I was just shy of 17 years old when I took this photo. It was the first time I saw The Who. The opening act was The James Gang, Joe Walsh’s first successful band. I had great seats on the main floor. To say I was excited would be an understatement.

We called it Cobo Hall, but it was officially Cobo Arena. It was a 12,000 seat arena that showcased many of the big names in Rock & Roll from the 1960s, 70s and beyond. A short list of a few of those famous Classic Rock bands include:

• Pink Floyd
• Van Halen
• Yes
• Aerosmith
• Jethro Tull
• The Doors
• J. Geils Band
• Jefferson Starship
• Queen
• Black Sabbath
• Journey
• Jimi Hendrix
• Fleetwood Mac
• The Rolling Stones
• Alice Cooper
• Kiss
• Judas Priest
• Iron Maiden
• David Bowie
• Prince
• The Who
• Led Zeppelin
• Bruce Springsteen
• ZZ Top
• Styx
• etc.

Rock City

Now you know one of the reasons Detroit is known as ‘Rock City’, every Rock & Roll band wanted to play here. They loved to play in Detroit because of the fans. Detroit fans are known for their loyalty and very vocal support. The energy level of the audiences in Detroit is the reason so many bands have released live versions of their Cobo Hall concerts.

I could be wrong, but I believe there have been more live-rock recordings released of Cobo Hall concerts than from any other music venue. Some of the more well known live recordings were from bands like Bob Seger, Kiss, Journey, Yes, etc., hell, even Hank Williams Jr. released a live recording from Cobo.

I consider myself to be one of the original Who fans in The United States, a fan since I was a preteen. As you might imagine, I couldn’t wait to see my band on stage at such an iconic location, this was going to be a great night. I‘m’ glad I had splurged on the $6 tickets for main-floor seats.

Intermission

After The James Gang had finished their incredible set the lights came on, it was intermission time. Most people headed toward the bathrooms, others gathered in the hallways to grab a smoke. I headed toward the stage as soon as I saw the roadies moving Keith Moon’s drum-set platform out onto the stage.

I thought I could get a great shot of Keith’s drums because I could get close to the stage and the house lights were on, eliminating shadows. There was no one in my way, I literally made it to the edge of the stage, nice and close. I took several photos of the drums, saving the rest of the film for the show. (FYI young people: Unlike modern Digital cameras, ‘film’ cameras had a limit to the number of images you could take with a single roll of film)

As I turned around and headed back to my seat I recognized someone to my left, about 3–4 rows from the stage. He was a few seats in from the aisle so I walked toward him saying “you’re ah” “you’re ah”, he said “no I’m not”, then his friend sitting next to him said, with a big grin on his face “yes he is”, then I blurted out “Micheal Bruce” (guitarist for Alice Cooper).

I asked if I could take a picture, he said “go for it”. As I started to take a photo Micheal’s friend laughingly reminded me “you might want to take off the lens cover”. I did, and got this great image of Micheal. How cool is that, I was having a fantastic night and I hadn’t even seen The Who yet.

Oops!

I was fortunate that Micheal’s friend had reminded me to remove the protective lens cover from my new camera, otherwise I wouldn’t have this photo, a wonderful memento of my meeting with a famous rock star. I kept the lens cover in my pocket the rest of the night so that I wouldn’t forget to remove it before taking more photos.

Unfortunately I had left the lens cover on the camera when I had approached the stage to get pictures of Keith Moon’s drum-set. I didn’t realize I had left it on for those close-to-the-stage images until I developed the film a few days later. Below is a photo similar to the images I took of the drums on stage before the show. D’oh!

Another Rock Star

The Who walked on stage and played five of their popular singles before breaking into Tommy, playing the Rock Opera in it’s entirety. That was a thrill for me because Tommy was one of my favorite LP’s, it still is, it truly stands the test of time as a musical masterpiece. The Who played a long set of 28 songs total. They were at their peak, it was an exciting show.

I had arranged to meet my friends in front of the building near the ticket booth after the show. We all came together in one car but had seats in different sections of the arena. As I was sitting on the curb on Jefferson Avenue awaiting my ride, a long-haired gentleman with three ‘hippie’ women at his side walked up and stood next to me as they waited for the light to change so they could continue across the street.

When I looked up I noticed the ‘gentleman’ was Roger Daltrey. Not knowing what to say I managed to remark “that was a great show” Roger replied “Thanks” as the light changed and he and his groupies crossed the street, probably heading to the Pontchartrain Hotel where The Who were spending the night. At that point I realized I should probably take a picture of another Rock Star while I have the opportunity.

It was then I realized I had taken the last picture on the roll of film during the show, I wasn’t able to take another image. How frustrating! Here I am, 10 feet away from Roger Daltrey and I can’t take his picture. Dammit!

Creem Photo

A few weeks later Creem Magazine featured a photo of Roger Daltrey with those same three women, in the same clothes they were wearing when they stood next to me. The rock magazine must have had a photographer across the street at the Pontchartrain Hotel, snapping the photo as the group went into the lobby.

I had a copy of the magazine for a long time, so in a way I had a photograph of the night I met Roger Daltrey. However, it’s been over 50 years, I lost track of that magazine a long time ago. A few years ago I found the image online. I wish I had downloaded it because it doesn’t seem to be online anymore. Oh Well!

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Lesson Learned

Running out of film that night had a lasting affect on me. From that day on, until digital photography came along, I never took the last photo on a roll of film during an event. I had hopes I might someday experience another ‘special event’ after a show and need that last picture to document the moment. Of course, it never happened again.

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Thanks for reading my article.

Info Sources: In addition to my personal information, most ‘researched’ information was gathered from the websites noted below and from various Google searches.

• To learn more about the history of The Who and current tour dates visit their website here.
• You can listen to the entire Who set here. Recorded live in 1970, off soundboard, the quality isn’t great but still worth having if you had been there. The first song is a little fuzzy (turn it down), give it a minute and the sound clears up (crank it up).
• To learn about Huntington Place (formerly known as Cobo Hall) visit their website here.
• To visit the Wikipedia page for Cobo Hall go here.

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