Saturday, July 8, 2017

The Who - Young Man Blues, Isle of Wight 1970



Disclaimer: This is the music in my head. It happens to all of us, it’s a scientific fact: the music that hits us when we are young becomes our music forever. There were bands in later years that were arguably as “good” as the Who and Cream, but that will never matter much to those of us who lived our teens and early twenties in the 1960s. Those bands are our bands.

This 1970 Isle of Wight show is the Who at the height of their power. They are still playing with the ferocious Banzai Charge attitude of their earlier shows, but by this time they are presenting their songs with a slightly greater acknowledgment of the niceties of technical proficiency.


“Slightly greater . . .” For Keith Moon, the acknowledgment is the slightest of them all. Here, as always, technique and timekeeping take a back seat to fun, excitement, and propelling the music forward at maximum volume. 

No comments: