Following Keith Moon's death in September 1978, The Who decided to continue as a band, recruiting former Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones; keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick was also added to the line-up for live performances, adding another element to the band's sound. The post-Moon incarnation of The Who played as a five-piece for seven shows, the first occurring on 2 May at the Rainbow Theatre in London.
In September, the group made their first trip to the United States since 1976 for a series of shows at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey and Madison Square Garden in New York City. A horn section was introduced to the band's act for the first time around this time. It would be retained through 1980. They returned to the States in November for an official tour, which was marred by tragedy when 11 fans were killed and 26 others were injured at a crowd crush before a concert at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati on 3 December. This led to the banning of festival seating in Cincinnati and many other cities and states around the United States for a considerable period. The disaster also caused a scheduled concert for 17 December in Providence, Rhode Island to be cancelled, leading to a second show in Landover, Maryland (the first was on 13 December) to be scheduled in its place. The group ended the year with a benefit appearance at the Hammersmith Odeon, London on 28 December as part of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea.
The band added three new songs from Who Are You in 1979, "Who Are You," "Sister Disco," and "Music Must Change"; John Entwistle's "Trick of the Light" was also played occasionally, with Entwistle playing 8 string bass and Pete Townshend also playing a standard bass guitar. The horn section also allowed numbers like "5:15" and "Drowned" (now sung by Townshend) to be reintroduced to the act. Meanwhile, 1979 shows are known among Who fans for new material that Townshend introduced on some nights during jams, most of which did not see release until later on. Some notable songs that evolved from these jams are "Cat's in the Cupboard" and "I Am an Animal" from Townshend's 1980 album Empty Glass, as well as "How Can You Do It Alone" from The Who's 1981 album Face Dances, and "Dance It Away," a bonus track on the reissued edition of Townshend's 1982 album All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes

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