BOSTON CALLING !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kevin and Tania O'Neal]

SLIPKID went to Boston and brought the snow with him.
Hey Pete!
"I SAW YA" TOO!!!!

Arrived at my friend Jess' pad in Southie at around 1pm and and hour later 
we were joined by Jim M.
Headed down to the open air market and food market in Boston (Jim knows the 
name) for a bite to eat. It was nice, with the early Holidays excitement in 
the air (twinkly lights, etc.).
Again paid for eating a Philly Cheese Steak.  And I don't mean paid with 
money.  At least this time I wasn't stuck having to use the portastank like 
in Camden 2002.  TMI?
Hit The Harp and met Honey Bee and her husband "Tommy", and Alan and Sue 
from NC, and Karyn and Pat from Boston, among others.
My friend Bill and his wife and a co-worker of Bill's arrived around 6pm. 
Not as large a contingent as in September, but then again, it's not the 
beginning of the tour.  The beer still tasted the same though.

In the venue and at our seats by 7:30 to see The Pretenders.  Jim M., his 
friend Steve, myself, and my friend Jess are all together (only by 
happenstance) in the 10th row dead center.
Out comes Chrissie and her band, and within a few minutes Chrissie is making 
some serious lovey eyes at Jim!  Holy smokes!  Jess and I are looking at Jim 
like "do you see this???!!!!"  Jim just grins at us like it happens all the 
time.  I'm tellin' ya the staring went on for several minutes.  GET A 
ROOM!!!!!

Not everyone around us was standing.  But, we were.  And, we were digging 
it!  What's not to dig??  It was good to be there giving Chrissie her due 
attention and energy.  Her voice is flawless.  The venue was just about 
full.
When the introductions to her song about her home town.....Akron....were 
made, Jim and I looked at each other and smiled.  Cousin Schrade was on our 
minds.  "Way to go Ohio."  The Pretenders played a great set, and Boston 
showed its appreciation properly.  Smiles all around.

Now, onto the main attraction.
I decided at the last minute, after much back and forth, to finally bring my 
SLIPKID license plate into a show.  It's amazing how easily a license plate 
fits down the back of your pants, and how comfortable it is too!  I forgot 
it was there a couple times.
Well, at the end of ICE, I briefly raised it, but Roger and Pete didn't see 
it.  I tried again at the end of Seeker, and this time Roger saw.  I was 
kind of hard to miss.  Tall enough to be seen above others, and wearing a 
long sleeved white shirt with a plain RAF target on the front.  Roger 
grinned....geeze, in my mind (correct me if I'm wrong) he beamed.....and got 
this look on his face like "alright, the troops are here."  It was kind of 
like "bring it on".  I was nodding my head with a somewhat stern look on my 
face like "ok Rog, let's do this."
Game on.
>From that point on, Roger knew where to look for energy.  Some of my friends 
call me a Who nut.  I prefer to be called a Who Soldier.  And, I'm tellin' 
ya, after the show I saw, I'm going to keep running until my feet are 
completely raw.  This band is no where near their end.

Mike Starkey wrote about locking eye contact with Pete, and exchanging the 
anger and energy.....well I did the same with Roger.  During AAA, we locked 
eyes for a good long spell as he belted lyrics, and I was right there 
pumping my arm and letting the music just pulsate through my body.  It was 
electric.  This happened several times during the show.  I've never spent 
that much time with Roger, but it sure was fun.  I / we pushed him to reach 
new heights.  He pushed himself, and belted lyrics until at one point I 
thought his face was going to pop off, and all the while he was staring 
right at us.  I felt honored.

I look over at Pete, and catch him looking over at Roger with this look of 
interest on his face as he realizes that Roger is going for it, and begins 
to feed off of his energy.  There was a bunch of this all night.  The boys 
were interacting fantastically, both socially and musically.  Smiles all 
night.

The fun really got going with Fragments.
I don't think it's a secret that I love this song, particularly the chorus 
of "snowflakes falling...falling snow."
It is....VT.  Ask Jim what sticker I have next to my SLIPKID plate.
And, right before leaving The Harp, I got a call from my wife telling me 
that it was finally snowing in VT.
Well, soon it would be snowing in Boston too.  But not outside.

Since my 'holding up of the mug' idea was STOLEN!  ;-)   I decided I didn't 
want to do that.
I couldn't figure out what to do to show the boys appreciation for their new 
work.
My wife came up with a great idea.  But, time was short.  I didn't have time 
to get the supplies!
A phone call to Jim the next morning while I was en route was all it took. 
To my surprise, he was on it.

