Tampa Show

[CosmoFLA@aol.com]

Fellow Who-ites,

Well, I just returned from the Tampa Quad show, and I don't even know what to
say.  I have been listening to you all talk about the shows, but I still was
not clear how the actors interacted with the movie and the band.  I have one
word to describe the show: unbelievable.

I have only seen the Who in Buffalo's Rich Stadium and Toronto's Exhibition
Stadium, and it was a real treat to see them in a smaller venue like the Ice
Palace.  Not intimate, but 17,000 vs. 70,000 sure makes a difference.

I'm not even going to try and explain how tight the show was, but Pete seemed
really proud of their performance.  He mentioned that we have witnessed the
penultimate performance, and joked that it should be perfect by now, their
60th performance.  

I've seen JAE move his hands fast, but during that solo he was unreal!  And
when did Pete get so good at electric lead?  Roger's voice seems much
stronger than in '89.  Perhaps the 1-2 days between shows are really
relieving the strain.

The encores were WGFA w/mini-PW bridge, Substitute, BBE, ICE, and WAY.  Pete
couldn't say enough about Zak and Simon, and I agree.  He also talked about
how people always talk about the glory days of the Who, but said they weren't
that great because of Keith and his undisciplined ways.  He went on to say
that they've had a lot of great drummers since Keith, but none better than
Zak, who stepped in w/o missing a beat.  Zak was absolutely awesome.

It was kind of sad at the end, though.  Pete told the crowd to "shut up"
because he couldn't hear himself play the acoustic.  He was joking by being
rude, but was serious about the crowd noise.  He said he didn't want to "pull
a Springsteen" with a folk song, but he needed to hear himself (I always
heard him say he liked Springsteen--I hope that was a joke re: "Ghost of Tom
Joad" tour).

As they left the stage, I had this strange feeling that this would be it (you
know what I mean...I'm not gonna say it).  I'm just glad I got one
opportunity to see them again.  This tour was so much tighter, better mixed,
and well rehearsed than TKAA in '89.  If (Heaven forbid) I am never able to
see them again, I'm glad it ended with this show.

To those I was supposed to meet at Newk's before the show:  Where the hell
were you?  Sorry we didn't hook up and I hope you had as good a time as I
did!!!

LONG LIVE THE WHO!!!

//Cos