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Is It The Who, For A Moment...



"New York City/You're a woman/Cold-hearted bitch/Ought to be your name..."

Or so Al Kooper once said. I found that not to be the case, personally. I
felt quite at home, if a bit ignorant of the subway system.
Wed. morning, I found a few "import" CDs at a store on 34th street across
from Macy's, but already had them...but for those of you who are interested,
they have I'm A Boy and My Generation...two different versions of Amsterdam
`69. The kicker is that they're only $10 each.
That evening I hit Molly Wee's at 6 sharp. And found WF right away, of
course. And the others trickled in, and in order to do everyone justice and
perhaps not reveal how my memory loves to play tricks on me, I won't even
try to name names...except Bernd, who it turns out is a lot less agressive
than his posts. If he was angry with me in any way, it didn't manifest
itself. Of course, I wasn't angry at all, ever. So it was pleasant
enough...although I do have to tell about this: I was told Bernd was there
by WF, and he pointed. At this point there was perhaps 20 people at the
table and I proceeded to go up and shake hand's with Tim Herrlinger's
brother (whom I had already met, but hey...I was drinking and it was crowded).
Strike One. 
The only other person there was some ragged-looking fellow who didn't fit
B's description at all...but hell, I'm sociable...I shook hands with him.
He, it turns out, was some guy who was looking for money to get back to
Toronto...and WF was more generous than I with him. Of course, to be fair,
for me it was:
Strike Two.
And then Bernd was pointed out to me, and after making a few "Look, Ma...no
horns and tail" comments we settled down to being as friendly as you could
be in that loud and crowded and hot atmosphere.
I must say again that meeting other Digestors was a high point for me, and
could have been higher had there been more time. I completely enjoyed it.
After two hours, the heat became too much for this Southerner...so we headed
to MSG with Jason and Stacey (you NYC guys are lucky to have her in your
city, that's all I can say...what a doll, if I may use such an outdated
term). Found our seats (section 51, left of the stage but level with it and
close enough to see how much weight Joan Osborn has gained) and sat back
through three JO songs. In my mind I dedicated "What if God was one of us"
to Bernd.
A short break and it was time. The screen came on, showing crashing waves
(it was like being back here in MB, for a moment). Daniels, as Jimmy (or one
of `em, anyway) began his speech...and Who Ever launched into a great
version of The Real Me...and I was in Who Heaven.
Simon was great, Starkey was close enough to Moonism to make it work, and in
fact I cannot find fault with any of the players. I did wonder if WF had
talked Zak into dressing as a Vulcan...but as it turns out, that's just how
he looks.
The band pinned it. What more can I say? They played with it enough to make
it interesting, but were faithful enough to make it great. And it was great,
and they were better than they were in `89. More Rock, less showbiz.
My one small complaint is that "Jimmy" didn't allow the crowd time to applaude.
Each new song was a new high, and the energy level rose even more sharply
with 5:15 to a fever pitch, and continued to the end. The grand end...
Glitter...I think barring another star-level performer (Vedder,
perhaps...and he might even be too laid back) I can't imagine anyone doing
better for what was required. And it did help get the story told, which was
the intent.
Billy Idol was perfect, a snot-nosed little Mod who when found out was
properly humble.
You had to love Glitter, Idol, Townshend, and Daltrey all singing together
during I've Had Enough (I think...I should have been thinking more of my
ultimate review rather than concentrating on the show...shame on me, eh?).
Magic Moments: the way they went back to acoustic for the end of I'm One.
The acoustic version of WGFA. I counted three almost-leaps and one real leap
(not very high, though) as well as two legitimate windmills from Townshend
(the second ending with him laughing and shaking his head). The Bass solo
during 5:15. The interplay between Glitter and Daltrey during PMTG. The
Dirty Jobs, all of it, was outstanding. Rog and Pete trading off vocals in
Helpless Dancer. All of Is It In My Head and beyond was fantastic...
5:15 got the crowd going. Sea And Sand washed over and through me, and
Townshend gave an excellent rendition of Drowned. Bell Boy had live action
from Idol, complete with a kick in the pants from Rog as he stumbled off
stage with suitcases. Dr. Jimmy rocked out, and Love Reign O'er Me was
beautiful.
The encore: well, despite the same old songs again...I've mentioned the
stunning WGFA, and BBE was pretty good...Magic Bus, oh well. It was a good
version, and you could see that Townshend/Daltrey were having fun. I would
have rather gotten Naked Eye than Substitute, but it was as good as any
version I've heard, post-Moon.
I would like to say also that Townshend was as good or better than ever.
Even on acoustic, he was powerful. He made up (IMHO) for not launching his
aging body all over the place by joking and dancing a bit and making faces
and other things...and he does still move a lot while playing, as opposed to
some of his contempts like Richards or Gilmour.
Daltrey doesn't even try to hit the highs he can no longer hit, and
therefore sounds fantastic. I supposed he has learned his limits, and that's
a good thing.
Entwistle, was of course, the best.
Zak Starkey should be the only drummer they ever use again, and I'll say the
same for Simon Townshend...I say let's keep Pete on acoustic, `cause he
wields it with more power than most electric players. The horn section,
unlike on the `89 tour, knew their place and stayed there. And so on.
All in all, that's all I can think of at the moment. I loved it, and would
rate this as the second best Who show I've seen, the first being the `75
show. Three cheers for the boys...and if they do play Raleigh, as Andy has
suggested, I think I'll just have to stroll up and see them...



                   Cheers                   ML

"I think you should keep on playing Rock as long as you have an axe to grind
and then if you haven't got an axe to grind you should go into cabaret."
                                                                 Pete Townshend