The Who concert in the gym at my high school

I wrote about this event in the Cream thread, but wanted to share some additional details. The Who played in the gymnasium at Union Catholic High School, in Scotch Plains, NJ on Nov. 29, 1967, during one of their first American tours. Obviously, they were not well known in the USA at that time. This was before "Tommy". "The Who Sell Out", had just come out.

Scotch Plains, the small, suburban NJ town where I live, is not noted for anything, besides a local restaurant, The Stage House Inn, which was a tavern during the American Revolution. George Washington is said to have eaten there.

A few Who fans on the Union Catholic Student Council were responsible for organizing this event as a fundraiser for the school, and convinced the faculty of Chrtistian Marist Brothers to go along with the idea. The Who were paid $1,300 for the show. They played a one-hour set, and then destroyed their instruments on stage. The remnant of Townshend's smashed guitar, a Coral Hornet, which he had purchased at Manny's Music on 48th St. in NYC a few days before, is shown below.

Besides their fee, the band was provided with sandwiches and soft drinks from local sub shop Duke's Deli in Westfield. If you are from this area, you'd remember it. The band eschewed the sodas in favor of a large quantity of hard liquor, which they brought with them. Before their performance, the band waited in the teacher's lounge, where they tried to pick up some high school girls and take them back to the tour bus. They were good Catholic schoolgirls, so the band was not successful.

The Who concert went well, raising $6,000 for the school. As a result, other rock bands were hired to play at Union Catholic, notably Cream, on March 26, 1968. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was booked to perform as well, but the faculty cancelled that show when they heard about Jimi's wild man onstage antics. What actually happened, unfortunately, was that they confused Jimi with Jim Morrison of The Doors, who exposed himself, and was arrested at a Florida concert. So, as a teenager, I missed out on seeing Jimi Hendrix play at the high school less than a mile from my house.

Other concerts that were held at UCHS between 1968 and 1971 included The Lovin' Spoonful, The Association, Vanilla Fudge, Chicago, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf, and Blood Sweat & Tears. The final rock concert held at Union Catholic H.S. was none other than Black Sabbath, on February 21, 1971. I'm sure Black Sabbath did not play at many Catholic schools or churches in those days!

 

Do you still have that piece of guitar?

 

Nice piece of rock history.

 

Wow. That's the first I've heard of the Coral Hornet. That Bass looks pretty unusual too.

 

Great story. Thanks for sharing!

 

A kid named Bart Koster ended up with that, not me. I swiped the pic off the internet.

 

Coral Hornet

http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/coral.html

 

Wow, do I wish I went to your high school!

 

Great story, thanks for sharing.

Your little high school had better concerts than my huge college (Penn State)!

 

Thanks for sharing this cool story.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Great story. Thanks for letting us in on it.

 

Wow what a cool piece of music history! Thanks for the story

 

Thoroughly excellent

 

I find the whole idea of high school concerts like this really fascinating. The Ramones played at my school a few years before I went there, and before that there was another area school that had the Doors and the Yardbirds among others. It seems incredible now.

Was this really common at one time? I wonder how this even happened and why it stopped happening. Maybe it was just because the touring business hadn't really developed and bands played wherever they could.

 

Great tale.

The Who played my teen club in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., about the same time. Couple hundred people. I walked right up and leaned on the stage right next to Townshend, who said hello to me when he came on. They were amazing, of course. This was about the time of "A Quick One."

My guitar-playing friend Bill tried to grab the guitar Townshend trashed and the roadie came out and fought with him. Finally, the roadie just shoved the guitar neck into his forehead. Bill went down and out like a light and woke up backstage with the band all gathered around him.

Townshend told my friend that he had to trash the guitar again the next night -- they glued them back together -- but would mail him the remains after that. My friend waited by the mailbox for a long long time ...

The club was Code One, site of many amazing shows.

 

Janis Joplin and Big Brother played the prom at my high school a few years before I went there.

Apparently while the band was taking a break, one of the teachers strolled out to the parking lot where the band was hanging out and smelled a strange aroma...

They were promptly told to leave... end of show.

.

 

Oh yea?...the Escape Club played at my high school in the late 80s!

 

Boxcar Willie played at my high school. Too bad all you got were The Who, Cream, and Black Sabbath.

 

at my school in the '90s, all we got was those "anti drug teen band" touring troupes. part teenage alternative rock concert, part "don't do drugs" pep rally. completely cringeworthy.

 

Great story. My high school had The Doors, Mountain and Don McClean I remember.

 

Suzie hoffs and the former head of Sony pictures went to my high school. Fwiw

 

Another great story!

 

There's a whole book about this show.

 

Awesome story. You've gotta wonder what the band was thinking, shifting gears from the clubs, etc. in the UK to suburban U.S. schools.

Aerosmith apparently played my high school in May of '73... and then the Joe Perry Project worked the same circuit 10 years later.