The Who Happy Jack Monterey Pop Festival

[rundstedt13]

I see all the comments. I think the reason people talk about the issue of The Who vs. Jimi at Monterey is primarily because Pete Townsend made such a baby of himself to vie for what he perceived as the headliner act in terms of the show, but i think the bigger picture was that he knew that from a strict guitar playing talent measure, he was outclassed, albeit a completely different style of playing, but outclassed nonetheless. It was Jimi who impressed the world at Monterey, not Townsend.

[ilikeblondie]

I heard that Pete Townshend had lost his hearing the last time they played. So they changed it from The Who to HUH? jk ha. :P

[thecarlfia56]

For the record Hendrix blew The Who away opening for them in England, BEFORE Monterey, where he blew them away as well.

[fuzzy45042]

@thecarlfia56 The Who blew Hendrix away at Woodstock in 69 and at The Isle of Wight 1n 1970 Hendrix was just another stoned guitar player by then and Pete went on to play GREAT guitar and is still playing great guitar to this day!!!

[flaxonx3]

@fuzzy45042 Hendrix was just feeling his way on the scene in 1967 at Monterey and still stole the show. Far from being 'another stoned guitar player' at Woodstock & the IOW, he was on another level which as much as I like The Who, Townshend could never hope to reach. Hendrix set the benchmark with those live performances of Star Spangled Banner & Machine Gun that top players to this day still aspire to.

[FuzztoneProductions]

Bad performance by the Who, especially A Quick One While He's Away. There's an amazing performance of the song on Rolling Stones' Rock n Roll Circus in 1968, just search it.

[truegangsteroflove]

Wow! Arguments about the Who and Jimi Hendrix. One would think that people have better ways of spending their time. Rock and Roll is not a contest. It is an experience, to coin a phrase. Rather than wasting one's time and energy with snarky arguments, one, or many, could actually try making some music. I'm sure the greats of past and present don't sit around arguing about their place in Rock history.

[nickmarkham69]

@truegangsteroflove Well said !! I really get tired of dumb comments... you would think these people get paid for defending The Who or Hendrix the way they bang on about them... who cares ???

[kyolym]

@truegangsteroflove well said

[baronvonbrock]

I didn't read many other comments, Fender 76-but this is great live version-perfect example of Keith playing "lead" with his mate Pete.....good vox, too!!!!

[baronvonbrock]

I agree with you Fender

[Fender1976uk]

Some people here are talking UTTER CRAP!! get your facts right!! and ALL members of the WHO were needed to get the WHO SOUND!! makes me laugh when people say if only a better player here and there came in?? WHATEVER!! get over your 'mr know it all' ego

[TheBigjohn527]

@Fender1976uk agreed,everyone chill out!!! enjoy the music!!!! all that matters,really!!!

[lennonisgod576]

the are let down by pete if a better guitar player was at the helm then you could compare the two bands

[SizzlingPoop]

The Who was NOT better than Hendrix that day. I'm a huge Who fan, but they got upstaged and even they'll admit it.

[SizzlingPoop]

The Who: Played awfully.

Jimi: Didn't.

[Monterey2am]

@SizzlingPoop You are mental.

...and wrong.

[yrrebhsuk]

you know the who were the band that actually got marshall to stack amps right?

[crlaw75]

Right. The first stacks were eight speakers in two cabinets joined together. The roadies complained of bad backs, so they told Marshall to cut them in half. The Marshall 4x12 cabinets are what you see today. They also used bi-amping, running one signal to one amp stack and the second signal to the other amp stack.

[sk8erguy011]

i cant believe you think they did better than the experience......but everyone has their own opinion.

[ReeferRevolution]

at 1:22 petes guitar cables becomes unplugged and that fucks up the performance too.

[PanchoCachimbas]

Nice!!! PEACE AND LOVE FROM MÉXICO!!!!

[ShadowOfADoubt9]

"Ah, I saw ya".

lol Everytime I listen to this song I turn it up at the end to hear that part, so the fact that he said it here is hilarious. XD

[Goyokiki]

Better than Hendrix? who is this guy? Why compare?

[jonnyasprin]

sounded like a technical oopsie at 1:23

[ReeferRevolution]

the who had better performance's than monterey, i wouldnt say its better than hendrix's

[LordSupro]

Agreed. This is actually one of the worst Who performances because Pete was playing through those god awful solid state Vox Super Beatle amps. Notice how thin and crappy his tone is compared to his work in England when he was using his Hiwatts. It's like a night and day comparison.

Hendrix stole this show and rightfully so.

[crlaw75]

I agree. The '66 Beatles tour had the support groups using the Super Beatle amps and said things were always going wrong with them. The amps were made by Thomas Organ and badged as Vox. The Who should have brought their Sound Citys and Premiers, but Chris Stamp signed a contract with Thomas Organ (Vox) for them to use these amps since they could not afford to bring their own equipment over. They could have used Fender amps, since Pete loved them.

