Marijuana Plants Sprouted In Anaheim Stadium After The Who Played In '76

By | October 31, 2019

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Roger Daltrey of The Who performing on tour in 1976. Photo by Richard Reed/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

You know it was a good Who show when marijuana plants pop up in the outfield a few days later.

On March 21, 1976, The Who was touring in support of The Who By Numbers when they made a stop at Angels’ stadium in Anaheim to give L.A. fans a dose of their famous Maximum R&B. Their fans paid it forward, leaving a little surprise for the Angels, who'd soon be starting their baseball season. Days after The Who had packed up and headed off for more stadiums full of adoring crowds, marijuana plants sprouted in the Angels’ stadium, much to the chagrin of the city, the park’s officials, and the groundskeepers. Was it The Who’s fault that their excitable fans scattered pot seeds across left field? Or was it just a sign of the times when a baseball stadium in a notoriously conservative part of California was turned into the world’s biggest greenhouse? 

The Who Were Firing On All Cylinders In 1976

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source: reddit

By 1976, The Who had been playing for more than a decade, and while they had plenty of hits throughout the ‘60s they were more popular than ever while on the Who By Numbers tour. They played a setlist stacked with hits to a ferocious fanbase who turned out in droves to see them. Even though the band was seemingly more popular than ever, this was to be the final year that The Who really toured like the band that everyone knew. Shortly after the band’s show in Anaheim the group’s guitarist and lead songwriter, Pete Townsend, would discover that he was suffering from the double whammy of hearing loss and tinnitus due to the volume of his band’s concerts.

This was also the last year that original drummer Keith Moon would play with the band in a touring capacity. By 1978 he’d be dead from an alcohol related death. But all of that was in the future, at their show in Anaheim the band played a blistering set full of every song a Who fan wants to hear: “Baba O’Riley,” “Squeeze Box,” “My Generation,” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Who fans can hear this exact show in the bootleg Who’s On First