The Who Tour 1968
| Tour by The Who | |
| Associated album | "The Who Sell Out" |
|---|---|
| Start date | 1 January 1968 |
| End date | 21 December 1968 |
| Legs | 7 |
| No. of shows | 153 (approximately) |
| The Who concert chronology | |
The Who Tour 1968 was a series of performances and tours by The Who, supporting releases such as The Who Sell Out album and the "Magic Bus" single.
The group began the year continuing to support The Who Sell Out, which had been released in late 1967. A short tour of Australia and New Zealand along with Small Faces and former Manfred Mann vocalist Paul Jones was marred with bad press and poor sound, leading Pete Townshend to vow the group would never return (they eventually relented, but not until a 2004 stop in Australia and another in both countries in 2009). The year also saw two long stints in North America, the first of which included two dates at the Fillmore East in New York City that the band recorded in hopes of releasing a live album. The plan was eventually scrapped when they weren't satisfied with the quality of the performances, but a bootleg album called Live at the Fillmore East made use of the soundboard tapes and provided fans with one of the earliest glimpses of the group's live act. The second North American tour featured performances of the newly recorded "Magic Bus", which was released in July and quickly became a fan favourite; it was also during this time that Townshend began giving interviews related to his visions of the concept album that would become Tommy, which the band would begin recording in September and complete the following March. The last three months of the year were spent performing in England around recording dates for Tommy, including a short theatre tour in November with such artists as Small Faces, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and Yes. The final show at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool included a long version of "Magic Bus" with members of other acts who had appeared on the tour joining the band on stage – ironically Keith Moon shared his drum kit with Small Faces' Kenney Jones, the man who would replace him in The Who upon his death in 1978.
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