Pete Townshend took advantage of the Who's New Orleans stop on Saturday (April 30th) at Jazz Fest to later drop in on a venue he's always wanted to play. Townshend, armed with his Gibson six-string and a 1928 banjo, played a three-song set at the city's legendary Preservation Hall.
Townshend opened with a solo rendition of the Who's “Won't Get Fooled Again,” followed with his 1980 solo hit “Let My Love Open The Door,” before taking out his banjo and saluting his original trad jazz past by playing “When The Saints Go Marching In” — the first song he ever performed live, while backed by the famed Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Pete Townshend explained that the connection between him, the Who and its audience goes far between album sales and tickets: “We have to have an emphatic, in-the-moment exchange with the people that want our music. What matters is that we know that, that we've been able to allow our audience to find themselves in what we do — and that's our validation. That people kinda go — not just 'That's just me!,' but 'This band, this group, this collective is where I am. This is where — one of the places, the only places that I can feel that I'm complete.'”
