Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There are always holy grails in which the music lover finds themselves hoping to one day hear, elevated from the possible and tantalising, once exotic but dubiously sourced bootleg, and for the fans of The Who, the night at the Fillmore East in the aftermath of one of the most horrendous acts of murder in American History, is one that has long been wanted and relished of all of the great British band’s captured performances.

Live At The Fillmore East 1968 may not have the same gravitas as Live at Leeds, the memories of their set at Woodstock or the Isle of Wight or even perhaps the later recorded sound of Quadrophenia in London. However, in terms of its historical placing in history, in the realms of what the band achieved in their time on the road in America during that tumultuous period, one that has frightening echoes in today’s world, one that could do with a group such as The Who to inject a sense of hope and fun against the insanity brewing on both sides of the Atlantic.

Aside from the social backdrop and air of anger in the air as people came to terms with the senseless murder of Martin Luther King, what this recording shows is the beautiful fragility of the band as they came to the end of an exhausting six week tour, almost relentless, never unloved, it was the finale that might have been out of this world, but instead showed just how alert and human the foursome were, how despite all that was against them, the comparisons with the darlings of the American mainstream media in The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, they really were by this point the true epitome of the British Rock Invasion.

With the first two songs of the night omitted Pictures of Lily and Substitute and lost perhaps for all time, this live album, restored as much as possible to a point where the odd drop out is bypassed as a side effect for reliving nostalgia and of no consequence to the enjoyment of the picture painted.

A reminder of what The Who were capable of, even towards the end of a gruelling tour, even with the heightened social unease that the United States of America faced in 1968, this is a highlight of the holy grails, a night of songs which concludes with a 33 minute jam that surrounds My Generation, everything comes together, raw, unspoilt by over dubbing, this is as close as you could have got to the immense power that Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon and John Entwistle brought to the stage.

Ian D. Hall