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BRSO in Denver / Roger Interview / Best Concert



I just though I would take some time to share with everyone on the list the
interview that Roger gave the local Denver music writer before the July
4th show.

This isn't the whole interview, about half of the interview was directly
related to the BRSO, however there were parts regarding Roger and the
future. 
Roger says, " I do love to sing, and I need to sing to keep my voice up,
because you never know when Pete Townshend is going to pick up the
Who again, which I'm sure is going to happen."  "Daltry says he never
tires of singing Who hits like "My Generation", "I Can See for Miles",
"Pinball Wizard", "Won't Get Fooled Again", and "Love Reign O'er Me"  all
of which are featured in the show.  There's something about the Who
music that the energy always seem to remain.  It's extraordinary.  Daltrey
says he feels "proud and lucky" to have been part of the Who.  When
you think of the chances of four individuals coming together..at that
moment in time, with the same interest and the same drive, to create that
chemistry, it's a gift from God.  And the audiences have to take some of
the accolade too, because Who audiences always gave us energy. 
We'd give it out and they'd throw it back to us, amplified.  As for the
future of the Who - a band that seemingly retired in 1982 only to spring
back to life from time to time - Daltry sees encouraging signs.  For one
thing, he and guitarist / chief songwriter Townshend have (for now
anyway) put their bickering past behind them.  We're getting on great
these days, he says.  We felt that we really reformed our group
relationship with the 'Quadrophenia'.  We re-discovered how to work
together, and it was very satisfying.  I'm pretty optimistic that something
will happen with the Who, Daltrey says.  It won't be the old things that
will happen in the past, a greatest hits tour.  We aim to at least try and do
something new.  That "something new", he says may be the first all new
studio album by the former Who members since 1982's 'It's Hard."  Pete
and I are talking, he says.  Let's see what happens. We might make a
record (and) decide the record is not worth releasing.  Then again, we
might make a record that's fantastic and say , let's get this out and do
another tour.  But the door is open now.  Pete and I really appreciate
where we've come to in time.  Meanwhile, Daltrey has been working on
various acting projects.  He just completed a movie tentatively titled
"Romantic Moritz", with Christopher Lloyd and he soon starts a six part
mini series for the BBC."

The Denver Post article was about a half page in the Arts and
Entertainment section.  Nice to see someone from the Who get some
press finally.  In fact there were two pictures of Roger in the paper on
the 4th.  

The review of the 4th of July concert at Fiddlers Green here in Denver
appeared in the paper today.  I was unable to attend because of a
previous commitment.  Here is the parts of the review regarding Roger,
the reviewer was not too impressed by the rest of the show, however
he felt Roger gave a great perfomance....  " Fortunately, Daltrey turned in
a strong performance.  He twirled his microphone by its cord ( a
trademark of his) and played some powerful acoustic guitar on "Who Are
You"  The crowd loved singing the lyric "You better, you better, you bet"
with Daltrey, and many folks stood - some even danced - to "Pinball
Wizard"  as soon as Daltrey began lamenting "See Me, Feel Me," which 
turned out to be the anthem of the night, one balding fan jumped up and
flashed peace signs.  By the time Daltrey's voice was powering the
climax building "Listening to You" finale, much of Fiddler's Green was
standing.  Big cheers came at the songs end.  Daltrey belted and roared
on "Love, Reign O'er Me," and he burned with passion when he
melodically power screamed "LOVE!"   Daltrey also sparked on Pink
Floyd's "Money," which he sang with a healthy grit in his voice.  But
when Daltrey was offstage "British Rock Symphony" was lame.

One other recent Who sighting in Denver.  Barry Fey is a local concert
promoter that retired within the last year and is credited with bringing big
time concerts to Denver starting back in the 60's, he's the guy at the start
of the 1983 U2 video, "Under a Blood Red Sky" filmed at Red Rocks. 
There was an article in the paper in which he remembers some of the
concerts from the start of his career.According to Barry, "The concert
that stands out in his mind as the best he ever presented was on June 9,
1970, when the Who - a year after the release of its hit tock opera
"Tommy" played what was then the Mammoth Gardens on East Colfax
Avenue.  It was 100 some degrees that day, Fey says.  We sold about
5,000 tickets, which was a lot more than Mammoth could hold.  It was
decided to add a second show to handle the overflow.  That show sold
out too.  As the first show began, the Who's leader, guitarist Pete
Townshend, made and unexpected announcement to the crowd. 
Townshend came on stage and said, I'm sure you've all read that we will
never perform "Tommy" again.  Well that's BS.  The band then launched
into a two and a half hour set of "Tommy" and also played their other hits
as well.  Because of the heat the Mammoth's doors were left open and
the music could be heard blocks away.  People were listening at the
Capital and lying on the grass and loving it because you could here the
sound all the way down there"

Imagine people walking down the street hearing the band blaze through
the entire set!!!

I promise not to type in the entire Denver Post in the future!!

We can all hope that there is something new from the Who in the next
year or so, everyone keep those fingers crossed.


Scott