I went to the who concert last night. For those who don’t
know the the British band “The Who”, they are considered
one of the great rock bands of all time. “The who” have crafted
26 albums over 40 years, but its live work that will decide the
Who reputation. And I am pleased to say, whose two
surviving members are over 60, can still rock down the
house. The concert was at HP pavilion in San Jose California and
it was a full house, 15 or 16 thousand people.
They mixed up the old stuff going back to mid sixties and
the new cd from this year. The difference between the power
rock of the old who and the new stuff is the difference between
angry young men in their twenties and very wealthy men in
their sixties. The great power of the who was their anger,
especially Peter Townsend. Today they are reflective as
older men are. They played for 2 and half hours without a
break. The first hour and half was mixed up with old stuff
and the new stuff. The mix is not really a good one because
the two, old and new, come from different periods and
different perspectives. The last hour rocked like no
other concert I have ever been to. The had played
part of their new mini opera and then broke into a reworking
of a minor song called “cry if you want”. suddenly townshend
took over with his guitar work and the band played this song
for 20 minutes and it was seriously rocking then without stopping
went into their great signature song, “won’t get fooled again”.
And then went on for another 20 minutes. Every person in
the place stood for all 40 minutes of just serious rocking.
Then went off stage for their pretend leaving and everyone
stood and cheer for 5 minutes and they came out and went
into a tommy set. It was another 15 or 20 minutes of
serious foot stomping rock and then they ended the concert with
a new quiet song, “Tea and Theatre”. Which was just
daltry and townshend on stage with townshend playing
the guitar. A great quiet finish to a totally rocking concert.
The last rocking hour was townshend totally playing kick ass
guitar and basically taking over.
It was great.
Kropotkin