. Music was cranked. I still have great original pics I took and my original ticket stub
! Phenomenal concert !
After catching the Tommy album tour (think Live At Leeds), in San Diego, I was sold. The organizer came on and said, the Fire Marshall has said its okay if we keep playing. As long as you and the band are fine with it, we’ll keep going. 5 encores later, the who finally came out in locked arms and bowed. Pete said, we’d love to keep playing for you, but we just don’t know any more. Incredible.
6 years on, when there was a lottery for their show at Winterland, where shows were intimate, and Bill Graham was generally in the house. I put in and good God Almighty, I was chosen. Amazing, again.
The Who were so tight, they played their asses off. I saw the set list and one song is missing. Slip Kid. Maybe they didn’t play it both nights. In and amongst all their meaty beaty big and bouncy offerings that night, that song reigned supreme. Big wow.
All of the great bands of the day paled in comparison when talking about pure excitement. We’re still talking about it, nearly 50 years later.