Daily Southtown on Tinley Park

[Brian Cady <brianinatlanta2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

Here's the URL:
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsliving/273ld1.htm

Who's best? No, but still a great show 
Tuesday, August 27, 2002
By Calvin Scott
Staff writer

Roger Daltrey can't quite "still sing a razor line,
every time," and Pete Townshend can't quite pick up
his guitar and play "just like yesterday." But the
Who, reduced to its singer and guitarist by the deaths
of its two other founding members, still offers a
sizzling show, even with a few glitches.

The Who duo of Daltrey and Townshend brought its
legendary rock bombast Saturday night to the Tweeter
Center in Tinley Park. The tour plans attracted scorn
from some fans after Daltrey and Townshend decided to
forge ahead, one day after bassist John Entwistle, 57,
died June 27 in Las Vegas on the eve of the tour.

Daltrey told the crowd, "We're a quiet band these
days," and indeed the band no longer reaches the
decibel level of the 1970s. Entwistle's thunderous
bass is sorely missed. Session bassist Pino Palladino
now has the worst job in rock 'n' roll  trying to
fill in for Entwistle. He can't do it, but then no one
can.

Others backing Daltrey and Townshend on this tour are
longtime Who keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick; Simon
Townshend, Pete's brother, on guitar and backing
vocals; and Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son, on drums.
Starkey is a much better fit for the Who than Kenney
Jones, who joined the band after the September 1978
death of Keith Moon.

The Who opened the show Saturday with three
outstanding renditions of its mid-1960s beginnings 
"I Can't Explain," "Substitute" and "Anyway, Anyhow,
Anywhere." 

Next was "Who Are You," a song that marked the end of
Moon's career. Starkey's drumming comes close to
matching Moon's brilliance, but the absence of
Entwistle short-circuits "Who Are You."

Townshend seemed to complain about low volume levels
for his guitar early in the show, but that was just
the beginning of the complaints. 

At mid-concert, Daltrey announced the Who would play
three songs from "Quadrophenia." "Sea and Sand" was
stellar; "5:15" seemed to drag, very much needing
Entwistle; and "Love Reign O'er Me" sent Daltrey into
an off-microphone, profanity-filled rage with the
sound crew. The still-chiseled singer, who left out a
portion of the lyrics, angrily told the audience that
the band would play the song again.

Immediately before the "Quadrophenia" set came one of
the highlights of the night  a strong performance of
"Baba O'Riley." The band thrilled the crowd with other
selections from the 1971 classic "Who's Next" album 
"Bargain," "Behind Blue Eyes" and the set-closing
"Won't Get Fooled Again."

It was nice to hear the Who work in "The Relay," an
early 1970s nugget. The band also played three songs
from its early 1980s post-Moon era  "Another Tricky
Day," "You Better You Bet" and "Eminence Front." It
might have been nice to replace the weak and botched
"Eminence Front" and the second helping of "Love Reign
O'er Me" with standards such as "Magic Bus" and "I Can
See for Miles."

The storytelling jam of "The Kids are Alright" after a
while became painstaking and stale, but the band got
the audience roaring again with "My Generation." 

"Won't Get Fooled Again" was followed by a magnificent
encore of selections from "Tommy"  "Pinball Wizard,"
"Amazing Journey," "Sparks" and "See Me, Feel Me."

Daltrey's voice was outstanding most of the night. But
the Who could use a bit more rehearsal, especially
because Palladino is learning the material as the tour
progresses.

Former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant opened the
show, thrilling the crowd with selections from his new
"Dreamland" CD, his solo song "Tall Cool One" and a
nice selection of Zeppelin tunes  "Four Sticks,"
"Goin' to California," "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You,"
"Celebration Day" and "Whole Lotta Love."


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
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