My 2 cents

[DANwhoIEL@aol.com]

For what it's worth...

I'm pretty ambivalent about The Who reforming for the Hyde Park show and
maybe even for an "Unplugged" gig (I know chances are slim).  The only
performance I saw was the during the '89 Tour.  It was their second show at
Giants Stadium and I was on the "floor" at about row 40 with my friends...It
was a wonderful night, and the "ensemble" put on an outstanding show.

Pete, Rog and John played hard and thrilled me to death.  Roger even
punctured his tambourine during "Overture"!  But I just had difficulty
thinking of those 3 original members and the 13 other musicians as THE WHO.
 I know, what else can they be called, right??  Well...nothing.  Sure,
they're The Who in name, but IMHO, not in SPIRIT...Even Pete Townshend
remarked before the encore that "we finally realized it took 13 musicians to
replace Keith Moon".  I would argue (and Pete might agree) that Moon can not
be replaced...period!  I read a review of the "30 Years of..." video, and the
reviewer remarked that the performances toward the end of the video are
nothing more than a simple "accounting" for previous success...I find it hard
to disagree with that statement, particularly when you compare the first half
of that video and TKAA to the '89 Tour.  

What I'm trying to say is this:  I don't want to see The Who's music
trivialized for nostalgia's sake...It means too much to me.  It got me
through adolescence and college and everything else so far...I don't want to
see this band (or any of its members, for that matter) become "entertainers"
vice "rock and roll icons"...Adding a list of celebrities to these special
shows just makes it worse.  If a band (or bands) were to do a Who tribute
concert and the guys made a cameo, it would be different, and I'd feel a lot
better about the whole idea.  Can you see the advertisements in five years:
 Now appearing at Harrah's in Atlantic City...THE WHO!!...Hey, it happened to
the Beach Boys...

I think JAE got it right on his tour.  From what I've read here, it was LOUD
and INSPIRING.  I watched DST and it was, well, NOSTALGIC...

If they're going to do Quadrophenia justice, they would keep the celebs in
the audience, forget to invite the backing vocalists and musicians, hire a
competent drummer...and play loud.  This unfortunately would be a difficult
task, given Pete's hearing and the slowly deteriorating qualities of their
vocals...

But that's just me...fire away,

Dan Senesky