Some recent show thoughts

["Jon Rhein" <rhein@betterthanlife.com>]

I won't bother giving set lists etc., as others have already done so, but
just a few observations.

I've been to San Diego, Shoreline, and Sacto so far, and I'd rate Shoreline
by far and away the best, followed by Sacto, then San Diego.

At Shoreline, Pete's guitar was loud, and his playing was on fire, power
cording and soloing with equal ferocity.  I find it fascinating that Pete
didn't think this was a good show, and that he mentioned on his site that he
was struggling to focus.  The Who have always been their best when there was
some desperation in the performance, and perhaps this was the key element
here.  Whatever it was, this show blew away both HOB shows and yes, even
Vegas, all three of which I thought and still think were great shows.

What really blew me away at Shoreline (and Sacto as well) were the jams.  At
Shoreline there were several extended jams.  Perhaps only 75% of them
'worked', but this is what a living, breathing Who is all about--taking
risks on stage, not just playing it safe!  The new verse Roger is singing in
TKAA is getting longer and stronger.  The 'Crossroads Now' jam in 'My
Generation' is also very interesting, and was longer at Sacto then at
Shoreline (and it was already pretty long at Shoreline).  Last night, Pete
added a new verse to Crossroads Now/My Generation that appeared to be about
him as a 14 year old boy playing in a Mod band who had the young man blues.
Very cool stuff.

Jon