Woodlands review from Houston Chronicle

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

Available on line at:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/headline/entertainment/650519

The Who proves it's no oldies band
By MICHAEL D. CLARK
Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle

Tuesday's the Who show officially sealed 2000 as the year of the reunion
tour.

In the '80s, the arena rock of U2 and Whitesnake ruled the concert season.
The '90s featured rock festivals with cutting-edge upstarts like Pearl Jam
and Alice in Chains. This year, concert ticket-buyers have forgotten both
eras and jumped back to the '60s and '70s.

And with good reason. The early legends are producing superior concerts.

Earlier this year the coupling of Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band
was a heartland rock sanctuary. The reincarnation of Crosby, Stills, Nash
and Young was a folk-rock treasure.

Tuesday at the Woodlands Pavilion, the Who launched a second (or third? or
fourth?) assault of the British Invasion and proved that its self-prescribed
rumors of demise have been very exaggerated.

For the final show on this leg of the "Blues to the Bus" tour, gone were the
rock-opera histrionics that brought original members Pete Townshend, Roger
Daltrey and John Entwistle together for a Quadrophenia revival tour four
years ago.

In its place was two-plus hours of maximum R&B by three mid-50s rock legends
who didn't succumb to the rock 'n' roll lifestyle even as they defined it.
Without John Lennon to complement Paul McCartney and the degradation of both
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' vocal chords, Daltrey and Townshend
represent rock's most hallowed and familiar dual harmony still on the road.

Shouting about bad reviews in the papers and playfully scolding the audience
for conversing when he was speaking, Townshend acts -- and seems to
relish -- the part of cranky grandpa. Deftly maneuvering through inspired
melodic ax grinds and fast-fleeing blues riffs on I Can't Explain and
Substitute, the songs acted as a fountain of youth.

"We've been here for 15 minutes, and there's no cake for me or flowers for R
oger," Townshend bellowed to a tightly packed audience of boomers, many with
teen-agers in tow. "And Roger always likes to get a bra."

Daltrey, looking fit, tan and aerobicized (not only would most 56-year-olds
envy his toned abs, most 26 year-olds would, too), has been accused of
losing some of his high range on songs like Behind Blue Eyes and Real Me.
Maybe he has or maybe it's the toll taken on his pipes after a summer of
vocal gymnastics. Either way, the strain of reaching for notes he used more
than 30 years ago added a graceful, mature texture to those songs.

Most unchanged was bassist Entwistle, who may be bearded and gray like a
wolf, but flicks his bass gazelle-quick next to the lead men. At any moment,
he can scale several octaves of bass when needed.

Replacing deceased drummer Keith Moon is Zak Starkey, who has studied his
lessons well during multiple tours with the band. It's not easy replacing an
icon. But it's probably also not easy being the son of Beatles skinsman
Ringo Starr. Starkey handles both duties with aplomb.

The set was laced with 20 hits, pulling generously from the Who's 1971 pièce
de résistance, Who's Next. The frame was adorned with tracks from Tommy and
Quadrophenia. Cries of "teen-age wasteland" on the classic Baba O'Riley were
followed with the glorified rock stomps of the lesser-known Bargain and My
Wife.

For the Who aficionado, it was a spirited revival thought nearly impossible
30 years after greatness. For the newly introduced, it proved that
Townshend's musical genius at that time was no fluke.

On an acoustic solo of Drowned, Townshend gave a brief preview of the
stately Richard Thompson-like Brit he may become when he grows up. Minutes
before he was slugging his guitar with caustic windmills on the '70s
amplified excess of Pinball Wizard, proving that won't be anytime soon.

Pinball Wizard was the only major nod to the first successful rock opera,
Tommy. Instead, the Who changed gears mid-set, allowing Houston keyboardist
and longtime band sideman John "Rabbit" Bundrick to scale a psychedelic
keyboard on You Better, You Bet and Who Are You.

These latter cuts have benefited in the past from the Who's more expanded
touring lineups of strings and backup singers. This current quintet allowed
for focus on Townshend and Daltrey's chummy vocal give-and-take and
Townshend's guitar noodle masterclass.

Nods to youth like Won't Get Fooled Again and the simpler Brit-pop of Kids
Are Alright closed the show. It was a nice blast from the past but shouldn't
yet be mistaken for nostalgia. The Who is one of the few from the first
generation still cranked up and current.

As Daltrey uttered the line, "Hope I die before I get old," on the final
encore, My Generation, it was clear he felt that time hadn't come.

By MICHAEL D. CLARK
Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle

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