Newark Star-Ledger Review of PNC Show

[WHO6489@aol.com]

Hello Fellow WHO Heads,
    Here is the review of PNC from the Newark Star-Ledger.................

                          NO WHEN IN SIGHT FOR AGING  W H O
                                            BY BEN HOROWITZ
    For all their artistic intelligence and power, The WHO have never 
hesitated to repackage their material if it looked like their fans would but 
it.
    As the 21st century begins, we find The WHO - who have not released a 
studio album of fresh material since 1982 -touring one more time. Even though 
the better seats cost an absurd $152, the band had no trouble selling out 
Saturday night's concert at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.
    Not that the 2 1/2 hour show was bad. Pete Townshend can't rip out a 
fast, crackling electric-guitar solo with the dexterity of his youth, but 
otherwise you got the flavor of a true WHO concert. Performing hits from 
throughout their remarkable first two decades -- along with a handful of 
obscurities - The WHO delivered their elegant melodies with the expected fury 
and verve.
    Original WHO members Townshend, lead singer Roger Daltrey and bass player 
John Entwistle were joined by longtime keyboard sideman John "Rabbit" 
Bundrick and drummer Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son.
    Starkey, who has clearly studied the style of The WHO's legendary 
original drummer,  the late Keith Moon, did a credible job of smashing along 
with the requisite speed and flair. Starkey and the gray-haired Entwistle, 
55, - looked positively ancient as he stood immobile at the side of the stage 
- kept the show moving at a booming pace. Daltrey, 56, who looked like an 
aging, but fit, prizefighter coming back for yet another round, shouted out 
effectively in a voice that had faded slightly.
    Townshend, dapper as ever if rather bald at the age of 55, was at full 
throttle when he strummed the guitar or slashed power cords with his 
trademark windmill motion. He occasionally fumbled solos, though, missing 
notes or playing a little out of sync with the band.
    The band sounded great on its more simple songs. Delivered with the 
melodic force that sets The WHO above most rock bands were such power-pop 
gems as "I Can't Explain," Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere," "The Seeker" and 
"Pinball Wizard" which mercifully was the only song played from "Tommy," the 
rock opera that has been reissued in a zillion formats.
    Wisely selecting a bevy of songs from perhaps its best album, 1971's 
"Who's Next," the band kept its rocking might intact on these more complex, 
satisfying numbers. "Baba O'Riley," "Bargain," Behind Blue Eyes," and "Wont' 
Get Fooled Again" were all triumphs of muscle and melody. On "Baba," Daltrey 
performed a surprisingly adept, lively, lengthy harmonica solo in place of 
the violin part on the record.
    Bundrick's keyboard playing was sturdy and he stood out with his 
barrelhouse style on "Relay," an engaging, good-timey obscurity recorded 
during an in-studio radio session in the early '70s and included in the WHO's 
recent "BBC Sessions" release.
    Probably the evening's most tender moments came during the encores, 
particularly on a new arrangement of "The Kids Are Alright" that emerged as 
an understated masterpiece. Performed at about three-quarter speed with 
Daltrey strumming an acoustic guitar, this normally exuberant song had a 
pensive, sad air that alluded to the problems with kids today. In the middle, 
Townshend told the audience, "My kids are alright/ Your kids are alright," in 
a quiet tone that dared the audience to agree with him.
    Townshend also expressed sadness over the people who died in Denmark as 
Pearl Jam played on Friday, noting that a similar tragedy occurred at a WHO 
concert, when 11 people were killed in a stampede for seats at a Cincinnati 
arena in 1979.
    For their finale encore, The WHO chose their anthem "My Generation." The 
number began powerfully enough with Daltrey shouting out his stuttered part 
as Entwistle's bass and Townshend's guitar darted playfully around him. But 
it degenerated into a pointless jam that had many fans abandoning their 
expensive seats and heading for the exits.
    Sure, the tickets and concessions cost way too much, but if people are 
willing to pay the price, why should The WHO stop touring? These songs are 
too good to discard and no one else is going to play them.
    The opening act, the British guitar-rock quartet UnAmerican, offered a 
tedious, eardrum-splitting set that put a heavy spin on the introspective, 
mid-tempo mop-rock of the '80s.