just got this email
Hot Tickets Alert!
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Tickets for The Who - Live At Leeds Again & guests are now on sale on
www.leedstickets.com/The Who - Live At Leeds Again
& guests
17th June 2006, 7.30pm
£37.50 (stbf)
Thirty-six years after the Who recorded their seminal album – Live at Leeds –
the band will again take the stage at the University of Leeds’ legendary
Refectory venue, it was announced today. The Who will return to play at the
Refectory on Saturday, 17 June. Doors will open at 7pm and the band will be
supported by mod rockers Casbah Club, featuring Pete Townshend’s younger
brother, Simon, as guitarist and vocalist.
Released in 1970, Live at Leeds is still the definitive live rock album and has
just been voted ‘greatest live album of all time’ by Q Magazine. Students queued
for hours to get tickets for the three-hour concert on 14 February 1970 and many
who failed took to the roof of the building that evening to hear and feel the
music.
The seeds for the Who’s 2006 return were sown in a conversation between
University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Michael Arthur and former Leeds University
ents secretary and BBC Radio 3 presenter, Andy Kershaw, when Andy came to Leeds
last year to accept an honorary degree. As they stood on the Refectory stage
after the graduation, Professor Arthur told him of plans to celebrate the venue
and commemorate the historic concert with a blue plaque.
Andy Kershaw said: “By sheer coincidence, just two weeks after speaking to
Professor Arthur in Leeds about their plans, I met the band’s manager Bill
Curbishley backstage at WOMAD. I told Bill I thought it would be great if we got
some members of the band to unveil the plaque. Then I said, ‘and while they’re
there….’ Bill finished my sentence: ‘they’ll do it’, he said. And so the idea of
a concert began.
“With the band deciding on a world tour in 2006, everything fell into place.
What better place to start the tour than the venue which cemented The Who’s
reputation as the best live rock band of their time?”
Professor Arthur said: “Leeds has had its Nobel prize-winners and other eminent
academic achievements, but the Live at Leeds concert by the Who is an equally
important part of the University’s history. It’s a real tribute to the
Refectory’s reputation that this legendary event is to be marked with a repeat
performance.”
A Civic Trust plaque commemorating the historic concert and venue will be
unveiled on June 17 – more details to follow.
Sir Peter Blake is also creating a new artwork to celebrate the return Live At
Leeds concert by The Who. Peter Blake was the art director for The Who’s Face
Dances album which is included in the Sir Peter Blake Music Art Gallery at the
University’s School of Music. This unique collection also includes Sergeant
Pepper, Live Aid and all of Peter Blake’s other key music art. The Live At Leeds
2 artwork will be added to the gallery collection at Leeds, as will Peter’s
recent Live 8 artwork.
Pete Townshend is a longstanding friend of Peter Blake and an admirer of his
art. Peter Blake is a life-long fan of The Who and he will be in the audience
for the landmark concert at Leeds on June 17.
Tickets are limited and go on sale to the general public in Leeds University
Union (CTS) on the University campus on June 9 at 9am on a first come, first
served basis, with a maximum of two per person (no telephone bookings).Tickets
cost £37.50 plus £1.50 booking fee for card purchases – no fee for cash
bookings.
For more information, contact University of Leeds Director of Media Relations,
Vanessa Bridge on 0113 343 4030
Live at Leeds cemented the Refectory’s reputation as the most celebrated
university music venue in the country, which continues to this day. It boasts an
incredible roll-call down the generations from Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones,
Pink Floyd, the Kinks and Black Sabbath to Elton John, Queen, Roxy Music, Bob
Marley, Santana, AC/DC, the Clash, the Jam, Ian Dury, Motorhead, the Pretenders,
UB40, Simple Minds, the Stranglers, the Smiths, James Brown, Ian Brown, Embrace,
Manic Street Preachers, Franz Ferdinand, KT Tunstall and the Arctic Monkeys …
The concert came hot on the heels of the band’s success at Woodstock and
included the last complete live performance of the rock opera Tommy as well as
many of the band’s best known songs. With its distinctive brown cover, designed
to look like a bootleg, the original album contained just six tracks from the
gig. The full concert is now available on double CD, but a mint original vinyl
copy can sell for up to £150.
The University ents secretary who booked the band in 1970 will be travelling
down from his Scottish sheep farm for the gig. Simon Brogan had first seen the
Who live at the Marquee Club in London in 1965, when they smashed up their
equipment at the end of the set in true rock fashion. He was a bit concerned
that if the band decided to do the same at Leeds it could put an end to future
gigs in the Refectory.
Simon Brogan said: “As the temperature rose during the concert and Pete
Townshend yelled to his roadies to get him some air, I had visions of smashed
windows, but luckily managed to persuade them to wait till I’d got my keys out
to open them.”
The band’s fee for the concert was £1,000 but they didn’t even cash the money.
“I had to give them another cheque when they came back that November to play at
Leeds again,” he said. Tickets for the Leeds gig cost 11s 6d (equivalent to
about £6 today) and were sold out almost as soon as they went on sale.
Another concert in Hull failed to make it to the live album because a technical
hitch meant the equipment didn’t record the bass track. Similar problems nearly
put paid to the Leeds concert as well. “During the afternoon, we realised that
the recording would need double the electricity that was available,” said Simon.
“Luckily, two students on the ents committee, Peter Jennings and Alan Hart, were
technical whiz kids and got the problem sorted in time for the show.”
Mike and Brenda Rigelsford, two Leeds students who got engaged just before the
Valentine’s Day concert in 1970 will also be returning to Leeds for the 2006
gig. Still avid Who fans, they both remember the evening as one of the best of
many they shared at the Refectory. “The band attracted a predominantly male
crowd,” Mike recalls, “but there were a few enthusiastic female fans. The Who’s
untraditional rendition of Tommy was just outstanding.”
For the band, the venue and the audience obviously helped to make the
performance something spectacular. Quoted in the student union newspaper after
the gig, Keith Moon said: “We fed on the audience as much as they feed on us …
they were just too incredible.”
now that would be bad news
