Re: Townshend doesn't care???

[ademotte@interaccess.com (Andy De Motte)]

I saw Pete at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago in '93, a show that is
universally regarded as the worst show on the tour.  I didn't know that at
the time, of course, and was duly blown away by the show . . . but now, in
hearing tapes of other shows from the tour, I realize that the Chicago
performance was really tentative at best.  He mentioned in interviews
(including, I believe, the Who video released last summer) that he suffered
from immense stage fright before the show, and was almost too paralyzed
with fear to perform.

The show was great, simply because Pete was live in the flesh in front of
me and playing a lot of stuff I'd never seen live, but in general, the
performance was weak especially compared with the legendary Great Woods
show.  He didn't do too many solos and talked very little to the audience,
and the song selection was very conservative.

Although I was a little disappointed in retrospect that I happened to see
the "worst" show of the tour, it was still a great experience, and it's
good to learn that Pete is actually human, and suffers from the same
self-doubt as the rest of us from time to time.

>And having said all this, if anyone has a tape of Great Woods and
>would like to trade please let me know.

A good tape of the show has yet to surface, although there are serviceable
recordings that indicate how good the performance was (although they're not
the type of tapes one would show off to one's friends, or play at parties).
Maybe one day, Pete will see fit to release the performance legitimately.

Andy