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Great Woods Review










Warning: A review of the Daltrey sings Townshend show at Great
Woods follows.  If you are going to an upcoming show and do not
want to see the setlist, then do not continue reading this post.





Taken from the Lowell Sun, Lowell, Massachusetts August 30, 1994.








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DALTREY AND PALS REVEL IN MUSIC OF WHO


Just under 6,000 people showed up last night to hear Roger Daltrey
and his special guests, including Who bassist John Entwistle; Pete
Townshend's younger brother, Simon, on guitar; Ringo Starr's kid,
Zak Starkey on the drums, and others (including the 60 piece Great
Woods Festival Orchestra), recreate the music of The Who.  Which
means that at least 13,000 people probably stayed away because they
felt it was impossible without Pete Townshend.

They were wrong.

For more than two glorious hours, the outstanding sound of Thw Who
filled the Mansfield night, as Daltrey and the band put together one
of the finest shows of the season.

Concentrating predominantly on The Who catalog from 1969 to 1978, 
the show featured more than 20 songs, including the long-ignored
Quadrophenia, a brilliant rock opera that ranks among The Who's best
material.

After a lengthy overture, Daltrey took the stage by immediately 
kicking in with "You Better You Bet" and a kickin' "Another Tricky
Day", with Simon Townshend eerily mimicking his brothers boves. 
Throw in Zak Starkey's superb drumming that at times harkened back
to the helter-skelter style of Keith Moon (who trained Starkey), and
it was flashback city.

"Baba O'Riley" was fast and furious, and Daltrey even tossed in the
obscure "After the Fire".

The orchestra, which was outstanding all night, gave the music a
pleasant jolt with a segment devoted to Tommy, as Daltrey swung his
microphone chord like a lasso while belting out "Amazing Journey",
I'm Free" and "Pinball Wizard".  He then climaxed the set with an
emotional tour de force on "See Me, Feel Me".

The second half came out all fired up with a pleasant "Who Are You",
featuring nice guitar work by Geoff Whitehorn, followed by Daltrey's
excellent rendition of Pete Townshend's solo number, "The Sea Re-
fuse's No River".

Things really kicked into gear right about here as Daltrey intro-
duced John Entwistle to the crowd, who then proceeded to rip off
excellent versions of "My Wife" and the creepy-crawly "Boris the
Spider".

But the best was yet to come, and it did with a simply smashing
section that featured the orchestra cutting loose on a 35 minute
salute to Quadrophenia, in which Daltrey punched the vocal envelope
with riveting renditions of "The Real Me", "5:15", and "Love, Reign
O'er Me", as the band fired on all cylinders.  The show then ended
on a high note with a fine "Behind Blue Eyes" and a hard driving
"Won't Get Fooled Again".

Those who stayed away last night because there was no Pete Townshend
missed a sensational evening because they didn't remember that no
one person is bigger than the music of The Who, even if that one
person did write all the songs.

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In a way it was sad for me to see such a small crowd, but in another
way it was great - everyone there was a Who freak!!!  No fair-weather
fans that don't know "Baba O'Riley" but know every word to "Teenage
Wasteland".

I enjoyed this show more than Pete's Psychoderelict show last year.
Roger started singing "Why should I Care..." and I figured it was the 
start of 5:15, but no, he continued "If I have to cut my hair..." and
the house TOTALLY rocked out for all of the Quadrophenia section.  It
was tremendous to see a bunch of 25-45 year olders jumping around like
teenagers.

Roger and Simon did a great acoustic version of "Naked Eye" with Roger
on guitar also.  Simon did a solo number of his "That's The Way It Is"
(I think that was the title) which left me thinking "Pete who?"8^)

It was great to hear "Another Tricky Day" and "The Relay".  John seemed
pretty drunk but thrilled to be there. He did the best version of "My
Wife" that I have EVER heard!!! His bass was awesome. 

Roger also seemed thrilled to be there and said that he would continue
to tour as long as his old body would allow. 

Don't miss this show if you love Who music.

David Brewer
Sun Microsystems
Chelmsford, Massachusetts