November 11th, 1973 is seen as one of The Who's most famous live performances.
Touring in support of their Quadrophenia album, the band hit the Cow Palace in San Francisco for the tour's opening night.
Before the show, drummer Keith Moon decided to indulge in alcohol with some female groupies. (Apparently) unbeknownst to Moon and the groupies, the hooch was spiked with animal tranquilizers. Halfway through the set, the drugs took effect and Moon collapsed on top of his kit a few bars into "Won't Get Fooled Again". Pete Townshend announced that the band was "going to try and revive our drummer by punching him in the stomach and giving him a custard enema," and the band slinked off stage.
After a half-hour delay, Moon announced himself fit to continue, and the band started back up again, this time with "Magic Bus". Again Moon collapsed before The Who could even finish the song. He was carried backstage again, and the remaining three performed "See Me, Feel Me" before an angry Pete Townshend turned to the audience and asked, "Can anybody play the drums? I mean somebody good. Any takers come up here on stage."
In the chaos that followed 19-year-old Scott Halpin ended up on stage, where he was introduced as 'Scott' and tossed behind the drum kit. Townshend called for the song "Naked Eye", shouted out the time signature to Halpin, and began playing. The Who and Halpin finished off the set with "Smokestack Lighting" and "Spoonful".
In later interviews, Roger Daltrey praised Halpin's ability, claiming that the "papers missed it". Interviewed by Rolling Stone, Halpin credited The Who's stamina, admitting he was tired after just three songs. Halpin conducted a number of other interviews, but his fifteen minutes of fame would soon run out, however, and any attempts to reach him nowadays are met with curt replies and no comments.
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STORY RETOLD:
With Moon seemingly ready to complete the performance, Pete picked up his Les Paul and began to tune it up. Soon after this The Who began playing 'Magic Bus', with Keith tapping together his two wood blocks. When he came to play the actual drums, however, he faltered once more, finally slumping forwards onto the kit amid a noisy climax in which Daltrey threw his mouth organ into the crowd. Roadies lifted Keith from the kit while Townshend started to play an improvised riff, Daltrey ad-libbing some singing. Then, without any interruptions, they moved directly into a drumless 'See Me, Feel Me', which was tightly paced, Daltrey using a tambourine to add some percussion. After the song had gained an overwhelming response, Townshend applauded the audience for putting up with a 75 per cent complete band.
Instead of leaving the stage, however, Pete - tentatively and jokingly - said: "Can anybody play the drums?" Then he repeated the question more forcefully, adding "I mean somebody good!"
Soon afterwards Scott Halpin of Muscatine, Iowa, appeared on stage. After a roadie showed him to the kit, Townshend shook his hand and went straight into the riff of 'Smokestack Lightning'. This was a very loose arrangement, and Halpin's drum work fitted in well enough, and it shortly became 'Spoonful'. Less successful, however, was his contribution to the more complex 'Naked Eye', and he failed to provide the contrasting tempi despite Pete attempting to give him instructions. Halpin didn't look at all flustered and established a steady beat during the guitar solo. The second verse was missed entirely and Pete and Roger took turns to sing the final verse. Towards the end, Pete indulged in a mad spate of windmilled power-chords before the drawn-out "it don't really happen that way at all..." passage. Thus ended one of the most bizarre occurrences in the band's career. Pete later explained why they didn't leave the stage after 'Magic Bus': "When Keith collapsed, it was a shame. I had just been getting warmed up at that point. I'd felt closed up, like I couldn't let anything out. I didn't want to stop playing. It was also a shame for all the people who'd waited in line for eight hours" (Rolling Stone, January 4, 1974).
Halpin had bought a scalper's ticket to get into the show and suddenly found himself as a temporary member of The Who! Afterwards he enjoyed the post-show backstage hospitality with the group and then slipped back into obscurity. The incident was captured on camera and can be seen in the video Thirty Years Of Maximum R&B Live.
The Who had sold out all 13,500 seats in four hours three weeks prior to the concert. Lynyrd Skynyrd was the opening act for the entire tour. The whole concert was recorded on a crude 2-camera video system in B&W which was part of Bill Graham's personal archive.
Here's an interesting account from Scot himself. I just today realized that I know who Scot is. I didn't realize it because of the misspelled name. At the art fairs it is "T. Scot" and he does wonderful, whimsical illustrations. I also just heard the news that he's quite ill (brain tumor).