Fragments starts, and Jim, Jess and I look at each other and eyes connect 
like "ok boys, it's show time....let's make it count."
We each reach in the bag and fill our hands.  We then stand there with hands 
full listening and ABSOLUTELY ROCKING OUT to the beginning of fragments. 
Then...you hear our cue........."like frozen crystals building.....on the 
city streets"....and then....right when the venue *EXPLODED* in the 
wondrously deep and richly layered harmony of "SNOW FLAKES 
FALLING!!!!!!!!!!"  we all launched *HUGE* hand fulls of white confetti high 
up into the air.
I kid you not!!!!!!!!!
First one hand!
Then the reply harmony of "FALLING SNOW!!!!!!!!!"...
And we launch the other hand!!!!
6+ handfuls of confetti thrown aloft at the same time!!!!!!!!!
I looked up as I threw the second handful and all I could see *ALL* around 
me was this massive and wondrous cloud of white "snow" floating down over 
*everyone* around us. We were laughing like school kids!
I then looked at Pete, who was still wearing his sun glasses, and couldn't 
tell if he saw us. ( ! )  I think he did, but he was focusing so hard on the 
harmonies and lyrics that there wasn't a reaction.  I then look at Roger, 
and his eyes are closed!  Again, more intense focusing on the harmonies.  I 
look at Simon, and *HIS* eyes are closed!  I look at Pino, and see focus on 
his face, but it looked like he *was* looking right at us.
I don't know if they saw it!  How could they miss it!??!!  They're right in 
front of us!
Just as I had a pang of..."man, it didn't work" feel, I look around at the 
crowd in our area.
3-4 rows in front of us........3-4 rows behind us.....5-6 seats to my right, 
and to the isle to the left of Jim, *everyone* is *covered* in confetti. 
SNOW!
And, they're all laughing and smiling, and absolutely engulfed in the moment 
of what just happened!
And, so are we!!!!
The guy 2 seats to my right leans over in front of his wife and extends his 
hand and yells "Man, that was awesome!!!!"
I look behind me and the 13 (or so) year old kid next to his dad is 
laughing....is covered....and his dad is laughing too.  I'm high-fiving the 
kid and his dad, and everyone is just crackin' up at what happened.
It was amazing, and an unbelievable feeling to connect all those people to 
the music like that.
The next morning as I'm driving home, and I put EW on, and hear the 
beginning of Fragments, I started to smile.  At the chorus, I just started 
laughing out loud.  A memory I'll never forget.  I just wish I knew if Roger 
and Pete saw it.

After Fragments, I noticed Pete was looking over in our area more.  He now 
started to let his focus wonder beyond the first 5 rows directly in front of 
him.  As he walked up to the mike to address the crowd I again held up my 
slipkid plate.  He looked over, paused his gait for a moment as if to focus, 
and then got a big smile on his face.  He pointed and me a wink with a nod. 
By that point my friend Bill and his wife were down in our row (ahem...with 
a little help from me and some copies of my ticketfast tickets).   Bill saw 
the exchange and gave me a shove.  From there, the night was a blitzkrieg of 
high energy Who.  Full tilt, full volume, full participation....WHO!

I thought the first show in Boston was very good, but too much of a polished 
presentation.  Too professional?  Not enough band interaction with the 
crowd?
This show had it all.  Talking with us, laughing with us, cussing at us, 
yelling at us.
And, they also let the music lead them more it seemed.  More jamming.  More 
Pete and Zak interactions.  Lots of Pete laughing and smiling with Pino. 
Lots of Zak staring at Pete.  Lots of Roger fucking leading the march all 
night long.  He is a rock and a Commander.
He's also nice enough to apologize very formally to China for implying they 
made cheap products.  I hear he stomped on the mic. the night before.  Guess 
he also called it a cheap Chinese made mike.  Funny.

Because I never trust my objectivity, I asked everyone around me what they 
thought.  Answer was hands-down that this show blew the first away, and that 
they were a tight well oiled machine.
To me, it feels like they have it nailed now, and can relax a bit more and 
start really enjoying it *while* also presenting it.
I wanted more of the new album.
Give me Unholy Trinity.
Give me It's Not Enough.
Give me You Stand By Me.
Wouldn't that be a nice ending.....Pete singing You Stand By Me, while Roger 
plays guitar?  Hmmm, dunno.
The energy of the new music is getting through.  I looked around and found 
many more people standing.  I did checks during each of the new music 
pieces.  Many songs *everyone* was standing.  It's starting to catch on. 
They're getting it.

Man.
So many memories right now, I can't even think.
I'm hoping Jim can fill in some gaps and highlight some of the more 
incendiary moments.  MG with Cry if you want was stupendous.
Tommy, flawless.
Eminence Front, inspired.
If this isn't the best post-John Who concert I've ever seen, it's surpassed 
only by Hershey 2002 and Pete's performance there.  But, the new material 
makes this show just so special.
I'm tellin' ya, it's friggin' powerful.

My drive back into the White and Green Mountains had me filled with energy 
for the future.  Dreams to be seen.
What topped my journey off, was the VT car full of young Who fans that were 
flashing me their who t-shirts as they passed me near Lebanon, NH.
I looked, laughed, pointed to my radio and then my ear, and then nodded and 
gave them the 'rock-out' solute.
Who juice was flowing out of the Boston arteries and into the hills.

And Man, it's all good!

Kevin in VT