November 5th, 1973 - One of the most infamous days in Who-History
Violence exploded on stage during a concert at the Newcastle Odeon due to the complications with the material from 'Quadrophenia' that was being played. Pete loses it during '5:15' when the backing tapes tapes the band use come in too slow. He attacks road manager Bobby Pridden and drags him over the soundboard. He then starts to rip up the tapes, before announcing to the audience that he will never play live again and stalking offstage
The curtain drops only to go back up ten minutes later as The Who with Pete come back onstage, drop the remainder of the planned set list, and play a set of oldies instead
The following day, the local newspapers cover the story
[Transcribed as much as possible]
The Who in a storm
"Police were called to a Gateshead hotel early today after reports of an incident involving The Who pop group following their stormy appearance before 2,000 fans at a city cinema last night.
The uniformed police went to the groups luxury suite at the Five Bridges Hotel in the early hours of the morning to investigate a reported disturbance.
A senior spokesman at Gateshead police station today said: "When officers arrived it was ??? that everything was quiet and no police action was necessary."
The hotel's deputy manager Mr. Robert Mitchell(?) said "We do not know the full details. We are waiting to hear from the night porter to find out exactly what happened."
Mr. Mitchell(?) added: "We are just discussing it at the moment. There was a disturbance." He said talks would probably be held with The Who later today.
Early inquirers at the hotel today were told: "They are all in bed. There was a party last night"
But by midday the group had left the hotel and were not expected to return until later. They have two more performances at the Newcastle Odeon" 
[Transcribed as much as possible]
The Who: A ridiculous display of unwarranted violence
"The Who rock band lived up to its reputation for violence on stage with an expensive display of guitar and amplifier smashing at the Odeon Cinema last night.
The concert was stopped in chaos when guitarist Pete Townshend howled out sound engineers, destroyed pre-recorded backing tapes and smashed up 100 worth of equipment during the groups presentation of its latest rock opera.
It was a ridiculous display of unwarranted violence witnessed by thousands of easily in flunked teenage pop fans.
Townshend, a temperamental but brilliant guitarist is quite notorious for sudden fits of violence on stage which have almost become accepted as part of the stage act by his many followers.
But this time stage hands rushed to disconnect electric amplifiers and Townshend's electro guitar after he swung it at a microphone and then smashed it to pieces on the stage floor.
Tempers flared after drummer Keith Moon had trouble with headphones. He let the drumsticks fly as the sound engineers battled to fix them.
Then Townshend intervened, yelling at the engineers behind control panels on the side of the stage. He ripped out backing tapes and heaved over equipment into the side curtains.
The there other members of the band -- lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon - just stared. The safety net was lowered to the stage but the lights stayed out.
Fans sat, quietly at first in total darkness and ??? obviously quite frightened -- frantically ?? torchlights across the audience.
After 10 minutes, with absolutely no trouble from the audience, the curtain was raised and Daltrey launched the band into a medley of "oldies."
Then he yelled four-letter words at the audience, calling them -- among many other derogatory terms - bastards and tried to explain everything by singing "My Generation" a song about the generation gap and how no one understands the younger generation.
The Townshend hurled his guitar against the upstanding microphone and smashed it into a score of pieces by baking it against the stage floor.
He then turned on a row of filled amplifiers at the back of the stage and hurled the top one to the ground. Keith Moon waded through his range of drums, spilling them across the stage and Daltrey took a last kick at his microphone. They all left to thunderous applause.
It was, in my opinion, an extremely childish publicity stunt with potentially damaging effect on thousands of youngsters who invariably follow their idols in all they do.
Otherwise, The Who were musically immaculate, as always.
Concerts tonight and tomorrow will go ahead as planned."
Bob Pridden backstage after the show
NOTE - also in this picture are members of the support band 'Kilburn And The Highroads' - on the left is bass player Humphrey Ocean [who would later become a painter and Royal Academy Professor of Perspective]; behind Pete, and wearing the hat is pianist Russell Hardy; and with the dark hair and denim jacket to Bob's right is Ian Dury