The Who Young Vic Theatre 50th Anniversary

In the spring of 1971, The Who were recording the unofficially titled album that would go on to be the iconic Who's Next. On April 26, 1971, in the midst of recording their album the band performed at The Young Vic Theatre in London, a gig that still lives on to this day cloaked in mystery. Being the events occurred exactly fifty years ago, there's uncertainty about the facts and circumstances surrounding the band's recorded concert. Of note, the band wasn't even touring at this time.

Some accounts say Pete Townshend wanted to use it as part of Who's Next which was in the process of being recorded, others opined it was recorded it as live material that could be spliced into the paused Lifehouse album, or it could've been as simple as The Who wanted to listen to their new songs and how they sounded in concert. 

Much of set did feature Lifehouse material, including all six of the songs known to have been worked on, as well as 'Bargain,' 'Time Is Passing,' and 'Too Much of Anything.' The rest of the set indicates the band might not yet have figured out whether the intention of the concert was to work on new material, air out some oldies for their own pleasure, entertain an audience expecting at least some familiar favorites, or do all of these things at once.

This performance and it's recording is an extremely important and historically invaluable document of The Who at their most formative period, similar to the Live at Leeds performance that was released one year prior. It's an honor to release this limited edition screenprint commemorating an important event for one of the greatest rock bands in music history!