40 years ago today I got on the train with my two Olympus OM1 cameras to shoot the Who at the Hammersmith Odeon. It was a benefit for the people of Kampuchea. For some reason the photo pit was boarded over ( it was always open then ) . You have to understand the English Who audience were 90% football hooligans - it turned into a joke later with them being called ‘Wholigans’, trust me it was no joke then . Roger Daltrey walked on and after the first couple of songs was pissed off that the crowd was so far away ‘Come on stage’ he said of course pandemonium broke out with the front of the stage full of as many of the crowd as could climb on. The bouncers were fighting shoving pushing them off as if they’d climbed up the side of a ship, bear in mind this was the same month that the fans had died in Cinncinatti . After being threatened and shoved I shot the rest of the show from way at the side of the stage. I hated my photos at the time, odd looking at them forty years on I can’t decide if I like them or not.
