The Who Tour 1980 was The Who's second concert tour since the death of original drummer Keith Moon, supporting their 1978 album Who Are You.

The Who Tour 1980
Tour by The Who
The Who live in Toronto, 1980
Location
  • Europe
  • United States
  • Canada
Associated albumWho Are You
Start date26 March 1980
End date16 July 1980
Legs3
No. of shows
  • 37 in North America
  • 6 in Europe
  • 43 in total
The Who concert chronology

History

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Aside from six warm-up shows in Europe, the tour focused primarily on the areas of North America not covered in the band's previous tour, which had focused on the northeastern United States. The set list was very similar to what they played on that tour, save the omission of "The Punk and the Godfather", which was only performed once in 1980. "Relay" was played for the first time since their 1972 European tour, and the group also briefly resurrected "Getting In Tune" for one show during the European warm-up tour, although it did not remain in the act. Yet-unreleased songs "How Can You Do It Alone" and "Dance It Away" returned from the previous tour as well, with the latter having developed into a full song similar to the bonus track on the reissue of Townshend's 1982 solo album All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes. A very early version of "Another Tricky Day" from the band's next album Face Dances also featured in one of the band's jams during "Dance It Away" in Los Angeles.

As in the second half of 1979, the band employed a brass section, which was showcased in numbers such as "Music Must Change", "Drowned", and "5.15", among others. Notable Pink Floyd sideman Dick Parry handled saxophone duties on this tour.

Tour band

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Additional musicians

Typical set lists

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First European leg

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This short leg started on 26 March 1980 at the Grugahalle in Essen, West Germany and ended on 1 April 1980 at the Festhalle Frankfurt in Frankfurt. Here is a fairly typical set list (all songs written by Pete Townshend unless otherwise specified):

  1. "Substitute"
  2. "I Can't Explain"
  3. "Baba O'Riley"
  4. "My Wife" (John Entwistle)
  5. "Sister Disco"
  6. "Behind Blue Eyes"
  7. "Music Must Change"
  8. "Drowned"
  9. "Who Are You"
  10. "5.15"
  11. "Pinball Wizard"
  12. "See Me, Feel Me"
  13. "Long Live Rock"
  14. "My Generation"
  15. "Sparks" (not played on 26 and 27 March)
  16. "I Can See for Miles" (not played on 30 March)
  17. "Won't Get Fooled Again"

Other songs occasionally played were:

There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour.

First North American leg

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This leg began on 14 April at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver and ended on 7 May at the Montreal Forum. Here is a fairly typical set list (all songs written by Pete Townshend unless otherwise specified):

  1. "Substitute"
  2. "I Can't Explain"
  3. "Baba O'Riley"
  4. "My Wife" (John Entwistle)
  5. "Sister Disco"
  6. "Behind Blue Eyes"
  7. "Drowned"
  8. "Who Are You"
  9. "5.15"
  10. "Pinball Wizard"
  11. "See Me, Feel Me"
  12. "Long Live Rock"
  13. "My Generation"
  14. "I Can See for Miles"
  15. "Sparks"
  16. "Won't Get Fooled Again"
  17. "The Real Me"

Other songs occasionally performed were:

There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour. "See Me, Feel Me" often followed "Sparks" instead of "Pinball Wizard" and the band frequently rotated "Music Must Change", "Dreaming from the Waist" and "The Relay" as the seventh song of the set.

Second North American leg

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The band returned after a six-week break for the second leg of the tour, which began on 18 June at the San Diego Sports Arena. This leg included two shows at The Forum in Inglewood, California and five more at the Los Angeles Sports Arena and ended before a huge crowd at Toronto's CNE Stadium on 16 July, the group's last performance until the following January. At the invitation of Pete Townshend, Willie Nile accompanied the Who on their summer of 1980 - Second North American Leg as an opening act.[2][3] Here is a fairly typical set list (all songs written by Pete Townshend unless otherwise specified):

  1. "Substitute"
  2. "I Can't Explain"
  3. "Baba O'Riley"
  4. "My Wife" (John Entwistle)
  5. "Sister Disco"
  6. "Behind Blue Eyes"
  7. "Dreaming from the Waist" (Replaced by "Music Must Change" after 20 June)
  8. "Drowned"
  9. "Who Are You"
  10. "5.15"
  11. "Pinball Wizard"
  12. "See Me, Feel Me"
  13. "Long Live Rock"
  14. "My Generation"
  15. "Sparks" (dropped after 7 July)
  16. "Won't Get Fooled Again"
  17. "The Real Me"

Encores (variations of the following list):

There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour. "Dreaming from the Waist" was played in place of "Music Must Change" in the first two shows of this leg and "See Me, Feel Me" occasionally followed "Sparks" instead of "Pinball Wizard".

Tour dates

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Date City Country Venue
Europe
26 March 1980 Essen West Germany Grugahalle
27 March 1980
28 March 1980 Zürich Switzerland Hallenstadion
30 March 1980 Vienna Austria Wiener Stadthalle
31 March 1980 Munich West Germany Olympiahalle
1 April 1980 Frankfurt Festhalle Frankfurt
First North America Leg
14 April 1980 Vancouver Canada Pacific Coliseum
15 April 1980 Seattle United States Seattle Center Coliseum
16 April 1980
18 April 1980 Oakland Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena
19 April 1980
20 April 1980
22 April 1980 Salt Lake City Salt Palace
23 April 1980 Denver McNichols Sports Arena
24 April 1980
26 April 1980 Kansas City Kemper Arena
28 April 1980 St. Louis Checkerdome
29 April 1980 Ames Hilton Coliseum
30 April 1980 Saint Paul Saint Paul Civic Center
2 May 1980
3 May 1980 Chicago International Amphitheatre
5 May 1980 Toronto Canada Maple Leaf Gardens
6 May 1980
7 May 1980 Montreal Montreal Forum
Second North America Leg
18 June 1980 San Diego[4] United States San Diego Sports Arena
20 June 1980 Inglewood The Forum
21 June 1980
23 June 1980 Los Angeles Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
24 June 1980
26 June 1980
27 June 1980
28 June 1980
30 June 1980 Phoenix ASU Univ. Activity Center
2 July 1980 Dallas Reunion Arena
3 July 1980 Austin Frank Erwin Center
5 July 1980 Houston The Summit
7 July 1980 Baton Rouge LSU Assembly Center
9 July 1980 Atlanta Omni Coliseum
10 July 1980 Memphis Mid-South Coliseum
11 July 1980 Lexington Rupp Arena
13 July 1980 Greensboro Greensboro Coliseum
14 July 1980 Hampton Hampton Roads Coliseum
16 July 1980 Toronto[5] Canada Exhibition Stadium

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "1980 Archives - The Who". Thewho.com. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  2. ^ "Arenas (6,000 to 20,000), page 32". Billboard. Billboard Magazine. 19 July 1980. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  3. ^ Palmer, Robert (21 August 1980). "Willie Nile: busting out of Bleecker Street". Rolling Stone. p. 20.
  4. ^ "1980 Archives".
  5. ^ "1980 Archives".