The Origin Of Pete Townshend's Dramatic Stage Leaps

The Who's career has been analyzed ad infinitum. However, one area remains obscure. Starting in 1969 (and a bit towards the end of '68 as we see from Rock and Roll Circus), Pete Townshend developed a style of stage performance never seen before in rock and roll (although surely there were antecedents).

He would jump high while strumming or plucking, often crouched leaps or dramatic splits, sometimes landing on his knees, seemingly. Later in the 70's he extended the repertoire of these balletic jumps and manoeuvres, doing as his well known cross-stage leaps that ended in a long slide on his knees.

How he never injured himself doing this is one puzzle, especially as Pete was known to play drunk at times in the 70's.

I am interested in the origin of this style, one which particularly suited his block chord style and perhaps was a natural physical reaction of playing that way on stage - I mean at the end of the sustain in the way he plays you just feel like leaping high like he did and coming down on the closing chord.

But how and why, exactly, did he develop this way of performing?

I wonder if Mick Jagger gave him the idea, as famously Richards did for the windmill.

Watch at 1:33 in this galvanizing version of Around and Around:



I've seen Bo Diddley do a similar move but I'm not sure if he did it later (after British rock was well underway) or before any of them. I know that schuck, as it was called, was a staple of the R&B circuit, and Jimi did his version, but I can't think of an exact progenitor to the Townshend balleticism (and not just that but playing usually perfectly in time while doing it - it's the playing and the cavorting, not just the physical side).

I'll post one or two favourite Pete jumps soon, usually the cameras missed it or the jumps were edited out (why?), but there are some good surviving samples.

 

Pete fractured his leg in 1971.

 

Did he?! I never heard that. Where, when?

 

I heard him make a comment about his knee on a bootleg. I'm not sure which show it is now.

Anyone else know?

 

Know What? broken leg know nothing about that.

Jumping- alcohol jet fuel

 

Watch from 43:15-43:27.



First, some incisive strums in the normal standing position; next, two windmills which deliver perfectly the energy and drive of the chords; then, a high leap that is timed beautifully with the melody flow (but playing in perfect time while he is doing it); and closing with a chordal slash and final windmill. All delivered with élan and excellent playing. There are a couple of off-chords at 43:12-13 but I'm talking about the sequence just after.

As far as I know, no one in rock or pre-rock ever did anything like this. Yet, it is rarely remarked on, and Pete is never asked about it. How did it start? Was it a conscious decision? Did it just flow organically from the stage sound of The Who? Did he practice to do this? This is not just a few crazy stage moves on Courvoisier. It is much more than that.

By the 90's and oughts he had to curtail it but still does a bit of it of a fashion.

 

You do know that the jumping gig wound up turning against him. "Pounding stages like a clown"

 

Audience- jump jump jump jump

Pete- ***** you . I'm not jumping anymore.

 

Yes. Like any star (Jimi great example) who had patented moves people loved, he started to resent that he was expected to do it. But I am more interested in how it started.

And finally of course, he returned to it, as for the windmill.

 

Pete told Tommy Smothers: bowling.

 

I read that he injured his hand pretty badly when doing a windmill move. IIRC he cut it on the bar on his guitar.

 

Pure showmanship. Signed to the same record label as Jimi. Each man simply attempted to out do each other. Pete took to leaping, Jimi started humping his amp.

 

Seattle, 1989, PT rammed a whammy bar through his hand. Looked pretty bad (there is a DVD out there of the whole show).

 

'Pete Townshend’s Windmill Came from Keith Richards'

http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/News/en-us/pete-townshend-windmill-stage-move-1125-2012.aspx

 

Yes, thank you. But the jumping/splits and the windmill are different things, requiring different physical skills.

 

Rock n roll energy. Showmanship. Giving 120%. Feeling 'The Note'.

Until it becomes rote. They stopped bashing up the equipment after awhile...

 

Kit Lambert used to mentor Pete and tell him stuff like be limber and crazy and run around on stage, make it look like there's nowhere you'd rather be. He also advised Keith what wine and booze to order at restaurants.

The Lambert and Stamp doc should be pretty interesting.

 

Don't get me wrong I love The Who and think PT is fabulous and the best live band ever. I saw them in the 70s at least 6 times.
However, I think you are making more out of the actual delivery of the music than there is. That sequence is hardly "timed beautifully" and played in perfect time. The time the chords are held (half and dotted half notes) allows for the showmanship without too much chance of really screwing up. The way his rhythm section played allowed him to do get away with it also. The song of course mattered also.
Was it great showmanship? The best, very exciting. Was it the best musicianship live? No, not really when you think of how other guitar players approached playing live. His rhythm section were a different story. Great songs? Goes without saying.
The times I saw him live in the 70s he was far from in perfect time and usually out of tune but who cared? The origin is a good question. I am surprised he has a rotator cuff left in his right shoulder.

 

It sounds great to me, of course with all the clips now on youtube, you can see the occasional one where he fluffed the chord as he was coming down. I am no musician, I am just saying he moves very smoothly in this sequence with the melody, the motions and sound are integrated extremely well (don't know how else to say it). Even to play a chord perfectly as you land is surely not easy. No doubt the rhythm section helped, but still. His single note playing was often rudimentary or showing errors, or out of tune yes, but to me his rhythm playing was almost always impeccable whether doing the stage act or not. There have been lots of agile performers but I can't think of anyone who could play and perform in this way as Townshend did. However my main interest is how and why it started.

 

Imo, PT's sense of timing is one of his strengths as a guitarist, singer, etc blah blah. Building his demos and overdubbing additional instruments on a continual basis, backed by drum machines or sequencers must have helped. Yes, when he's jumping around, windmilling, it ain't always going to be in time onstage. Interesting question! Probably with many right answers?

 

Jerry Lee Lewis was famous for leaping about...

 

I feel he was truly at his best being a musician/performer from 1968 through 1970. Stunning. After that, for me , he was so often drunk through the seventies that his musicianship while performing was really erratic.

 

injury/harm from the knee sliding across stage was prevented by knee pads under his loose trousers and the Doc Martin boots he wore.
the famous stage banter of a knee injury is from one of the famous SF '71 shows.

 

The very last bars of the song (Seattle, 1982, Magic Bus, from 7:05):

 

I'm just a few chapters into Pete's autobiography "Who I Am". He says he briefly took ballet lessons when he was 6 years old and he says "...a lot of my stagecraft is rooted in what I learned in those first few ballet clases". Hopefully he'll mention more of his on stage antics in the pages to come!