Earl's Court shows

Just got back from seeing the Earl's Court shows; here are my impressions
(regrettably brief) from the trip:

Great time at the Britannia Tap Pub meeting (for the first time) Who fans
Mark Tilson, Paul Cooper & his wife Sue-Lynn, Neil Bilbe, Gary Gillman, and
seeing Bernd again.  Bernd also brought Nina, a bass player and
Who-fan-in-the-making.

The band seemed to turn things up a notch for the home crowd.  The sound
was pretty echo-y, as you might expect from a large exhibition hall of this
sort, not acoustically designed.  Pete cranked more on the electric when it
came out, although it still didn't come out until "The Rock" duet -- adding
in some poses, birdmans, crouches and a machine gun or two, and windmills.
As mentioned, he said he was pleased to play for some real mods.  They
added some killer extensions onto the end of "Sea and Sand".

John's soloes seemed a bit shorter than the last ones in the States.  The
playing was just as good, it just wasn't quite as long and the crowd didn't
respond as strongly as they usually did in the States.

Speaking of the crowd, the floor was divided into right, center, and left
sections, and the left-hand third of the front section sat for the *entire
show*.  The entire right-side (Pete) section sat.  Wankers.  Thankfully,
these gaffes were rectified in the second show when all stood.  Big chunks
of the balcony were empty for the second show, but as was reported they
inserted two songs (Substitute and Naked Eye) before WAY in the usual
encore.  Pete smacked chords out of his guitar through John's solo in
Substitute, hitting the strings with his fist.

P J Proby was _very_ different from Gary Glitter; different costumes but
still heavy on the black leather.  Where Gary was frantic and wild, P J
strolled, projecting power and confidence.  He walked up to his place, and
stood still gazing/glaring at the crowd.  It could have been _really_
effective but he dampened the effect by shifting his glance to Roger or
elsewhere from time to time.  When it came time to sing, unfortunately he
didn't know the words real well and slipped up on a couple of phrases, and
had to read the lyrics from a teleprompter of book at his feet.  Both his
rhythms and his notes left something to be desired.

Billy Idol missed, just flat stinking missed, his first entrance in the
second show.  The band kept playing his intro phrase over and over, and
finally Pete had to step up and sing the opening  "My jacket's gonna be cut
slim and checked..."  Billy made it onstage by the time his second
scheduled verse rolled around.  Afterward, no one could tell me why he'd
missed the entrance.

That's about all I have time for in the way of reviews; I'll be digging out
from under the backlog for awhile now that I'm back.  Best wishes to anyone
who may be reading this and is going to Manchester...have a great show!!


Alan

"When I'm on stage, it's not like bein' possessed...it's just...*I* *do*
*my* *job*."                 - Pete Townshend