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Who Vancouver Review
- Subject: Who Vancouver Review
- Date: Wed, 23 Oct 96 01:24:27 -0700
http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusic/oct21_who.html
Check out all the mistakes that are made in this article. Daltrey spelled
wrong. Wrong dates for albums.
October 21, 1996
Kids still all right
* Who Facts
* Discography
VANCOUVER (CP) -- They may be in their 50s, but they've [Image]
proven again that the kids are all right.
The Who are back with their supercharged multi-media production of
the lesser-known rock opera Quadrophenia, more than two decades
after its release. The three remaining members of the British super
group are backed by friends and family.
Two nights last week in Vancouver were their only Canadian dates.
"Awesome, just awesome!" said Pete Mastalir, 17, part of a new
generation of Who fans.
The band filled the city's GM Place with an immaculate production
of Pete Townshend's 1973 rock opera pondering working-class roots
and adolescent angst.
And, of course, sex, drugs and rock and roll.
Roger Daltry, stripped to a tank top and swinging his microphone
like a lasso, looks a boyish 52.
John Entwistle, hair greying and thinning, remains aloof at stage
right -- a position and posture unchanged for decades.
And while damage to hands and eardrums has relegated the
51-year-old Townshend to rhythm guitar, the spirit still moves him.
"Who cares." said Keith Cosgrove, a 39-year old fan from
Chilliwack, B.C.
"He could play a one-string guitar and I wouldn't care."
Quadrophenia was written in the early 1970s, probing the psyches of
the four Who members, including drummer Keith Moon, who died of a
drug overdose in 1978.
The story revolves around the character of Jimmy, a member of a
mid-60's pop sub-culture known as the Mods. He gets caught up in
drugs, work and vicious battles on the English seaside against
arch-enemies the Rockers.
He is brought to life on a huge screen above the band by English
actor Phil Daniels, whose soliloquies are interspersed with old Who
footage and newly created scenes from the story.
The two other characters, or alter-egos, are played by a pair of
British superstars. Gary Glitter takes on the persona of the
Godfather, while a Mod-suited Billy Idol struts his stuff as the Ace
Face.
Assisted by the latest in computer-activated lights and smoke
machines are a bevy of back-up musicians, including Townshend's
brother Simon on guitar.
On drums is Zak Starkey, son of ex-Beatle Ringo Starr.
There are keyboards, a second percussion position, a pair of backup
vocalists and a five-person brass section.
The resulting blend of straight-ahead rock and theatre is inspired.
"The kids really are all right," said Brian Gibson, a 37-year old
civil servant from suburban Surrey who had seen the Who five times
before.
The rock opera is followed by a few old favorites -- Won't Get
Fooled Again, Behind Blue Eyes and the early hit Substitute.
When Townshend finally picks up his electric guitar, the crowd is
thrilled.
He sends out the final power chords -- punctuated with pyrotechnics
-- on Who Are You with a signature windmill lash at the strings that
brings the sold-out crowd to its feet.
Who Facts
Members: Pete Townshend -- composer, guitar, synthesiser; Roger
Daltry -- vocals, harmonica, guitar; John Entwistle -- bass. Keith
Moon, who played percussion, died 1978 of a drug overdose.
First hit: Can't Explain, 1965
First North American hit: I Can See for Miles, 1967
Quadrophenia History: Album released 1973. First performed live
Stoke-on-Trent, October 1973. Performed 32 times, until February
1974. Film released 1979. Stage version resurrected and first
performed June 1996 in Hyde Park, London.
Quote: "This is us. This is what's left." -- Pete Townshend, to the
crowd in Vancouver last Wednesday.
Discography
My Generation, 1965
A Quick One, 1966
The Who Sell Out, 1967
Tommy (Double LP), 1969
Live At Leeds (Live), 1970
Who's Next?, 1971
Meaty, Beefy, Big and Bouncy, 1972
Quadrophenia, 1973
The Who by Numbers, 1975
Who Are You?, 1978
Face Dances, 1981
It's Hard, 1983
Who's Last?, (Live), 1984
Join Together (Live), 1989
* Read more about The Who in the Jam! Music Archive
PHOTO: Roger Daltry, left, and Pete Townsend of The Who open their
25th anniversary edition of their rock opus "Quadrophenia,"
Saturday, Oct 19, 1996, in San Jose, Calif. --AP