Scott Halpin

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Scott Halpin enjoyed fifteen minutes of fame – quite literally – on November 20, 1973. The Who were opening their “Quadrophenia” concert tour at the Cow Palace in suburban San Francisco, and Halpin, a 19-year-old who’d recently moved to the area from Muscatine, Iowa, was there with a friend and the tickets they’d scalped. They arrived to the show thirteen hours early so as to get good seats.¹

The Who opened the show with three of their earlier hits before launching into material from “Quadrophenia,” playing eleven of the album’s seventeen songs. Immediately afterwards, things began to get interesting onstage. Drummer Keith Moon, whose fondness for drugs and alcohol was legendary, began to falter during the next song, “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” slumping over his drum set and passing out. As the house lights went up, Moon was carried offstage by roadies, who placed him in a shower in an attempt to revive him. Their efforts worked, and Moon, after a delay of roughly thirty minutes, proclaimed himself fit enough to rejoin the show.

“Magic Bus” was next; the percussion of the song’s opening verses consisted only of Moon hitting two wooden blocks against one another. However, when it came time for Moon to play the actual drums, he again passed out face-forward into his drum set. Again, he was carried off – this time, not to return (guitarist Pete Townshend later said in an interview that Moon had consumed a large tranquilizer pill, meant to be shot at animals, with a large volume of brandy).⁹

The remaining three bandmembers, frustrated, briefly began ad-libbing, then played a drumless “See Me, Feel Me,” with vocalist Roger Daltrey adding a tambourine for percussion. The song received a huge response, and Townshend thanked the crowd for putting up with a three-quarter-strength band. Instead of leaving the stage, though, Pete asked the crowd, “Can anybody play the drums?” He repeated the question, adding forcefully, “I mean someone good!”³

At this time, Halpin and his friend were at the left edge of the stage, and his friend began noisily telling the security staff, “He can play!” In truth, Halpin hadn’t played in a year, but his friend had made such a commotion that he’d attracted the concert’s promoter, Bill Graham. "[Graham] just looked at me and said, ‘Can you do it?’ And I said “Yes,” straight out. Townshend and Daltrey look around and they're as surprised as I am, because Graham put me up there." ^{4, 5}

Halpin was given a shot of brandy for his nerves before sitting at his first drumset since leaving Iowa. “Then I got really focused, and Townshend said to me, ‘I'm going to lead you. I'm going to cue you.’”⁶

Townshend introduced him as “Scott,” and went straight into the riff of “Smokestack Lightning.” This was a very loose blues jam, Halpin's drum work fitting in well enough, and it shortly became “Spoonful.”. Less successful, however, was his contribution to the more complex “Naked Eye,” and he failed to provide the contrasting tempi despite Pete attempting to give him instructions. Halpin didn't look at all flustered, though, and established a steady beat throughout. The show ended after “Naked Eye,” and Halpin took a center-stage bow with Daltrey, Townshend, and bassist John Entwistle. Afterwards, he was taken backstage (with his friend) and given a Who concert jacket.

In later interviews, Daltrey praised Halpin's ability, claiming that the "papers missed it". Interviewed by Rolling Stone, Halpin credited The Who's stamina, admitting “I only played three numbers and I was dead.”⁷

Halpin now lives in Bloomington, Indiana, with his wife and child.⁸

[edit] References

¹ Interview with National Public Radio, February 18, 2006

² Sam Whiting, "Who's Drummer?" San Francisco Examiner, October 17, 1996

³ Audio from performance bootleg

⁴ Joe McMichael and Jack Lyons, "The Who Concert File," January 1998 -- transcribed at http://www.quadrophenia.net/1973tour/us.html

⁵ NPR interview

⁶ McMichael and Lyons

⁷ Rolling Stone, January 4, 1974

⁸ NPR interview

⁹ Rolling Stone, July 14, 1979