The Who Tour 1972

The Who Tour 1972

Tour by The Who
Associated album	"Who's Next"
Start date	11 August 1972
End date	14 September 1972
Legs	1
Number of shows	16
The Who concert chronology

The Who Tour 1972 was The Who's European concert tour supporting the Who's Next album.

History

After the tours supporting Who's Next in the United States and the United Kingdom the previous year, the band did a mini-tour of Europe after recording a few tracks for an album that was ultimately not released, although the material would eventually see the light via singles and compilations. Recording sessions for the aborted LP produced material such as "The Relay" and "Long Live Rock", both which would appear in the group's 1972 stage show, the latter becoming one of their anthems after memorably appearing during the The Kids Are Alright film credits and on the soundtrack. Additionally, Pete Townshend sang lines from "However Much I Booze" during a jam in "My Generation" during the second show in Copenhagen,^[1] three years before its release on The Who By Numbers; the obscure B-side "Wasp Man" was also referenced lyrically in the same manner during the concert in Brussels. Apart from the new songs, the set list was similar to what was played during the second tour of the United States in November–December 1971, the notable difference being a curtailed Tommy segment that only included "Pinball Wizard" and "See Me, Feel Me". The set was still structured to feature a generous selection from Who's Next.

Although they had performed a great deal the previous year, the five-week European tour would be the band's only live appearances in 1972 and they would not tour again until October 1973 after recording Quadrophenia.

Live releases

Live material from 1972 has appeared on the following:

• "Magic Bus" on View from a Backstage Pass is from one of these shows (the exact date is unconfirmed; though some point it to be 23 August). It was mislabelled on the album as being from 9 June 1970 at the Mammoth Gardens in Denver, Colorado.

Tour band

• Roger Daltrey – lead vocals, tambourine, harmonica
• Pete Townshend – lead guitar, tambourine, vocals
• John Entwistle – bass guitar, vocals
• Keith Moon – drums, percussion, vocals

Typical set lists

The Who live in Hamburg; 12 August 1972.

The tour began on 11 August 1972 at the Festhalle Frankfurt in Frankfurt, Germany and ended on 14 September 1972 at the Palasport in Rome, Italy.

The concert on 25 August 1972 at the K.B. Hallen in Copenhagen, Denmark was originally scheduled for 22 August, but had to be postponed three days to create more time to move the group's equipment to Sweden for the concert on 23 August in Stockholm, Sweden.^[2][3]

The 1972 set lists here did not differ much from those of the previous year, with the notable omissions of "Substitute", the "Overture", and "Amazing Journey", while "Baby Don't You Do It" and "Sparks" only appeared sporadically. Here is a fairly typical set list from this tour (all songs written by Pete Townshend unless stated otherwise).

1. "I Can't Explain"
2. "Summertime Blues" (Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capehart)
3. "My Wife" (John Entwistle)
4. "Baba O'Riley"
5. "Behind Blue Eyes"
6. "Bargain"
7. "Won't Get Fooled Again"
8. "Magic Bus"
9. "The Relay"
10. "Pinball Wizard"
11. "See Me, Feel Me"
12. "My Generation"
13. "Naked Eye"
14. "Long Live Rock" (played most nights)

Encores (only one, at the Ernst-Merck Halle in Hamburg, Germany on 12 August 1972):

• "Daddy Rolling Stone" (Otis Blackwell)
  • Performed on 12 August.
• "Sparks"
  • Performed on 12, 16 (not as encore) and 21 August (not as encore).

There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour. "Shakin' All Over" and "Baby Don't You Do It" were played just twice each. Some other songs were played which are not in the above lists:

• "Shakin' All Over" (Johnny Kidd)
  • Performed on 12 and 16 August.
• "Baby Don't You Do It" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
  • Performed on 11 August and 5 September.
• "Waspman" (Keith Moon)
  • Performed on 16 August.
• "However Much I Booze"
  • Performed on 25 August.
• "Going Down" (Don Nix)
  • Performed on 5 September.
• "All Right Now" (Andy Fraser, Paul Rodgers)
  • Performed on 14 September. Unverified.

Tour dates

See also

• List of The Who tours and performances

References

External links

• The Who Online Concert Guide