The 1969 Amsterdam Broadcast. 1969 was a pivotal year in the history of The Who - the May release of Tommy was a watershed moment for the band, and the live performances in support of the album completely rejuvenated their career. Pete Townshend, who had been searching for a new musical direction for some time, had a made a breakthrough in 1968 when he abandoned drug use and began to study the teachings of the Indian mystic Meher Babar. By August, he was describing in press interviews his idea for a new rock opera, steeped in the teachings of Babar, which would transcend the standard three-minute rock format but could work both as standalone songs and as a cohesive whole. His ambition was for the music to be able to be performed live, in contrast to recent work by The Beatles and The Beach Boys which had made heavy use of the studio and which was difficult to reconstruct on stage. On its release in May 1969 Tommy became an instant hit, attracting plaudits from across the music press, many of which held that Townshend had fashioned a new genre of music. The Who performed material from the album live during several shows in the spring, but by the time that they embarked on a US tour in May, they had reduced the Tommy part of their set to about 40 minutes. After high profile shows at The Royal Albert Hall, Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival, and with sales of the album soaring, the band expanded their stage presentation to incorporate more of Tommy. At Fairfield Halls in Croydon on September the 21st the opera was performed in a more complete form, alongside legacy songs like My Generation that were re-worked to include passages from Tommy. On September 29th, 1969, the band took to the stage at Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and delivered the stunning performance presented on Loud Vibration Land a two-hour concert broadcast by the Dutch station AVRO. After 10 hits to open up, the band plays almost all of Tommy (only three tracks from the album Underture, Cousin and Welcome are omitted) in a seminal record of The Who during one of the most important moments in their history. TRACK LISTING CD 1 01. Heaven And Hell 02. I Can't Explain 03. Fortune Teller 04. Tattoo 05. Young Man Blues 06. A Quick One, While He's Away 07. Substitute 08. Happy Jack 09. I'm A Boy 10. Overture 11. It's A Boy 12. 1921 13. Amazing Journey 14. Sparks 15. Eyesight To The Blind (The Hawker) CD2 01. Christmas 02. The Acid Queen 03. Pinball Wizard 04. Do You Think It's Alright? 05. Fiddle About 06. Tommy Can You Hear Me? 07. There's A Doctor 08. Go To The Mirror 09. Smash The Mirror 10. Miracle Cure 11. Sally Simpson 12. I'm Free 13. Tommy's Holiday Camp 14. We're Not Gonna Take It 15. Summertime Blues 16. Shakin' All Over 17. My Generation