Hyde (another long tale)

	I'm still trying to find the words to describe the Who in Hyde 
Park (and my entire London experience).  It was my first time seeing the 
Who so needless to say it was earthshattering for me.  I'll just pick 
out the highlights that I can remember and try to keep it as brief as  
possible.
	First of all, on Friday night I had the extreme pleasure to go 
see Tommy at the Shaftsbury Theatre.  It was so much better than I ever 
expected it to be.  What a great warm-up for the concert.  You can tell 
that many people in the audience were getting excited about the concert 
the next day, there was a weird kind of feeling amongst the crowd.  And 
there was this guy sitting in the front row, right in the center who must 
of thought he was at a Who concert because he was jumping around in his 
seat and waving his arms in the air for the whole show.  I guess 
"powerful" would be the word I would use for this show.  I've never left 
a show like that and found myself sweating.
	Ok, on to the concert.  
	I managed to talk three of my friends into going with me to the show 
extremely early.  We got there at 6:30 and were first in one of the many 
lines to get in.  Amazingly enough Gad was in line right next to us and 
we were able to kill those long hours before the concert talking about 
the Who.  
	Some others joined our group and we waited for the gates to 
open.  We had a plan.  My friend Rob and I were the frontal attack.  We 
were to get in, run like hell and stake our claim on the best spot we 
could get.  We used a 4ft. cardboard cutout of the Pillsbury 
Doughboy(no, really,I'm serious) as our signal to the others once we got  
inside. When we were sitting outside the gate it didn't look like it was 
too far to the stage.  Once the gates opened and I began to run, I realized 
the stage was a long, long, long ways away.  I about had a heart attack 
about half way but I just keep thinking "this is for the Who, keep 
going."  My next thought was, "when I get home I've got to start working 
out again."
	We could have gotten really close to the stage but we were afraid 
of an Alanis-induced mosh pit.  So we set up about 40 yards from the 
stage, slightly towards John's side.	There was no mosh pit so I was 
really pissed when the curtains opened for the Who and I realized I 
couldn't see very well.
	When the curtains opened, John was on stage but Roger and Pete 
weren't.  That sort of made me mad.  As I've mentioned in other posts I 
don't think John gets enough credit even from Pete and Roger.  
	From where I was the sound was nearly perfect.  Which ever 
instrument I wanted to listen to I could hear.  And the back-up singers 
you could hardly hear which was perfect.   
	Pete kept leaving the stage.  Why couldn't he just stay out there 
and play?
	The band was the best ensemble I think they could have had.  I 
was particularly impressed with Simon and Zak.  When this is all over 
they should start their own band.
	I didn't mind the guest stars at all.  Gilmour was alright and 
Glitter kind of made everything fun.
	John was perfect as usual.  His solo in 5:15 was amazing.  
	Pete's solo acoustic of Drowned nearly brought tears to my eyes.  
The fire is definitely not out in that man.  I didn't see one windmill 
though which was kind of disappointing.
	The one thing I'll remember about Roger (other than the eyepatch) 
was the two screams he let out during Love Reign O'er Me.  If I remember 
correctly each was on the word "love" and lasted a good 6 to 7 seconds 
and the last one he went down to his knees.  Knowing what I know now 
about his injury I absolutely can't believe what I saw and heard.
	As the band left the stage I just about passed out.  I just layed 
down on the ground, put my sweatshirt over my head and remained numb for 
a while.  It didn't help that I had only gotten about 8 hours total sleep 
in the 5 days before the concert and I hadn't eaten or gone to the 
bathroom in about 6 or 7 hours.
	Unfortunately, after the concert the people I was with said they 
didn't enjoy the Who all that much because they couldn't understand the 
story.  And they were right, that show was for us hardcore fans I think.  
Pete might want to think about that if he wants to present the same show 
again.
	I know there were other memorable events but these are the ones 
that come to mind right now.  I hope it wasn't too long a read.
	When the show is on HBO, everybody look for a guy with fake 
blondish-red hair going nuts fairly close to the stage, that's me. 
	Like I mentioned before, this was without a doubt the greatest 
experience of my life.
	

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Shanon Dell                     |       
Radio/Television Department     |  
University of Montana           |                 
tommy@selway.umt.edu            |                       
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