Recorded at an outdoor cricket ground in Kennington, South London, this 1971 tape captures The Who during their Who’s Next peak. At this point, Pete Townshend’s tone was still draped with molten overdrive (before evolving to a much cleaner tone), and displays those frenetic Hendrixian colors on “My Wife.” Even the lighter “Love Ain’t For Keeping” is a crunchy rocker here, propelled by John Entwistle’s first-gen Thunderbird IV and Keith Moon’s drum fury. It’s rum stuff.
Going back a half decade, the quartet delivers crisp versions of early singles “I Can’t Explain” and “Substitute,” both master classes on Pete’s chord work, here using an SG Special (which he smashed later that night). He strums acoustic for the intro to “Bargain” and treads the line between light arpeggios and nasty power chords on “Behind Blue Eyes.” “Pinball Wizard” also nails that patented clean-meets-dirty dynamic.
“Won’t Get Fooled Again,” perhaps the Who’s greatest guitar anthem, is given a suitably brutish performance, rife with the Ox’s muscular bass lines and Pete’s fiery riffs and solo.
Live at the Oval 1971 isn’t essential, but with excellent audio and seismic energy, it’s a snapshot of The Who at their critical highpoint. – Pete Prown
This article originally appeared in VG’s November 2025 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.