On this day in 1973, The Who were jailed after a wild after-party

Following a standard performance at Montreal’s Forum as part of their Quadrophenia tour, the band were invited to attend an after-party held by various RCA executives the Bonaventure Hotel.

The party began with Keith Moon smashing a bottle of ketchup against the wall before kicking a painting out of its housing and using it to frame the ketchup splatter. Pete Townshend recalls cutting his hand with a knife and adding it to the “art”.  The next few hours led to complete destruction throughout the hotel, with sofas being thrown from balconies to the street, a television set dropped into the swimming pool as well as a marble table being used to smash through one of the walls. 

Eventually, police were called to the scene and the band were arrested alongside 14 members of their touring party. Singer Roger Daltrey was the only band member to escape arrest. The following day, the group’s local promoter went to the police station with almost $6000 in cash and everyone was released. The event reportedly spurred on the band to perform an energetic and defiant show the following night.