The difference between “The Who” concert experience 1976 to 2022
Tonight I'm headed to check out The Who at Chicago's United Center. The show is part of their “The Who Hits Back” tour.
The last time I saw this band was March 15, 1976, in Oklahoma City, at the Myriad Convention Center. It's amazing how easily you can find this information these days. I just hit Google on my phone and voila…there was the date and place of a concert I forgot about decades ago.
It reminded me how different the entire concert experience is now from forty-six years ago.
In 1976, I was living in Norman, Oklahoma, about a half-hour drive from Oklahoma City. When we heard The Who was coming to OKC, a few of us were all in.
I remember tickets went on sale on a Sunday morning. In those days, you had to go to a place to buy concert tickets. Usually, it was the venue, a record store, or a Sears department store.
For this show, it was at the venue. Off to Oklahoma City, we went, but first, we had to stop at a grocery store to cash a check. Sigh. See, back then ATMs were still a few years from being in existence. Cashing a check was the only way to get money. Yeah, we could have used a credit card but we didn't have one of those yet.
We made it to Oklahoma City and there was a huge line to get to the box office. Actually, it was three or four lines that formed into one as you got close to the building. I told my friend that I was going to try to sneak up front. My plan worked and in less than fifteen minutes I scored three tickets to see The Who. Don’t judge me!
While buying the tickets was easy, getting out was a little tougher. You would think there would be a space where people could walk away, but you would be wrong.
The people behind you would lift you up and pass you back until you reached the end of the queue. It seemed pretty funky and it probably was for the few girls who decided it was better to be passed on their front side instead of their rears. But, we all survived and with tickets to see one of our favorite bands.
As for the show itself, all four members of the band were still alive and man, did they put out a lot of sounds. Oh yeah, there was also a lot of smoke in the arena, both cigarettes and pot. Shocking, right? Don't tell my parents, please.
So let's compare the above to the 2022 concert experience.
When I heard The Who was coming to Chicago, I decided it was one of those now or maybe never things. Now won.
To get tickets, I grabbed my cell phone, the same one I'm also writing this post with, clicked a few links, pulled out a card, punched in a few numbers, hit submit and VOILA! Tickets to The Who were mine. No grocery stores, no trips to the venue, no being passed through a crowd of people like a piece of meat; I did it all without leaving the comfort of my home. Who would have imagined this was possible back in 1976?
Next is the difference in the actual arena experience. In 2022, there’s no smoking in public. No cigarettes. No weed! If you want to catch a buzz for the show, just stop at one of the dozens of dispensaries in the area, buy some legal gummies and pop a couple of them. For sure, no one would have imagined this would ever be a thing in 1976.
As for the music itself, back in the olden days, you went to the show and it was a surprise as to what you were about to hear. For tonight’s show, I've already checked out the tour setlist. I know most of the music will be from the albums “Tommy”, “Quadrophenia” and “Who’s Next.” I even know what order in which they will be played. I'm not sure which way is better; only that they are different.
That's a lot of change over forty-six years. Oh yeah, I failed to mention that half the band from almost a half-century ago has died. They've been replaced by touring musicians and an orchestra. That's a pretty big and important change!
Sigh. Change occurs in every aspect of our lives, so why not in the live music experience? I'll find out if all of it is worth it in a few hours.