OC Register on Hollywood Bowl

[Brian Cady]

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/entertainment/abox/article_1345565.php

Meet the new songs
Review: The Who skillfully blended old and new material in strong Hollywood Bowl return.
By BEN WENER
The Orange County Register

Say this much for the Who: Even at this late stage in their glorious but rocky history, the remnants of the Hall of Fame band still thrive on challenge.

Surely many fans who flocked to the band’s two dates at the Hollywood Bowl this past weekend came only for what most boomer-geared acts deliver: by-the-numbers nostalgia. What they got, however, was revitalization. Finally soldiering on with something new in its vast arsenal, the Two, as this incarnation is often jokingly called, boldly blended rehabilitating new work with their fundamental past, striking with power and precision.

Which proves that, as Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey push into the thick of their 60s, what was true even before the heady days of “Tommy” remains in effect: Facing and very often willfully placing creative hurdles in their path – then yanking both themselves and their audience over them – is the only surefire way to bring out the best in these guys.

The night-and-day difference when they aren’t grappling with artistic or personal upheaval is glaringly obvious. Compare their 2000 performance in Irvine to the last time the Who played the Bowl, which was also the last time the group appeared in Southern California until this a pair of packed-house dates at the famous amphitheater this past weekend.

In 2000, with no raison d’etre apart from peddling nostalgia, they seemed fatigued, listless, going through the motions for a fat paycheck. In July 2002, however – four days after bassist John Entwistle “had done one thing too many,” as Townshend termed his drug habit during Saturday’s set, and “gone through the Mirror Door” (Who-speak for dying) in a Las Vegas hotel room – the band impressively rebounded.

Whatever the reason – they had something to prove that night, a searing but mostly unspoken tribute to make, or some other fire of unknown origin had sparked in them – they were resolutely fierce, about as far from complacent as they had gotten since that other crucial Who force, one-of-a-kind drummer Keith Moon, went under in 1978. By comparison, those well-received revivals of “Tommy” and “Quadrophenia” in the ’90s seemed bloated.

There was little doubt, then, that the Who would still be in top form at these latest Bowl shows. They’d already showed how session ace Pino Palladino could deftly fill in for the Ox. They’d endured several tours with Zak Starkey (Ringo’s son) capably reigning in Moon’s reckless style.

And, most astoundingly, both Daltrey’s voice and Townshend’s windmill guitar work have been stripped of encroaching geriatrics, which until recently had become painfully evident.

Daltrey may not be able to wail the climaxing scream on “Won’t Get Fooled Again” like he still could only a decade ago, nor does Townshend sound as vulnerable when he croaks out the “teenage wasteland” part of “Baba O’Riley.” And on soggier material (“You Better You Bet,” for example) a certain sting from both men can be noticeable absent. But there’s still as much passion in Daltrey’s throaty holler as there is fire in Townshend’s solos.

Plus, only days ahead of these dates, “Endless Wire,” the band’s first proper album in 24 years, arrived to critical kudos, keeping this from being just another musty display at triple-digit prices. The new album’s age-appropriate appeal sounds as taut and muscular as the band’s finest hours, its conceits cleverly splattered with paint from the past, even if some conceptual stabs (like the new mini-opera “Wire & Glass”) flirt with incomprehensibility.

It may not be a complete rebirth, but clearly the Who have no intention of going into that good night without a fight. And Saturday they seemed remarkably rejuvenated – the result, no doubt, of the deep sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing a fresh work to be proud of.

“I can assure you,” Townshend quipped, “that I don’t have to do this tour for the money.” (That’s in large part “because of music in TV shows,” specifically three variations of “CSI.” Fitting, then, that he made his comments before playing the new “Mike Post Theme,” a statement on the never-ending process of learning to love filtered through the haze of happy memories associated with Post’s “Hill Street Blues” tune.)

The only big questions, really, were 1) how well would the new stuff intersperse with co-opted warhorses, and 2) would audiences typically primed for classics and nothing more take to anything else – or would they simply grow impatient?

It’s hard to gauge the latter puzzler; even exit polling wouldn’t prove accurate. Suffice to say that the roars of recognition that went up whenever a standard followed a strongly executed new piece (especially a meandering one like an abbreviated “Wire & Glass”) seemed a bit more exultant than usual. Most attendees, I suspect, haven’t bought or heard “Endless Wire,” and those who have surely need more time to absorb it.

But the new material fit into the framework of hits quite seamlessly. Sharply worded bits like “A Man in a Purple Dress” and “Black Widow’s Eyes” weren’t jarring, the uneven segues of “Wire & Glass” in keeping with the suite spirit of other Who staples. (It made sense, for instance, that the encore would revive the “Tommy” medley of the 2002 tour, spanning “Pinball Wizard” and “Amazing Journey” to “Sparks” and “See Me, Feel Me.”)

My only quibble is that the show simply wasn’t long enough. By inserting a half-dozen new ones while still coming in under curfew, the Who could only present a surface overview of their catalog via gargantuan tracks (and some curious but not unwelcome choices, like “Eminence Front”). Several signposts (“I Can See for Miles,” anything off “Quadrophenia”) and fan favorites (“Magic Bus,” “Substitite,” “Bargain”) were left in storage to make room for newborns deserving of a proper spotlight.

A better presentation would have booted Rose Hill Drive off the opening slot and added at least an extra half-hour of smashes. But that’s just something to hope for next time – now that there’s a reason to hope for a next time.

 
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com


 
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