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Live Aid, Phil In, Who Fix



Thanks to everybody for the rest of the info on what happened during
Live Aid at Wembley.  I was sure the band's power didn't go out because
every time they blinked back on the screen they were in
mid-performance.  Andrew's anecdote regarding ABC's rebroadcast and
Pete's self stage management are too good not to be repeated for those
who missed them:

>On the 10 year anniversary tape of Liveaid I have, the BBC executive
>producer of the show says all of Wembley went down ... the tape then
>goes into WGFA with a text underline "Just five minutes later, The Who
>were back".  Sounds like they had to stop, but I'm not sure.

>By the way, one other great tidbit from this tape is an interview clip
>with a stage manager who describes a green, yellow, red light system
>they had put at the front of the stage with yellow meaning the band had
>2 minutes left in their alloted time and red meaning times up and they
>were going to "pull the plug on them". He says everyone adhered to it
>through the day, except when The Who started going long and Pete "sticks
>his boot into the thing and smashes the lights to bits".  Good ol'
>Pete!!  

Two hilarious things here:  "into WGFA with a text underline 'Just five
minutes later, The Who were back'."  HA HA HA!! JUST FIVE MINUTES
LATER!?! JUST FIVE MISSING MINUTES of 'Won't Get Fooled Again' LATER it
should have said.  That's a big difference.  I was in the audience in
Philly went they lost the feed and let me tell you, that was five of the
longest minutes of my life!  Plus that Pete story is classic.  Vintage
Pete.

JB-2-The Who:  Phil Collins really asked to join The Who after Moon
died?!  Wow!  I'm not the biggest Collins solo fan, but I respect his
stint in old Genesis enough to imagine what this would have been like. 
I also think Collins is one of the best drummers alive, and although no
one can match Moon, he would have been a damn good Who drummer.  I've
always thought that Keith's best talent as a drummer was the
unpredictability of his blistering rolls.  He would jump into a roll
seemingly at any point; if it was explained to you or written out in
"Drum tablature" (if that's what it's called) it would look insane, but
on record it works.  Illogical but logical.  I always think of the
drumming on MG and "Amazing Journey" or "I'm Free" when I want to
remember Keith's crazy, brilliant rolls.  Phil Collins is one of the
only other drummers I see with that same ability.  Most drummers, even
some of the best, are relatively easy to second guess.  Their patterns
seem to play through logically.  But Collins (esp. Gabriel Genesis),
like Keith, often does bizarrely timed rolls.  I still give Keith the
real award because as odd as Collins patterns sometimes are Keith's are
positively genius.  You just can't follow that guy!  I also recently
watched that documentary, "History of Rock and Roll" and as they were
discussing drummers, Phil Collins came on and said (paraphrased as
usual), "Another drummer people often forget because his personality is
so famous is Keith Moon.  People forget about him, but he was absolutely
brilliant!!"

Non-Who Fix:  Quick list of a few songs that I need to hear every so
often:

Bold As Love - Hendrix, Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad - Derek &
Dominoes, Electric Co. - U2 (live and unedited, only on the original
pressing of the Under A Blood Red Sky album, CD is edited), Fortunate
Son - CCR, Voodoo Child Slight Return - Hendrix, Beethoven's 9th
Symphony, The Things That I Used To Do - Buddy Guy (can that guy
play?!!), 2nd side of Abbey Road or 1st side of Sgt Pepper's (minus that
damn "Within You Without You" crap), * honorable mention - soul: Only
Stevie Wonder - esp Sir Duke, new bands (relatively) - Cracker: "Teen
Angst", "Get On This" (that guy's lyrics slay me).
- --Leo