Over the course of his tragically short life, The Who’s drummer, Keith Moon, developed quite a reputation for his shocking, destructive, and outlandish antics. Joining the British rock band in the mid-1960s offered Moon the perfect opportunity to get out his wild, abrasive energy, both on his drum kit and on the hotel rooms, venues, cars, and groupies he encountered as a member of one of the hottest rock bands of the decade. But as Outlaws guitarist Henry Paul recalled in a 2025 interview with Guitar World, Moon continued his reckless behavior even when (or maybe especially when) he wasn’t with the band.
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Paul traveled with Moon briefly in the mid-1970s when the former musician’s band, The Outlaws, got an opening slot for The Who. The guitarist said that while most of The Who opted not to hang out with them during their downtime, Moon was an exception. During one of those hangout seshes, the musicians found themselves at a nice restaurant in formalwear. In sharp tuxedos, they didn’t look like rock ‘n’ roll hoodlums. If you didn’t know the band members’ faces, you wouldn’t have suspected they were a rowdy bunch. Or at least, that must have been what a couple dining nearby thought.
“One evening, we went to a restaurant and an American couple mistook Keith for a server because he had a tuxedo on,” Paul recalled. “They wanted a bottle of wine. So, he grabbed one and poured it all over the guy! He must have paid hundreds of pounds for the guy’s wet clothes.”
The Experience Didn’t Scare Them Away From Keith Moon (Or The Who)
Watching a tuxedo-clad Keith Moon pour an entire bottle of wine over unsuspecting diners was undoubtedly a shocking sight. As Outlaws guitarist Henry Paul put it, “Keith lived in a different place on this Earth.” Still, the experience wasn’t enough to discourage the opening band from working with the British rock ‘n’ rollers. This was just par for the course for Moon. Given his lengthy history of trashing hotel rooms, it’s almost more surprising that he didn’t pour a bottle of wine on the Americans and then continue trashing the rest of the dining room. Outlandish antics aside, though, Paul and the rest of his band were enamored and enthralled with their touring colleagues.
“The Who were the most powerful band, unlike anything I’d ever seen,” Paul said. “Roger Daltrey was this gorgeous human. The greatest frontman with his shirt open and his hair curly. Pete Townshend was crazed out of his mind. Each player had distinct personalities. The music was mind-boggling. So loud, so powerful, and so incredibly played.”
The infamous wine incident took place while The Who was touring through their native U.K., which makes the detail of the misidentifying couple being American all the more important. A Brit might have recognized Moon’s distinct face. Moreover, it might have been more irritating for Moon to be mistaken for a waiter in the country where he was from. Or maybe it didn’t take that much for Moon to feel compelled to do something like pouring wine on a stranger. Perhaps that proclivity for destruction is precisely what made Keith Moon, Keith Moon.
Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images
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