It's easy to dismiss The Who as irrelevant dinosaurs making the rounds of the nation's arenas as an nostalgia act. In fact, when tickets for their Fresno show went on sale last year I nearly did just that. I quickly came to my senses and realized that it would be like a devout Catholic missing a visit by the pope.
First of all, I along with many fans have trouble calling the current version of the band The Who. Keith Moon and John Entwistle were far more than just sideman. Moon was clearly the greatest drummer in rock and Entwistle was an innovator on his instrument (the solo on My Generation alone is enough to elevate him to the front of the pack) with a wicked sense of humor and a slew of wacky songs like "Boris The Spider" to add to the act.
Still, The Who has always been the canvas for Pete Townshend's art and as one of the 5 or so most important figures in rock history even his minor works are considerable. Time and loss of bandmates has done little to erase that fact. The group's new album "Endless Wire" is their best since 1975's The Who By Numbers and the passage of time has only made the older music more relevant.
I've seen most of the living guitar Gods and without a doubt the greatest live exhibition of rock'n' roll I've ever witnessed was by The Who in 1980 at the Oakland Colisium Arena. Townshend was possessed that night, he looked angry, wearing a Clash t-shirt with the arms cut off and scowl, he played like his future depended on how much noise he could generate. Roger Daltry was still able to scream, I mean real, honest- to- God bloodcurdling, "i'm going to explode" screams. It was perhaps the first and last time I could describe a show as frighting. The band played so loud my head rang for three days. It was an amazing experience and set the bar pretty high for future shows.
I knew Sunday's show in Fresno wouldn't match the intensity of that Oakland show, I've seen the band three times since that night and although the shows were all great, that night in Oakland was a near religious experience and things like that just don't happen twice.
Still, I wasn't prepared for how good they would be. Our seats were good, maybe 12 rows back, right in the center and at times it felt like we were in a small club. The band no longer plays at brain damage volume levels and the sound Sunday was as crisp and clear as any arena show I've seen.
The show included a number of the usual hits but unlike the recent Stones tour, The Who played 7 or 8 songs from their new album. It was clear that the audience wasn't too familier with the material but the slower, mostly acoustic set was one of the highlights of the night.
Townshend, for his part is still a master of the power cord, windmilling his way through "Baba O'Reily" and a powerful Tommy medley as an encore. They ended the show after the 20 minute blast of heavy metal from Tommy with a quite acoustic number called "Tea and Theatre" from the new album, with just Daltry and Townshend onstage. It was a dramatic way to close a show instead of the usual high energy number.
Daltry's voice is still powerful and by choosing songs that are clearly still within his range they avoided exposing any overreaching which could have been ugly.
Townshend in particular seemed in a great mood, joking with the crowd about the pronunciation of the name Fresno " Is it Fre-Sno?" and playfully banging himself over the head with his acoustic guitar after a slow number.
Replacing Moon on drums was Zak Starky, Ringo's son, who somehow manages to play more like Moon than anyone i've ever heard. Pete's brother Simon adds backup guitar and vocals and was pressed into duty as an opening act Sunday when the scheduled band got stuck in a snowstorm on the way from Reno. Simon did a short, entertaining set of acoustic songs including one called "I Want a Sex Change".
In any case, The Who is not even close to being a nostagia act, I'd argue that most, if not all newer bands couldn't come close to holding the stage with the presence and power that they did Sunday. And even if some of the best moments were from 30 year old albums, I hardly think that negates the importance of what they do.
And beside that, when was the last time you heard anything as good as "Who's Next or Live at Leeds'? Seriously, I love new music as much as anyone, my favorite album from last year was by the Arctic Monkeys but I'm still waiting for music as compelling as work done by the old farts.
Maybe that makes me an old fart. If so, i hope the smell drifts your way.
1 comment:
amen
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