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The Who's October 13, 1982 concert at Shea Stadium, the now-demolished, longtime home of the New York Mets, was released on DVD and standard-definition Blu-ray back in 2015. Now, Mercury Studios is returning to that thunderous gig - the band's second of two shows there - for an audio release on 2 CDs or 3 LPs.
On March 1, Live at Shea Stadium 1982 will arrive preserving The Who's tour stop in support of It's Hard. In front of an enrapt New York audience in Flushing Meadows, Queens, founding members Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, and John Entwistle joined with drummer Kenney Jones to perform both new songs and old favorites. The 1982 North American tour was ultimately the last one to feature Jones in the drummer's seat, and The Who's final such trek until 1989. (Jones replaced the late Keith Moon for two studio albums, 1981's Face Dances and 1982's It's Hard.)
Four songs from It's Hard were performed during the Shea setlists, including the album's title track, "Eminence Front," "Cry If You Want," and "Dangerous." Those were joined by classics from the '60s ("Substitute," "I Can't Explain," "Pinball Wizard") and '70s ("Behind Blue Eyes," "Baba O'Riley," "Won't Get Fooled Again," "Who Are You," "Sister Disco") as well as "The Quiet One" from Face Dances. Choice covers - "I Saw Her Standing There," "Twist and Shout," "Young Man Blues," and "Summertime Blues" - rounded out the setlist. (The latter two songs were featured on the original, six-song Live at Leeds album in 1970.)
The performances of "Love Reign O'er Me" and "Behind Blue Eyes" are currently streaming on Mercury Studios' YouTube channel. Though the original DVD and Blu-ray releases are now out-of-print, they remain available from secondhand sellers. Look for Live at Shea Stadium 1982 on March 1 at the links below.
The Who, Live at Shea Stadium 1982 (Mercury Studios, 2024)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
CD 1
- Substitute
- I Can't Explain
- Dangerous
- Sister Disco
- The Quiet One
- It's Hard
- Eminence Front
- Behind Blue Eyes
- Baba O'Riley
- I'm One
- The Punk And The Godfather
- Drowned
- Tattoo
- Cry If You Want
CD 2
- Who Are You
- Pinball Wizard
- See Me Feel Me
- Love Reign O'er Me
- Long Live Rock
- Won't Get Fooled Again
- Young Man Blues
- Naked Eye
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Summertime Blues
- Twist And Shout
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Actually Kenney Jnes was the drummer from 1979 until the conclusion of the 1982 “ Farewell Tour “.
Makes that Kenney Jones !
“The 1982 North American tour was ultimately the only one to feature Jones in the drummer's seat…” This doesn’t sound right. Didn’t the Who tour North America with Kennedy Jones in 1979 and 1980?
KENNEY Jones! Freakin’ autocorrect…
Yes! It should have read "the last one," not "the only one" - hence the "ultimately" in the sentence. Typo has been fixed! Thanks for pointing it out.
Isn’t this a slightly expanded version of “Who’s Last”?
Most of "Who's Last" was recorded at Ohio's Richfield Coliseum (a couple of months after the Shea Stadium show), with other tracks reportedly from shows in New Jersey, Washington, and California.
i saw them at msg in 79 . not the who i remember. no keith no who
1982 was the year I was introduced to The Who's music, via "The Who Rocks America:
'82 Farewell Concert @ Toronto's Mapleleaf Gardens December 16th & 17th, of that year."
I was eleven years old @ the time, & became a lifelong fan of their music.
I later learned of Keith Moon's antics as well as him being their original drummer, from 1964 to his death in 1978. I thoroughly enjoy & appreciate both drummers, as well as Simon Phillips & Zak Starkey for their efforts behind the kit. Keith Moon was a phenomenal drummer, playing drums like no one else could.
I feel Kenney Jones did an excellent job of putting his own technique into the songs, first performed by Keith. As did Simon Phillips & Zak Starkey, in later eras of The Who's musical journey. One thing I'm confused about is I remember "Athena", being shown on YouTube as a performance from Shea Stadium. Yet it wasn't part of the video, from 1994's "30 Years of Maximum R&B."
Nor did it make it to the DVD, or Blu-ray formats of the Shea Stadium show a few years later. Now with the audio release of the same show looming on the horizon & once again, the song is omitted from the package. I'm wondering if what I'm remembering, is a Mandela effect?
There were two shows at Shea and there were several differences in the setlists. Athena was from the other night. The only song omitted from this show on this release is 5:15. On the Blu Ray there were a few bonus songs from the other Shea show. 5:15 was one of them. Athena was not.