The Who Tour of 1967 began in March, it was their first trip to North America. The first concert was part of a Murray the K Rock and Roll Festival at the Fox Theatre in Brooklyn, New York. The highlights of this tour were their six-song set at the Monterey Pop Festival and an appearance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. As this was their first North American tour, before they gained enormous fame at Woodstock, they played a lot of smaller venues such as this High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
The Scotch Plains show sold out with a crowd announced at 2,200 people. Tickets were sold for a $2.50 “donation.” After an opening set by a local band, The Decays, the Who played early well known songs such as “The Kids Are Alright” and “My Generation” and then went into new songs from their forthcoming album The Who Sell Oat.
Dave Goessling was a 15-year-old sophomore at the Delbarton School in Morristown and living in Mendham when he attended the show during the group’s two-week tour of the United States. “My buddies and I had a band and we were rabid Who fans,” he told NJ.com. “We pretty much tried to learn every song they did. Like lots of musicians, we were totally into their gear at the show.”
Onstage at the Union Catholic concert, Goessling remembered The Who added visual theatrics to their music. Lead singer Roger Daltrey twirled his microphone like a lariat. Keith Moon was a whirling dervish on the drums, his limbs constantly in motion, and Townshend played his guitar with a windmilling right arm. The show climaxed with Moon knocking over his drum kit and Townshend smashing his black Coral Hornet guitar.
In 2020, new backstage photos from the Who concert at Union Catholic uncovered. Author Michael Rosenbloom of “When Stars Were in Reach” revealed on his blog, “A little over a year ago I received a Facebook message from a gentleman named Todd McCartney saying that his mother, who passed away in 2016, had attended the Who concert at Union Catholic High School in 1967 and even saved photos from the show she herself had photographed ...”
“Fast forward to September of this year, I received another message from Todd notifying me that he found the photos. Todd was gracious enough to send me copies of eleven color photos of the Who from November 29, 1967 at Union Catholic High School and to allow me to share them with my readers. Ten of the eleven were taken backstage in the teachers’ lounge and one on the UC stage ... I spoke with Todd recently to get the background behind the photos. Who was Todd’s mother and why and how did she get backstage? Todd’s mother was Joan McCartney. On November 29, 1967 she was known as Joan Hadley. She was a UC alumnus having graduated the previous June, i.e. June of 1967. But how did she get backstage?”
According to Rosenbloom, after graduating Union Catholic, Joan entered Union College in the fall of 1967. She was an avid writer and landed a job on the Union College newspaper. She obtained press credentials to cover the Who concert for the paper. The photos themselves are a thing of beauty, capturing the band in the most informal of settings, relaxing backstage in the teachers’ lounge. These are the only color photos that were taken in the dressing room.
(All photos which were photographed by Joan McCartney are courtesy of Todd McCartney, via Michael Rosenbloom’s blog)
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