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the Who on fire



Just a quick one on tonite's show at Nissan Pavilion at Bristow VA (west of 
DC).  An incredibly tight hot show!!! Pete summed it up well during the 
encores when he noted that the band is a bit smaller and much tighter, Simon 
has mastered the guitar bits, Zak has enlivened the Who, Roger and Pete worked 
together/collaborated truly for the first time ("and that's a healthy thing," 
he added) and that they are having a ball.  This beat the Nov 96 show at Largo 
Md by miles!  that show was great too but this one had more spirit and fire.  

John's bass was too low until just before his solo in 5:15, which was nice, 
loud, and long and blistered the paint off the rafters!  We weren't sure about 
Roger's voice until about a third of the way into the show, like he was 
waiting or testing it but then it came full on and never sounded better than 
recent memory.  And Pete, oh Pete, THANK YOU for strapping on those electrics 
and showing us who is the real Face!!  he just let loose during PMTG and drove 
the point home with the first of dozens of power chords, astounding soloing, 
windmills, feedback etc.  He beatified Drowned on acoustic, then kept the 
electric on for most of the last half of Quad (well, maybe on and off, help me 
out others who saw),  but again let loose during LROM.  

He let it rip again on the encores, to wit: he and Roger on, 1st: Magic Bus -- 
just great, with his red electric, choppy, staccato power chords etc -- then 
back to acoustic for WGFA, joined halfway through by John on bass.  From then 
on the sound built back up into full blown WHO with the return of everyone 
else.  The rough order of what followed (again, corrections on the order are 
welcome!): KAAA (Roger started on acoustic, then full band, very nice version: 
beautiful) ICE and Substitute in succession and with Pete on full electric 
throttle; Behind Blue Eyes (like I remember it, quiet and beautiful to start, 
then full blast THANK YOU ZAK!!); and then WAY, with extended soloing by Pete, 
including a full on quick blues jam that sounded familiar just before the end 
of the song...  a Seven number encore to me qualifies as a second set and just 
blew away that of last fall!!  

So thats it for now folks, we are one lucky group we are! and I can't wait 
till tomorrow and Saturday night.  Later!