[LordSupro]

Speaking of these Super Beatles, I ran into a guy whose father used to do servicing for Thomas Organ. He flat out said that the Super Beatles were amongst the worst amps he has ever worked on. Absolute garbage circuit with so many failures in the field. Even the cabinets were junk because they're made with particle board. The one thing they really had going for them was their look. They're some of the most impressive looking amps ever made, but they're just shells which is a shame.

[crlaw75]

Pete even said so about the particle board. He even chopped his guitar through one and it fell into two pieces.

[mikuz007]

@LordSupro for me this is the best of the who

[crlaw75]

@LordSupro, in '67, Pete and John were using Sound City amps, which later became Hiwatt.

[SEANFIR]

@crlaw75 They were using those amps in britian, as well as mashall amps... BUT when they came to the states they were provided back lines by the concert providers... and he is RIGHT, there were a couple of FENDER DUAL SHOWMAN amps and a couple SUPER BEATLE amps... check the actual footage at the end of my generation from the movie. they were crappy thomas organ voxes... for reals

[crlaw75]

@SEANFIR, I have a book about this festival and said that the concert promoter provided every band with a new set of Fender amps. As far as I know, The Who had to use those Super Beatles under contract by Chris Stamp and Hendrix afforded to bring the Marshall amps.

[nkmcfrln]

@crlaw75 You don't know what you're talking about: John and Pete did not use any brand of amplifier exclusively in 1967 or any other year and Sound City did not become Hiwatt.

[crlaw75]

@nkmcfrln, I know what I am talking about. Accoriding to the WhoTabs site, John started using them in early '67 and Pete in May '67. Watch the performance of them at The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus and you will see that Sound City later transformed into Hiwatt.

[nkmcfrln]

@crlaw75 I've have no knowledge of The Rolling Stones Rock N' Roll Circus. You might want to take a look at my YouTube icon. Your head is so far up your ass thinking that John and Pete ever used any brand of amplifier exclusively at any time. If you're just getting into The Who you have an excuse. The relationship between Pete, John and Jim Marshall and how John and Pete ended up across the street at Sound City is a long story.

[crlaw75]

@nkmcfrln, I have been a Who fan for a long time. End of story.

[nkmcfrln]

@crlaw75 Then you don't have an excuse: You're head is thick and you can't make distinctions! You've been a Who fan for a long time and you don't understand basic things about them like the amount of gear they're responsible for and how much gear they went through. Dave Reeves started Hiwatt and Hylight Electronics in 1966. The first Hiwatt was a Sound City SL100 modified by Dave Reeves. Sound City and Hiwatt are two separate companies. Your head is always going to be up your ass! End of story.

[crlaw75]

@nkmcfrln, I do not appreciate comments like that. What I do know is that Pete and John went to Sound City because of an invoice they knew was already paid and according to Jim Marsall's store, it wasn't.

[nkmcfrln]

@crlaw75 Yeah, it was Jim Marshalls' son who insisted that invoice wasn't paid. If somebody tells me I'm wrong about something I look into it if I'm not positive and if I'm wrong I thank the person for the heads up! I did exactly that last week. I said you didn't know what you were talking about and you insisted that you did. I told you if you believe what you're saying is correct then your heads up your ass. You were wrong and you're a big suck!

[nkmcfrln]

@crlaw75 Shortly after John and Pete switched to Sound City,  they approached Dallas Arbiter (which belonged to Sound City) asking them to do some modifications to their amps and were refused. Dave Reeves, who was contracted by Sound City in order to raise capital for his company Hylight Electronics, agreed to do the modifications and that resulted in the first Hiwatt, which was the DR103. Sound City did not become Hiwatt, just like I told you.

[nkmcfrln]

@LordSupro The brand Hiwatt didn't exist until 1968, so WTF do you mean when you say "compared to his work in England when he was using his Hiwatts"? He didn't have any Hiwatts or SG's waiting for him in England at the time of this performance. The Who used the VSB's and other rented gear for their first American tours, so I guess that means The Smothers Brothers and every other gig on this tour also amounts to The Whos' worst. The Strat's just might have had something to do with the tone also.

[CarterBoyy227]

I don't see the need to say who is better. There both fucking great, and both with different styles. Just enjoy it all, they would probably want it that way anyways.

[Blutz999]

Better than Hendrix?? Nice to know there are still clueless people out there! Thanks!

[TheOdderOne]

You should probably watch Monterey Pop again.

[mutterschied]

Who are Who. Nobody can compare.

[cowpalace95]

It's not as rare as you would think you can get it on the monterey pop festival box set it has all of the who's set

[jeenyusaut]

@cowpalace95

also on "30 Years of Maximum R&B"

[Hady1994]

wow this must be quite rare where u getting these recordings from?

[cowpalace95]

It just shows not even someone as great as Hendrix could top The Who

[dowsemeister]

@cowpalace95 He did top the Who.

[Swesuburan2]

Oh, Hendrix was miles behind of The Who's performance at Monterey. Some numbers were a little off, but all in all they showed who's the best.

[crlaw75]

In volume that is.