3/26 JAE show

[Lev Polinsky <polinsky@husc.harvard.edu>]

Well, I finally saw JAE live and it was great.  The mix, as usual, was 
imperfect, but the rest of the show was just unbelievable.

Venue:  The Iron Horse, Northampton, MA

Opening Act:  Joni's Butterfly, as usual.  They were pretty good; though 
I had a Tiger-stadium seat which prevented me from seeing the guitarist 
without excessive craning of the neck.  The stage was also tiny, and the 
JAE band's equipment was already on the stage (including Steve Luongo's 
15-piece (I may be off by a couple) drum kit).  As a result, the singer 
had to do his gen-x 90's style dancing in a space of about 5'x5'.  The 
drummer was so-so, while the bassist was quite good.  Anyway, I wish 'em 
well.  Aside:  after the JAE show, outside, someone asked where the name 
of the band comes from.  Apparently, Joni's Butterfly is a brand name of 
a women's vibrator.  End aside.

There was then an hour-long break; finally, at about 8:45, the show started.

Band:  John Entwistle, bass, Steve Luongo, drums, Godfrey Townsend, 
guitar, and Alan St. Jon, kybds.

Set list:
Heaven and Hell
Had Enough
Success Story
Trick of the Light
Bridges under the Water
The Real Me
Love Doesn't Last
Boris the Spider
Life after Love
My Wife
Last Song
Summertime Blues
Encore (first and only):
Shakin' All Over

Annotated set list:

Heaven and Hell:
pretty much sounded the same as at Leeds; the lyrics were hard to hear, 
as on most non-"Rock" songs.

Had Enough:
really rocked; great song.

John then exchanged his Buzzard for the 8-string bass for the late-70's 
Who songs:

Success Story:
John looked rather disillusioned/unhappy during this song.  hMMM.  
Memorable quote of the day #1: "We're only using half of our equipment".  
Thankfully, add I.

Trick of the Light:
Absolutely superb.  In the Bass Player interview, John says, <paraphrased 
from memory> "Let's just say I know damn well how to make any band sound 
like the Who".  Given the right drummer, he undoubtedly can.  Trick of 
the Light was the first really great song of the show.
Exit 8-string, return Buzzard.

Bridges under the Water:
Alan took vocals, and John slowed down; during this song, he actually 
sometimes had time to pull his hand away from the bass and wipe his forehead.
The song sounded almost reggae-ish.

At this point there was a rather extended break during which Godfrey 
Townsend was trying to fix something about his guitar set-up; John noted 
that a $50000 stage rig can break down because of a bad $2 lead; when the 
break was taking longer and longer, and people started screaming out more 
and more obscure songs (someone actually screamed, Doctor Doctor), Steve 
told a joke, a really bad joke which I'll repeat here, since I love 
really bad jokes:
"Once an Indian was walking along a road, and a farmer was driving and 
offered to pick him up.  "Where are you goin'?" the farmer asked. -- "To 
town" -- "Well, I'm not goin' to town today, but I'm gonna go there in 
the morning, but you can spend the night at my place, and in the morning 
we'll go to town." -- "OK," the Indian said.  When they got to the farm, 
the farmer said to the Indian, go sleep in the barn.  The Indian was 
insulted but slept there anyway, and decided in the morning to get the 
farmer back.  The farmer came to the barn in the morning and asked the 
Indian how his night was.  The Indian said, "Well, I couldn't really 
sleep much, since your horse kept talkin' to me." -- "I didn't know my 
horse could talk!"  At this point, the Indian threw his voice and the 
horse 'said', "mornin' farmer".  "Not only that," continued the Indian, 
"but your cows can talk, too," and threw his voice and one of the cows 
'said' "Mooornin' farmer".  "Not only that," continued the Indian, "but 
you sheep can talk, too." -- "Well, don't you believe a word they said!"

By this time, unbelievably, the guitar was still not fixed, and Godfrey 
said, "You should have added a couple more animals."

Finally, they got to "The Real Me", which was the usual lightning-quick 
performance from John.

Love Doesn't Last:  forgettable, I thought.

Boris the Spider:  Here, not being able to hear the lyrics was a bit more 
than annoying, and there was an extra instrumental section which included 
for the most part, alternating between two notes--odd, and not your usual 
solo.

Life After Love:  pretty exciting.

My Wife:  simply superb.

Last Song:  I think this was my favorite on the studio "Rock", yet, 
oddly, it didn't translate at all well to the stage.

Summertime Blues:  Included John's usual basso profundo lines, and was 
very good. see note at end.

Encore:
Shakin' All Over:  Godfrey seemed at home on this one; and the 
five-minute-or-so drum/bass interplay was mindblowing.  If they don't 
release this on a live album, it will be a true shame.

Autograph session:  huge line; I got my L@L booklet signed and the Who 
Sell Out booklet, on the back cover, under the Rotosound symbol.  I'd 
also brought a couple of other things but they were limiting it to two 
items.

Just a great show, hope to see a live album!

Final note:  as I was waiting for my bus, I went into a convenience store 
and heard, much to my displeasure, a country version of Summertime blues, 
which seemed to be copying the Who's version at least as much as the 
original; complete with pedal steel and all.  Ugh.

--LP.