Watford - The Independent reviews

[Brian Cady <brianinatlanta2001@yahoo.com>]

Thanks to Tim at alt.music.who for pointing this out:
On line at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=118377

The Who, Watford Coleseum

In the past 10 years, Pete Townshend has overcome
tinnitus and a wrist injury to reinvent himself as the
world's greatest electric guitar player. In the last
of the four warm-ups the Who played before its week of
benefit shows for the Teenage Cancer Trust at the
Albert Hall, the extent of Townshend's revival is
evident from the moment he launches into a windmilling
attack on his red Rickenbacker in "Substitute".

The opening salvo wreaks sonic devastation,
keyboardist Rabbit Bundrick adds colour but pared down
to the essentials the Who are still rock's very own
Big Bang. The bass riffs are a force of nature, stoic
silver fox John Entwistle nonchalantly flicking sweat
from his fingertips after an exhilarating "Anyway
Anyhow Anywhere". Zak "son of Ringo" Starkey is living
his dream by filling the place of the man who gave him
his first drum kit, Keith Moon. Roger Daltrey is the
aging lunkhead, Townshend's everyman alter ego, good
naturedly threatening to come down the front and sort
out a heckler.

The first few rows are full of cross-generational
testosterone-heavy males, a pool of pent-up
frustration and barely repressed violence. This is
exactly the world Townshend's greatest compositions
fed off and fought against, and the connection is
still palpable. "Amazing Journey"opens a brilliantly
sustained selection of songs from Tommy, where the
Who's underlying paradox is writ large, Townshend's
seething staccato fury and the band's Wagnerian
tumults seeking release that is both visceral and
spiritual.

Since 1982, the Who have essentially been a revival
act, but it's unsurprising, considering their current
form, that they've been recording their first new
material in 20 years. Daltrey's work with the Teenage
Cancer Trust has given the band new purpose. They
still avoid playing songs from their most difficult
and rewarding album The Who by Numbers, in favour of
filler like "You Better You Bet", but they are digging
deep into their catalogue and the themes of rock as
community and violent youth seem more relevant than
ever.

The show dips in the middle, Daltrey straining to
capture the melodic grace of "Behind Blue Eyes", but
it comes to a volcanic crescendo in a closing song
selection that centres on the timeless tragedy of
teenage wasteland. You don't have to catch Townshend's
scathing reference to Damilola Taylor's murder and
mobile-phone theft to understand the current relevance
of "Young Man Blues" or "Summertime Blues". It is the
sheer ballistic, horror-struck force of the music that
shows why Townshend chose not to stick to the script
and f-f-f-f-fade away, break up the band and die
before he got old. The Who are simply unique and as
exciting as ever; no band has come along to take their
place.

 - Gavin Martin


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-Brian in Atlanta
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