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Hyde Park Report
- Subject: Hyde Park Report
- Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 18:56:38 +0100
What we got was Quadrophenia, complete (I think). No involvement from
Clapton or Dylan and no non-Quad songs.
I thought the performance was brilliant from beginning to end.
Unfortunately Pete's contribution was less than everyone would like have
seen, but I guess that was inevitable.
The music wasn't overblown with orchestras etc and Johnny Thunderfingers
really shone, especially on 5:15. I was glued to the big screen monitor and
I'm sure that I saw Pete wince with pain when John started his solo!
Zak Starkey was superb on the skins. Electric guitar was supplied by Simon
Townshend playing rhythm on a Telecaster and Geoff Whitehorn playing lead
on something green. Simon was wearing the nattiest pair of shades I've ever
seen. "Rabbit" Bundrick played keyboards and Pete confined himself to
acoustic guitar, switching to piano for "Cut My Hair", or was it "I'm One"?
Anyway, at times he looked like he was actually quite enjoying himself.
Phil Daniels (star of the Quad film) narrated between songs as Jimmy. Gary
Glitter (yes, he) trundled out for "The Punk and the Godfather" to
rapturous applause and nearly stole the show. We were all confused by
Roger's eyepatch. It looked superb, so we thought it was just stage
costume. Then, later on came "Dr Jimmy" and the line "Back to get that
baboon, who tore out my eye..." and he lifted the patch to reveal an
excruciatingly painful looking shiner. I thought it was a make-up job until
I read about the rehearsal accident. I can only admire the way Roger turned
this into a positive part of the performance.
Other guests included Trevor McDonald, a well-known British newsreader who
read out reports of the seaside riots, and David Gilmour who graciously
took care of "The Dirty Jobs". Star of the show, IMHO, was Adrian Edmondson
as the Ace Face/Bellboy. He appeared from under the stage astride a vintage
scooter, got his arse kicked off stage by Stephen Fry while struggling to
pick up about 6 suitcases, then re-appeared and generally ponced about in a
thoroughly hilarious manner.
We got an impromptu encore (5:15 again). A few seconds into it, Pete
realises that he's forgotten to pick up his guitar. A roadie is summoned
while Ade Edmondson mocks Pete by doing a few "air" windmills.
Then it was all over. For me it just flew by, but I'd thoroughly recommend
the MSG show to all you Americans if this is anything to go by. It will
probably be along the same lines, although some of the guests will probably
be different. How about Walter Kronckite (sp?) for Trevor McDonald?
Mark.