The Who work out their 1978 classic “Who Are You” in a clip from their career-spanning documentary, Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who, which is now available to stream for the first time on the Coda Collection.
The clip features some raw footage of the Who performing an energetic, albeit somewhat shaky version of “Who Are You” while filming their 1979 documentary, The Kids Are Alright. The performance marked the band’s first time together in more than a year, and as Pete Townshend quips in the clip, “Unfortunately the band didn’t play as well, but I think all of us had such a good time together. But we were all wrecks!”
The live performance is followed up by a much more meticulous and precise rendition of “Who Are You,” captured during the studio sessions for the band’s album of the same name. The album, however, would end up being the band’s last with drummer Keith Moon, whose death and struggles with addiction are also discussed in the final moments of the clip.
Amazing Journey was directed by Murray Lerner and Paul Crowder and first released in 2007. Anchored by interviews with Townshend and Roger Daltrey, the film tracks the band’s rise and career, and features a trove of previously unseen footage and performance clips.
“It’s not easy to capture in film the power and energy of any rock band, especially the four characters that made up the Who, the brilliance of Pete Townshend’s music, and the magic that happened between Pete, John, Keith and myself,” Daltrey said in a statement. “But Who fans tell me Amazing Journey does just that. From the moment that Keith joined us in the Railway Hotel back in 1964, it was like a bottle of champagne being uncorked. We just clicked. And here we are, all these years later — we’ve lost our dear bandmates Keith and John, and Pete and I continue to play together and carry this story forward. Thanks to Coda for putting this show up, and enjoy this film about our journey. I’m still living it!”