Pete Townshend and gravity

I saw this question posed over in a thread about Ritchie Blackmore and thought I'd post it here for further discussion:

How the hell did Pete jump so high?

This iconic photo is one of many examples:



How did Pete do it?

 

With the help of photoshop.

 

Yup.
The original photo is not quite as exciting!
He's not quite as high.

 

This is the real photo. Still a pretty impressive leap.

 

Did they have photo shop in the 1970s?

 

It may surprise you to learn it works on older photos too

 

I like how they added the two extra HIWATT cabinets and head too!
No wonder his hearing is shot!

 

And to top it off, that looks like a Les Paul in his hands. Probably close to 10 lbs!

 

That was photoshopped too... the original photo was of Pete and his Uke, playing a rare full-band "Blue, Red, and Grey"

 

Figures!

 

Pete is really jumping to the high-watt amps.

Just take off, there's no risk.

 

I was going to go with Flubber!

 

Roger’s microphone swung around at just the right angle and knocked him night in the ruts.

Mark

 

And with heavy boots Doc Martens

 

Allen Collins jumped higher, during his performance of the Freebird solo

 

Nils, right?

 

Yea, before the hip replacements duh

 

He could jump this high in 1980:

 

I was going to say it was the Doc Martens.

 

Bottom pic is the jump to cue the end of baba o Reilly

 

More amazing is all that windmilling without a torn shoulder rotator cuff injury.

 

I saw him do that at the Academy of Music on 14th Street in NYC circa 1972.
In the middle of a solo he bolted back to the trampoline, went rebounding up
into the air with a somersault, to land on his feet in a dramatic rock pose, without
missing a lick. It was real good. Even the cynical Academy crowd, who'd seen everything,
gave him a round of applause for that move.

 

a lot of people seem to get fooled by height of jumps where the legs are tucked or spread out. If you visualize where Petes legs would be if straight under him hes not a heck of a lot over a foot off the ground. Most photos are also taken from the pit looking up too which tends to give a perspective that makes a vertical leap seem higher.

I always liked this shot of a leaping Pete. Not so much because of the height (its a good example of the perspective making him seem inhumanly high when he is not) but because of the near mid air splits he is hitting which Im pretty sure at no point in my life have I ever been coordinated or flexible enough to pull off!