For a great many of us tender shoots, rock music was oxygen, the air we breathed. This opening had been fiercely anticipated. That worn-out dump in the seedy East Village was now... Mecca!

"I always try to make stuff that affects me and I think that if given the chance, a lot of music that doesn't seem like the formula of what might be a hit would be more popular. There's a lot of great music that doesn't sound like whatever. Everything sounds very dance-y now."

I'm in New York. We just finished some gigs and I saw my friend get married, and before that, we made a really cool album. We're starting our 25th year as a band and this record is the beginning of it.

As The Who show progressed, with no security staff whatsoever, the wings of the stage started getting jammed. But, I was still the only one onstage.

With the steady stream of elaborately produced, consciousness-raising concerts, The Secret Policeman's Ball is a symbol that anything is possible when you're trying to do the right thing for the planet.