1967 The Who Concert Photos & Autographs
GUEST:
My mom, growing up in the '50s and '60s, was a president of a lot of band fan clubs. After she passed away, I found this photograph album of all different photos of the bands that she had taken over the years.
APPRAISER:
Hm.
GUEST:
What's really interesting is that she was a writer for Union College in her freshman year.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
She caught wind that the band The Who was going to be playing at her high school, which was Union Catholic High School.
APPRAISER:
Hm. Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And she somehow finagled her way to get tickets or access to the green room...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
...uh, for The Who's performance that night in the high school.
APPRAISER:
Did you ever hear anything from your family about this particular concert?
GUEST:
I did, because my father-- they hadn't met yet...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
...actually attended the concert and sat way up in the bleachers. And he told me that, uh, towards the end of performance, when things were smashed...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
...that the nuns were a little, little sheepish.
GUEST AND
APPRAISER:
(both laughing)
APPRAISER:
The Who was one of the greatest bands of the 20th century. They hadn't quite made a big impact in the United States yet. In 1967, they had just played the Monterey Pop Festival earlier in the year. They had just kind of gone to the second part of a little mini tour. They had just been on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Show, blowing up the stage in an infamous incident. And in November, Keith Moon and the rest of The Who traveled to a small high school in New Jersey and played this fantastic and legendary concert. We've got all four members of the band in this picture: Roger Daltrey on vocals, John Entwistle, bass guitarist, Pete Townshend, the guitarist, and my favorite, Keith Moon, the drummer. You notice in a couple of these pictures that there's a little bit of alcohol in there.
GUEST:
There was. My mother even said that when she talked to them...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
...at one point, they picked up the microphone and put it in their mouth.
GUEST AND
APPRAISER:
(both laughing)
APPRAISER:
And if you look here, you can actually see the, one of the most famous drum sets of The Who, the "Pictures of Lily" drum set, as it's called. And it's got "Keith Moon, British Patent Exploding Drummer" on it. And it's got pictures of a nude woman, which I guarantee you was a little risqué for a Catholic high school in the '60s.
GUEST:
The high school did let other bands come back in later on.
APPRAISER:
That, that's exactly true. So over the next couple of years, they had Cream. I think what kind of ended the series was, Black Sabbath came and played the high school.
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
I think they kind of toned it down after that.
GUEST:
It might have been the... (laughs)
APPRAISER:
And in this gym, they packed up 2,000, 2,200 people give or take?
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And they raised a lot of money, and it was a very successful concert. You've got some great signatures here. You've got Roger Daltrey on the top, Keith Moon, and John Entwistle. But you're missing somebody there.
GUEST:
Yeah, Pete Townshend. I couldn't tell you the story of why he didn't sign it.
APPRAISER:
Now, did your mother take these photographs?
GUEST:
It's my understanding that she did take them.
APPRAISER:
And did your mother get the signatures the same night?
GUEST:
Yeah, this was the only time she ever met the, the band.
APPRAISER:
The story is legendary. There's been books and articles published about it. They didn't do anything particularly horrible to the building.
They didn't burn down the high school, or anything like that, or blow it up. But it was still just an iconic moment, where one of the biggest bands who would go on to play Woodstock, and Shea Stadium, and all these major concerts, for a brief moment, they're just playing in a little teeny high school. These are great original photographs. They've got some good color to them. They're very candid. It's brilliant. Between that and the, the autographs, I would easily put an insurance value of $3,000 to $5,000 on it.
GUEST:
Wow. More than I anticipated, so that's awesome.
APPRAISER:
These are the kind of pictures that fans would love to have, but I, I'm sure you're gonna tend to keep those in the family.
GUEST:
They're not going anywhere.
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