The Who | Won't Get Fooled Again Live At Shea Stadium 1982 in 60FPS

The Who | Won't Get Fooled Again Live At Shea Stadium 1982 in 60FPS

The primary purpose of this tour was to promote their recently released album, "It's Hard," which had hit the shelves in June 1982. The setlist for the tour included several tracks from this album, some of which were performed live for the first time during this tour. This made the tour a special opportunity for fans to hear these songs in a live setting.

The concert film in question captures The Who's performance from the second of their two nights at New York's Shea Stadium on October 13th, 1982. It's worth noting that while a couple of tracks from this show had appeared on various compilations, this film marked the first official release of the entire concert. The footage has been meticulously restored, and the audio has been newly mixed to provide an enhanced viewing and listening experience for fans of The Who, offering a unique glimpse into a pivotal moment in the band's history.

"Won't Get Fooled Again" is a classic rock song by the English rock band The Who, composed by the band's guitarist and songwriter, Pete Townshend. It was released as a single in June 1971 and achieved a top 10 position on the UK charts. The full-length version of the song, running at eight and a half minutes, serves as the final track on The Who's 1971 album titled "Who's Next," which was released that August.

Pete Townshend initially conceived the song as the closing piece for his ambitious "Lifehouse" project, a rock opera. The song's lyrics convey themes of criticism towards revolution and the misuse of power. To symbolize a spiritual connection he found in music through the teachings of Meher Baba and Inayat Khan, Townshend programmed a synthesizer with a blend of human traits and used it as the primary backing instrument throughout the song.

The band attempted to record "Won't Get Fooled Again" in New York in March 1971, but they ultimately achieved a superior take at Stargroves, Mick Jagger's house, the following month. During the Stargroves recording session, Glyn Johns joined as a producer and decided to retain the synthesized organ track from Townshend's original demo, considering it superior to the New York recording. Keith Moon had to carefully synchronize his drumming with the synthesizer, while Townshend and John Entwistle played electric guitar and bass, respectively.

Townshend's guitar setup for the recording included a 1959 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins hollow-body guitar connected to a Fender Bandmaster amplifier via an Edwards volume pedal. This setup became Townshend's primary electric guitar rig for subsequent albums.

Although initially intended as a demo, the final result of the recording impressed the band and producer Glyn Johns so much that they decided to use it as the definitive version. Additional overdubs, including an acoustic guitar part by Townshend, were added at Olympic Studios, and the track was mixed by Johns at Island Studios on May 28.

Following the abandonment of the "Lifehouse" project, Glyn Johns believed that "Won't Get Fooled Again," along with other songs, was of such high quality that they could be released as a standalone album, which eventually became "Who's Next."

The song is composed in the key of A Mixolydian, and its powerful and iconic sound has made it a staple in The Who's live performances, often serving as the closing number. Additionally, "Won't Get Fooled Again" marked the last song that drummer Keith Moon played live with the band before his passing.