An ordinary concert evening in San Francisco became an unforgettable chapter in the history of rock music on November 20, 1973, when Keith Moon, the drummer of The Who, suddenly collapsed during a performance at the Cow Palace.
But instead of the curtain closing on the evening, an unexpected hero emerged – a fan who was ready to literally save the band’s ass that night.
It was the start of The Who’s North American tour, who had long been notorious for their energetic performances. The Cow Palace was filled to capacity, with 14,000 people expecting an unforgettable performance.
Keith Moon stood next to himself the whole time
The tension in the air was palpable as The Who took the stage. But it soon became clear that this evening would be different. After one of his furious drum solos on “Won’t Get Fooled Again” near the end of the set, drummer Keith Moon suddenly collapsed. The music stopped immediately and an oppressive silence fell over the crowd.
Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, the remaining members of The Who, looked at each other in disbelief. Maybe they even believed that the band’s era could end at that moment. Moon was hurriedly pulled off the stage for medical treatment.
Backstage, roadies brought Moon back to consciousness and called a doctor. The drummer initially insisted on getting back on stage, where he attempted to wrestle with Townshend before being dragged away by Daltrey. After he finally climbed behind his drum kit, Moon received a cortisone injection in his ankle. But during “Magic Bus” he fainted again and had to be carried off stage for good.
The rest of The Who struggled through “See Me Feel Me,” with Townshend and bassist John Entwistle trying to fill the drum spot. Townshend kicked the cymbal while playing guitar.
“We’re going to revive our drummer by punching him in the stomach,” Pete Townshend addressed the audience in the meantime. “He is unconscious. I think he ate something he shouldn’t have. It’s probably the foreign food…”
Backstage, Artimus Pyle, drummer for Lynyrd Skynyrd, who had played before The Who, was asked to fill in for Moon. But Pyle said he was too scared and didn’t know the songs either. When Pete Townshend half-jokingly asked the 14,000 audience if there was a drummer, possibly a good one, in the hall, someone started waving.
A sip of whiskey and off we go
Sensing the moment of uncertainty and the silence in the hall, the fearless fan named Scott Halpin jumped onto the stage without hesitation. The 19-year-old agreed to take on the role of drummer. The crowd was amazed when Scott sat down at the drums and was actually ready to continue the concert.
“My friend pushed me forward and said, ‘Come on, man, you can go up there and play, you can play,'” Halpin later told Rolling Stone. “He was the one who made me do it.”
The audience, initially shocked, responded to Scott Halpin’s spontaneous performance with thunderous applause. The band, impressed by the young man’s determination, joined him. Together they began playing an improvised version of “Smokestack Lightning” and the energy returned to the stage.
Halpin later said the last thing he remembered was taking a sip of whiskey and then being introduced to the audience by Roger Daltrey. As soon as he stood in front of Keith Moon’s gigantic drum kit, he was actually scared. “It was ridiculous. The tom toms were as big as my bass drum.”
It may have been a blur, but Halpin toiled through the band’s final songs for 30 minutes, doing really well on “Spoonful” according to eyewitnesses, but having to row hard to keep up on “Naked Eye.” Halpin later said with pride and awe: “I only played three numbers and I was dead.”
The unexpected involvement of fans that evening was definitely a moving moment in the togetherness between the band and the audience. Scott Halpin became a part of The Who’s history, a legend.
Why did Keith Moon faint?
The circumstances of Keith Moon’s failure later became known, although the specific cause was never clarified. The drummer apparently came to the show with a very young girl. He was known for always being very nervous before concerts. That’s probably why he took a sedative on site.
This may have corresponded very unfortunately to another substance that Moon – or so the rumors said – might have mixed into a drink. The most likely variant, however, is that the drummer washed down his pills, which could have calmed down a wild herd of elephants, with alcohol.
Keith Moon was able to continue playing with The Who, but nervousness and the abuse of alcohol and tranquilizers later became his undoing. Moon died in 1978 of an overdose of the sedative clomethiazole, which he was taking to kick his alcohol addiction.
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