Fact #130748

Rikki Farr (promoter) : They'd just had Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere out on Decca, and I said, 'Why don't we go down to Southsea to the big ballroom there and put on a show', 'cause they'd been in the clubs, they were playing all the clubs, The Ricky Tick, The Crawdaddy, The Marquee, The Twisted Wheel, The Boat Club, they were playing all of the clubs. I said, 'Look, I'll give you a hundred pounds, I can't afford any more. I gotta book the hall.' Now, that was a lot of money in those days. And down in the South of England, you'd get some rainstorms where you think it's biblical. I went, 'Oh, no!" I mean the windscreen wipers couldn't even get rid of it. I thought, "£100 ... I'm ruined." And I drove down, across a bridge, across to Southsea Esplanade, and round the corner to where the Southsea Ballroom was. The rain was coming down like in an Ingmarr Bergman film. So I'm looking and there, alongside the building, all huddled up, all the way along the building and all the way round the corner, in twos, under newspapers, bags, umbrellas ... was hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. Then I realised the power of music. You wouldn't go out to get a loaf of bread in that weather, but you'll stand in that weather to hear The Who play their new record.

I let everybody in early, and we had all the coats hung up to dry, and the venue staff didn't like it, but that was a night to remember. the Who felt it. They felt that this was the night they lost their virginity. They went from training wheels onto a big stage in front of thousands of people. It was as if they'd been born to do this. You saw them just flower. I had goosebumps the whole night.
(Source : NAMM Oral History Programme)