No blogging for a bit while I hit The Who show tonight. This is them performing A Quick One, While He’s Away on The Rolling Stones Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus in 1968. It’s an amazing performance (one of the best rock performances EVER) from the year I was born.
Update:
You never know what you’re going to get from rock bands that have been around a few years (four decades for The Who). Tours are demanding, energy levels are lower, and voices give. But last night we got extremely lucky. I think we saw the best Who concert you could expect to see post-1980s. Pete and Roger were ridiculously f%#king good. Daltry’s voice is significantly more powerful than I expected and yes he pulled of “the scream” with ease. Vocals were stronger than any recording I’ve ever heard. Townshend seemed pretty sedate in a lot of the YouTube footage of this tour that I watched before the show but last night he attacked his guitar relentlessly. He didn’t give us a couple of creaky windmills he cranked out about 100 in both directions. Ringo Starr’s kid, Zak Starkey, has some legendary shoes to fill and pulls it off with ease. He isn’t Keith Moon, nobody every will be, but he’s a powerful drummer and a great replacement. If you have a chance to catch the remaining shows do so.
Here’s a more detailed look at last night’s show:
One thing I noticed off the bat was the sound level. It was really loud compared to last night…maybe that’s just because it was a smaller venue., but whatever the reason it worked wonders. And the mix was great, everything could be heard. Pete was also in top vocal form, and loud enough to go through the blazing guitars.
You could really feel that Pete and Roger were putting everything into this one, most of the standard songs, especially in the 2nd half of the show were extended. And extended with style.
Real Good Looking Boy was played at an abnormally fast pace. It threw me off a bit, I’m not sure if it was planned or if Zak got a bit too excited.
Mini opera went off great, We Got a Hit and Endless Wire being the highlights. Roger messed up one line of Mirror Door and ended up repeating himself but I doubt anyone caught it.
Baba O’Riley was the song to die for. Audience screaming every line, Pete improvising a bunch, Roger really getting into it. The standing ovation after that one was so long and so loud that Pete didn;t know when to talk. He was standing there in awe for a few mins. When he finally did speak you knew he was feeling it as much as the crowd. He mentioned the austronaut who took Baba to space was in the audience…he told a HORRIBLE but cute space joke (don’t quit your dayjob Pete), and basically seemed to be having a wonderful time. If there was any doubt that this would be a top notch show Baba cleared it up, this show was going for the gold.
Pete thanked everyone for coming, which he got a huge cheer for…and then thanked everyone who bought the cd, which hardly anyone made noise except for Kimberly and I screaming at the top of our lungs. Which made our whole section laugh. I’m sure if you get the encore you could hear us haha
Eminence Front was funky and again very loud.
Man in a Purple Dress was in my eyes flawless. Surprisingly it also had good audience participation.
Mike Post Theme, nailed. nailed nailed nailed. Screams and all. Top notch.
You Better You Bet as always was a huge crowd pleaser, and not just when Roger stuck his mic out, but through the whole song.
My Generation into Cry if You Want was on fire. The momentum by this part of the show was unstoppable. Cry if You Want was beyond funky (and included some nice dance moves by Roger including a long tush shimmy for the crowd, and I died). Last nights was good, tonights was past better and onto best.
And Won’t Get Fooled Again was rafter shaking, Pete entended the end until I thought everyone in the arena was going to pass out from screaming. I felt like I busted a vocal chord cheering on the multiple windmills that just kept on coming.
the audience cheered, clapped, screamed, whistled, and stood through the entire encore break to an almost alarming level. I tell you, this was the greatest crowd Texas has ever put together.
Tommy encore, wonderful. Pinball Wizard was amazingly loud. And at some point in the encore Pete was adding lyrics and going crazy on the guitar like I’ve yet to hear in this Who generation. Roger broke 2 or 3 tamborines, I couldn’t tell if the one he finally started to hit against his leg was a full one or just the remains.
Here’s some video of Baba O’Riley at their show in San Jose this month:
