Tommy Tour The Tommy Tour was a concert tour by the English rock band the Who. It was in support of their fourth album, the rock opera Tommy (1969), and consisted of concerts split between North America and Europe. Following a press reception gig, the tour officially began on 9 May 1969 and ended on 20 December 1970. The set list featured the majority of the songs from Tommy, as well as originals and covers. History 1969 was an extremely transitional year for the band, due almost entirely to Pete Townshend's rock opera Tommy, which they had begun recording the previous autumn. After a series of rehearsals and warm-up gigs, the band gave a preview concert to the press at London's Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club on 1 May. Realising the opera's narrative was too difficult to comprehend, Townshend explained a synopsis of the story, before the Who played Tommy at roaring volume. The next day, the band flew to New York to start the North American tour, commencing on 9 May at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. On 29 May, the band began a three-night residency at Chicago's Kinetic Playground. They noticed the audience would all stand up at the same time, and stay standing. This indicated that live performances of Tommy had a positive reaction from audiences. After finishing a series of tour dates in San Francisco during June, the Who flew to London to do two shows for the Royal Albert Hall's Pop Proms concert series. The first show resulted into a fracas involving Teddy Boys who attempted to prevent the band from coming on stage, but the second show went smoothly as the Teds were satisfied with renditions of "Summertime Blues" and "Shakin' All Over". On 10 August, the band suspended their UK tour to do two contracted appearances at the Tanglewood Music Shed and the Woodstock festival. After playing a show at Tanglewood on 12 August, the band flew to New York to play a set at Woodstock. Due to a fourteen-hour delay, the band became reluctant to play and demanded their $12,500 fee. The Who were scheduled to perform the previous day, 16 August, but the festival ran late and they did not take to the stage until the early hours of the 17th. After playing "Pinball Wizard", Yippie founder Abbie Hoffman interrupted the show to protest the arrest of John Sinclair before getting kicked offstage by Townshend, and the sun rose almost as if on cue during "See Me, Feel Me". After returning to England, the band headlined the second Isle of Wight festival on 30 August. Though most media attention focused on Bob Dylan making his first British appearance in three years, the Who stole the show. Townshend later said, "We know that the stage act we had, with Tommy in it, would work under any circumstances, because it had worked many times on tour." The "world premiere" of Tommy took place on 29 September at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world. During the band's entrance, drummer Keith Moon suffered an injury after knocking down two speaker cabinets. The show later became a popular bootleg recording. The band started another North American tour on 10 October at the Commonwealth Armory in Boston, emphasized by a six-night stand at the Fillmore East in New York City. One show at the Fillmore was attended by Leonard Bernstein, who praised the band for their new music. The Who ended 1969 with a North American tour with a short tour of England, including a show at the London Coliseum