The Peculiar Truth about the Who’s Emergency Drummer

• November 1973: One of rock and roll’s most popular bands, the Who, were arguably at the peak of their success. Less than a month earlier they had released their new album Quadrophenia, and they were on tour across the US to promote it.

• On a Tuesday night, two days before Thanksgiving, they appeared at the Cow Palace, an aging indoor arena in San Francisco’s nearest suburb of Daly City. It had hosted NBA basketball in the Sixties and, before that, livestock shows. The Cow Palace had also become a rock and roll venue. The Beatles played there in 1964.

• The November Who concert was put on by San Francisco’s famed rock promoter Bill Graham. He was in attendance for the show.

• Keith Moon, the Who’s drummer, was a rock and roll wildman. He had a reputation for smashing things. He destroyed his drum kit on TV, most notably during an appearance on The Smother Brothers Comedy Hour in September 1967 when he placed explosives in his bass drum. In what became a rock and roll cliche, Moon also liked to wreck hotel rooms.

• He was also notoriously fond of booze and drugs. That November evening in 1973 was no exception.

• According to the legend, someone in that night’s audience offered him a handful of pills. Moon had no idea what they were but accepted them without question, supposedly declaring “I can take it, I’m Keith Fucking Moon.” He then swallowed them with a guzzle of brandy.

• The pills, as it turned out, were horse tranquilizers.

• The Who took the stage and launched into their set list, which included many of the new tunes from Quadrophenia. About 70 minutes into their show, the drugs kicked in. In the midst of performing ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again,’ Moon collapsed onto his drum set. Crewmen carried him offstage.

• Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, and Roger Daltrey carried on without him for roughly thirty minutes.

• Meanwhile, people backstage did their best to get Moon sober. After a freezing cold shower and an injection of cortisone, Moon awakened. He returned to the stage, and the show went on. But not for long.

• The Who performed their 1968 hit 'Magic Bus.' That song’s percussion was wood blocks. Moon managed to play for the length of the tune. Then he collapsed again. Crew members carried him off, this time for good.

• That prompted Pete Townshend to address the crowd. He said that Keith was done for the night. Then he asked, “Can anybody play the drums? I mean somebody really good.”

• A minute passed. Then, at the urging of a friend, a young man from the audience approached Bill Graham. The promoter asked whether or not he really could play. The young man gave a definitive answer: Yes.

• He was then rushed onstage and took a seat behind Moon’s drum kit. He was not a professional drummer.

• He was a nineteen-year-old from the Midwest named Scot Halpin.

• Halpin had recently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from his native Iowa. He was an avid fan of the Who, got a scalper’s ticket, and waited hours ahead of time to get a front-row view. He knew the Who’s music and knew how to play drums.

• At Townshend’s command, the band with its new drummer launched into an old Howlin’ Wolf tune, 'Smokestack Lightning.' Halpin did an admirable job. They followed up with another Howlin’ Wolf blues song, 'Spoonful.' Finally, Halpin stumbled through one of Townshend’s original compositions, 'Naked Eye.'

• After that, the Who had the young replacement drummer join them center stage for a bow, and the show was over. The audience loved it.

• Halpin got to hang out with the band members backstage afterward, received a tour jacket, and received their praise and thanks. However, he never received any money.

• Later that same night, his tour jacket was stolen.

• Scot Halpin never performed with the band again. But he could boast for years until his death in 2008 that, thanks to horse tranquilizers, he was briefly a member of the Who.