performed at Woodstock, including
“It’s a Boy,” “1921,” “Amazing Journey,”
“Sparks,” “Eyesight to the Blind,” “Acid
Queen,” and “Pinball Wizard.”
But at one point, Yippie leader Abbie
Hoff man, incensed because he felt there
wasn’t sufficient political conscious-
ness at the festival, ran up onstage and
implored the crowd to support John
Sinclair, a fellow activist who had been
sentenced to 10 years in prison for pos-
sessing a marijuana joint. (He would
be released in 1971.) “You can’t make a
speech in the middle of their set!” Lang
recalled telling Hoffman backstage.
“Chill out!” But Hoffman, who some
said had dropped acid, insisted. While
Townshend adjusted his amp, the anti-
war icon grabbed a mic and berated
the human carpet laid out across Max
Yasgur’s acreage. “Hey, all you peo-
ple having fun while John Sinclair
is being held a political prisoner!” he
cried. At that, the notoriously trucu-
lent Townshend screamed, “F--- off my
f---ing stage!” and bumped Hoffman
with the neck of his guitar. (Some—
including Hoffman himself—said it
was accidental, others not.)
The Who resumed—Townshend
flying around the stage like a der-
vish—and finished off Tommy as
dawn broke, with “We’re Not Gonna
Take It,” and Daltrey’s impassioned
“See Me, Feel Me.” The Brits wrapped
up with an explosive series of songs:
“Summertime Blues,” “Shakin’ All
Over,” “My Generation,” and “Naked
Eye.” The Who had conquered America,
though Townshend would always dis-
parage the festival and its ethos. “All
these hippies wandering about think-
ing the world was going to be diff erent
from that day on,” he wrote. “As a cyni-
cal English arseh---, I walked through
it all and felt like spitting at the lot of
them, trying to make them realize that
nothing had changed and nothing was
going to change. Not only that, what
they thought was an alternative soci-
ety was basically a fi eld full of six-foot-
deep mud laced with LSD. If that was
the world they wanted to live in, then
f--- the lot of them.” Daltrey was more
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 61
THE BACKSTAGE BOARDS
proved a handy place to hang out
and have a smoke for idle rockers
and friends. Among those in this
gathering were Paul Kantner
(far left), Jack Casady (in striped
shirt), Grace Slick (center), and
Spencer Dryden (in hat)—all
of the Jefferson Airplane—and
(standing at right) Country Joe
McDonald (in bandana) and
Fillmore Auditorium impresario
Bill Graham.