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Review of the 5/3 Supper Club Show



Hey Everyone,

I came across this review in today's LI Newsday if anyone's interested.

                                Townshend On His Own Terms
                           The Who master tries a quieter setting

By Stephen Williams

 Blithely cool and typically uninhibited, Pete Townshend on Friday night
further refined a concept that's become musical high fashion these days: the
aging rock star reinvented.
 His fuzzy vocal chords lithe and limber, his guitar chords impeccable, his
feet wrapped in sandals and his short hair degrayed by a touch of something
Grecian Formulaic, Townshend left The Who's trademark stadium theatrics at
the door, and played the Supper Club as if it really were one.
 Of course, even at the piano, Townshend's no Bobby Short, but skeptics were
worried that this solo tour, arranged around the release of a greatest hits
CD, would find him reciting bits of his fiction or recalling autobiographical
anecdotes, a la Ray Davies' recent exercise at the Westbeth Theatre.  "Why
not?" suggested one cynic who was crammed onto the club's balcony.  "Pete's
been stealing from Ray for thirty years."
 But Townshend, alone onstage except for a keyboardist, has found his comfort
zone these days without compromising his act; so at ease, in fact, that he
checked his watch just after 11 and realized that after two hours, it was
probably time to wind down.
 Without a hint of anxiety, Townshend breezed by on the strength of his
terrific solo work, from 1972's groovy "Sheraton Gibson" through the mellowed
but still discordant riffs of "English Boy," tossing in a chunk of Who
material - mainly "Quadrophenia" stuff - and interacting easily with what's
become an almost-hometown audience.  Shifting emphasis and subtly altering
some tempos and textures, Townshend offered new colorations to much of the
music, but never at the cost of familiarity.  Still, overall, it was a
performance more consistant than transcendant.
 It's clear that Townshend long ago came to terms with life after The Who
(although some of the band, including Townshend, will reunite in late June in
London's Hyde Park to perform "Quadrophenia" for The Prince's Trust chairty),
although the underlying mantra of the evening seemed to be age: his age.  But
Townshend's obviously come to terms with 51 as well: talkin' the blues on
"Slit Skirts" - one of the evenings glorious moments, along with the
brilliant tempo mix and acoustic guitar of "Heart to Hang Onto" - the singer
 summoned up just a touch of arrogance with the lyric, "Can't pretend that
growing older never hurts."  That's a line he wrote 15 years ago.
 Gender and gender confusion also have been recurring themes in Townshend's
work, and important ones.  "I've written eleven songs with 'boy' in the
title," he said, segueing into "I'm a Boy" and "Rough Boys."
 Though Townshend's piano hammering left lots to be desired - Who maven Ira
Robbins recalled seeing Pete at the keyboard only once before - he coaxed
killer chords out of "Rough Boys" and fashioned a brilliant amalgam of "Magic
Bus" and Marvin Gaye's 30-year-old classic, "Baby, Don't You Do It."
 Throughout the concert, Townshend, who gets my vote as rock's reigning
Chairman of the Board (behind Ol' Blue Eyes, perhaps?), kept up the chatter,
taking good-natured digs at Roger Daltrey, Howard Stern ("My nose is bigger
than Howard Stern's . . ."), Garth Brooks, and, typically, himself.  He
showed the supreme confidence of playing "A Legal Matter" country style.  "I
wrote this when I was seventeen," he said.  "Nobody had asked me to marry
them, but if they had, I was going to sing this." Even without "Tommy," a
Pete Townshend show is, at least, a rock operetta.


Later,


Pam