Veteran rocker Pete Townshend claims his band The Who “invented stadium rock” but says they gave it away to other artists such as Queen, U2 and Bruce Springsteen to reap the rich rewards.
And Townsend, 79, believes they blew their chance of global dominance by not being ready to perform when they took to the Wembley stage in 1985 for a prime-time early evening slot at Live Aid.
Townsend said: “I handed the stadium stage to Queen and U2, and of course to Bruce Springsteen. That wasn’t a bad thing. But we should have been a part of that post-punk legacy act resurgences that those acts enjoyed.”
The Chiswick-born guitarist continued to express his disappointment with the performance they delivered at the biggest concert of all time – 40 years ago this July – when the band performed a four-song set comprising My Generation, Pinball Wizard, Love, Reign O’er Me and Won’t Get Fooled Again.
At the time the hitmakers were on one of their many hiatuses and the performance was deemed by critics to be “shambolic”.
Townsend agrees, adding: “The Who invented stadium rock. We gave it away. Our timing was terrible. When we did Live Aid, we could barely f—ing play.
“Queen were in the middle of a tour, walked out there, took the whole thing, and turned it into an advert for themselves.’
“I never really appreciated what Queen was about, to be honest. I liked ABBA, but I didn’t really connect it with the light-hearted pop diversity of Queen’s catalogue. I’m a huge fan of Bruce, of course, and a big fan of U2, and very happy to see the way that they took the stadium mantle.”
Townshend added: “But with songs like ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ and ‘Baba O’Riley,’ I f—ing nailed it. There’s no question. And I gave that instrument away.
“But it would be wrong to say that I regret it, because I don’t. I have to look back and say, ‘Well, what is, is.’ But where it really bit for us all was financially, because that moment was one where instead of playing places like the Fillmore and the occasional arena, the big acts were playing consistently huge venues.”
The musician was speaking to Rolling Stone magazine to promote the release of his eight-CD solo boxset ‘The Studio Albums’ released later this week.
The Who will headline Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall tonight (27th March) and they play a second show at the iconic London venue on Sunday (30th March).