Pepsi Center review from Denver Rocky Mountain News

["Brian Cady" <cadyb@home.com>]

Available on line at:
http://cfapps.insidedenver.com/goingout/musicdetails.cfm?ID=85

The Who put geezer image to flight
By Mark Brown
Denver Rocky Mountain News Critic

Our Rating:
A

Make all the cracks you want about dinosaur rock, geezers up on stage.

The fact of the matter is that when you reunite The Who, you've got one of
rock's greatest guitarists, greatest songwriters, greatest bassists and
greatest vocalists onstage together. Had drummer Keith Moon not died 22
years ago, you'd have a clean sweep.

Granted, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle have taken the
stage together and not produced sparks plenty of times in the past. Thursday
night, though, wasn't one of them. Trim, fit and full of fire, the band
roared through two-plus hours of rock's classic moments, from Substitute to
You Better You Bet, with Townshend taking flailing electric guitar solos.

The difference from the bloated tours of '96 and '89 is that The Who hit the
stage as a five-piece, a configuration they haven't actually toured in since
their 1982 "Farewell Tour" (Ha! Ho!).

Without the horn sections, backing singers and what-not, Townshend's guitar,
Entwistle's bass and Daltrey's voice had to pick up the slack. It wasn't
"Live at Leeds," but it would have been a stunning set from 30-year-olds,
much less guys approaching mandatory retirement age. And it's almost eerie
the way the youngster of the group, drummer Zak Starkey, has captured the
drum sound of his father's late best friend.

Townshend apologized for giving a greatest-hits set, but the rarities were
plentiful, from I Don't Know Myself, to a delightful solo acoustic I'm One,
to the encore of Naked Eye and Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. The huge hits
were there, of course, with everything from I Can't Explain to Won't Get
Fooled Again, but the band also pulled out hits that are heard on the radio
but rarely in concert - a sublime Getting In Tune, Bargain and a monstrous
jam on Entwistle's classic My Wife.

Monstrous jams were the mark of the evening, though, with everything from
5:15 to The Kids Are Alright getting extra guitar work as well as extra
lyrics. Even the songs that you've heard just too many times in your life -
Behind Blue Eyes, Pinball Wizard - were delivered with punch.

In fact, you've got to look hard for quibbles. Daltrey couldn't quite hit
all the high notes in Baba O'Riley. Some more obscure tracks, such as
Another Tricky Day, would have fit nicely in the set. Townshend solo songs
that have gotten the Who treatment in the past - Rough Boys, A Friend is a
Friend, - would have been welcome, too.

Those quibbles are ridiculous; it was a roaring rock show from start to
finish.

Fellow Brits Unamerican opened the show with a sharp set that was as strong
and fully realized as its recent U.S. debut album. The
Neil-Young-meets-Radiohead sound was demonstrated by a version of Young's
Don't Let It Bring You Down. But the group's own material was stronger than
that. Watch for big things from these guys.

By Mark Brown
© Copyright, Denver Publishing Co.
August 25, 2000

        -Brian in Atlanta
         The Who This Month!
        http://members.home.net/cadyb/who.htm