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The Who needed to replace Keith Moon after he passed out on stage. Here’s why their only option was a teenage fan in the audience.
Keith Moon helped give The Who their distinctive sound, but he also caused problems for the group. The drummer joined The Who in 1964 and continued to perform with them until his death in 1978. Moon’s heavy partying caught up to him during a concert in 1973. After he passed out onstage twice, the band was forced to replace him with a teenager in the audience.
The Who brought a fan onstage after Keith Moon passed out during a concert
Ahead of a show at San Francisco’s Cow Palace in 1973, Moon reportedly mixed some kind of tranquilizer with brandy. Towards the end of the band’s set, Moon passed out.
“And then he fell backwards, and had to be dragged offstage,” said San Francisco Chronicle correspondent Joel Selvin (per Louder).
Guitarist Pete Townshend told the audience that Moon probably had food poisoning.
“We’re just gonna revive our drummer by punching him in the stomach,” he said. “He’s out cold. I think he’s gone and eaten something he shouldn’t have eaten. It’s your foreign food…”
Moon received a shot of cortisol, but it didn’t work. He passed out again and left the stage for the rest of the show. Lynyrd Skynyrd opened for the band that night, but their drummer, Artimus Pyle, didn’t think he could serve as a stand in. Instead, Townshend asked if there was a “good” drummer in the audience. Nineteen-year-old Scott Halpin was in the audience with his friend.
“My friend was pushing me forward and saying, ‘Come on man, you can go up there and play, you can play,’” said Halpin. “He’s really the one that got me into it.”
Halpin played the final songs with the band.
After playing with The Who, Scott Halpin said he had greater respect for Keith Moon
Halpin said Moon’s drum kit was enormous.
“It was ridiculous,” he said. “The tom-toms were as big as my bass drum.”
He walked away from the experience with a greater respect for Moon. Halpin said he felt exhausted after playing only a handful of songs with the band. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to play an entire show.
“I only played three numbers, and I was dead,” he said.
Ringo Starr’s son took a job as the drummer in the band
Moon died in 1978. During his lifetime, he’d been close with The Beatles’ Ringo Starr and his son, Zak Starkey. Nearly 20 years after Moon’s death, Starkey filled his shoes as the drummer of The Who. He continued performing with them until this year, when the band fired him. While Starkey expressed his disappointment to lose his spot in the band, he said he was also almost honored to have been fired by them.
“I’m sort of honored because they’re so crazy,” he told Rolling Stone.
Starkey said that he would rejoin the band if they invited him back.
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