Audience members have been heckling performers since time immemorial, but as one jeering concertgoer learned after Roger Daltrey swung a mic at him, it’s always wise to make sure the artist you’re hooting and hollering at doesn’t have a flying projectile at their immediate disposal.
While speaking to AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson, the vocalist for The Who recalled the one time he ever launched his microphone at an audience member. And if we’re being honest, the guy kind of had it coming.
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After all, it’s not like the vocalist was the first one to throw something.
Why Roger Daltrey Swung His Mic on Purpose
The Who was one of the first mainstream bands to combine aggressive physicality with rock ‘n’ roll, from Roger Daltrey swinging around his microphone like an XLR lasso to Pete Townshend smashing his guitar through his amplifiers to Keith Moon being, well, Keith Moon. Daltrey became quite skilled at swinging his mic on its cord, eventually getting to the point where he could “take a cigarette out of someone’s mouth from about twenty paces.”
He described this accuracy in a 2017 conversation with AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson, including the time he hit an audience member on purpose. “We were in the Albert Hall playing Tommy,” Daltrey recalled. “Two shows with Chuck Berry [who was] supposed to be opening up for The Who. But Chuck being Chunk, he ain’t opening for nobody.”
Daltrey described a “mob” of around 300 Chuck Berry fans, all positioned down toward the stage. “They started throwing things,” he said. “They started throwing paper cups and s*** on the stage. All of a sudden, I felt something kind of clip my eye. There’s still a scar there. The kind of warm feeling came down my face, and I put my hand up, and it was all blood. It was one of the old-fashioned copper pennies. He clipped the sides of it and made them sharp, and he’d thrown it at me. I saw the guy that threw it at me.”
Laughing, the vocalist remembered the man was “stuck right down in the front.” With each swing of his mic, the loop of the XLR cable got bigger and bigger until Daltrey let it go and watched the mic go “smack bang ball up on the nose. That’s the only one I’ve hit deliberately, and I own up to it.”
Photo by David Redfern/Redferns
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