The Who: Live in Hyde Park

Man: A lot of the top groups now are pretending

to try and get away from doing tours

and just concentrating on recording.

And I understand that you want to do the reverse of this.

Daltrey: Yeah, we think this is pretty stupid

because when you're in a hall,

you know where your audience is.

You can see the expressions on their faces.

There's no doubt about what is actually happening.

Townshend: In London, there's a general

kind of sense of warmth

that the who are part of this city.

There's the mayor, Boris, and then there's the who,

and then there's the prime minister

and the queen.

Daltrey: London had a big affect on us

because London suffered immensely

from the bombing and the war,

which gave us that blank canvas to work on.

The stage for us used to be a war zone,

and we used to be determined

to drive our music through the people to the back wall.

Townshend: We started to watch our audience.

That's what defined the who.

We have always watched our audience.

We were part of the synergy of an event,

rather than, "look at us. We're on the stage.

And look at you. You're down there looking up at us."

Daltrey: And I've looked at early photos.

You can look at the clothes,

you can look at all those things,

but it's more to do with what's in the eyes.

There's an attitude there,

and I kind of maintain that today.

I hope the who have never become complacent

in the way we play and present our music.

The best creative stuff that's gonna come out of a group

comes out of friction,

and it doesn't come out of going,

"oh, let's go for a jolly up the pub."

Townshend: It's probably well known by now

that I didn't want to be in the who at all

and still don't.

Daltrey: You push and you pull,

and slowly but surely, things sharpen up.

It keeps everybody on their toes.

Townshend: We play to our audience,

and I think there's that connection.

And it's what the songs are about.

They're not just happy-go-lucky, ooh, I love you, baby.

I want to get in your knickers.

There's a lot more depth.

And that can only be more moving.

You know, it just has to be about what we do together,

not about what we do as individuals.

You are a long way away.

But we will fucking reach you.