Pete Townsend on anthems, grace and Bono: "I'm not ashamed of praying onstage"

Pete Townshend:

I'm not ashamed of praying onstage. 

 In a sense, we discovered the rock anthem through that.

At the end of Tommy, there's a prayer to a higher power--"Listening to You, I get the music" and "See me, feel me, touch me, heal me."  Rock audiences of the late Sixties would always stand up.  They would suddenly feel, "Ah! I see, we're gathered here in order to lose ourselves in this plea for grace." And that's what the rock anthem is.  Bono might think he's rallying the troops or something, but he's aware of the power of the congregation. -PETE TOWNSEND, Q &A: Pete Townshend, Rolling Stone, 11/8/12, p.22

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