MSG (Oct. 3) review from Sonic Net

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

Available on line at:
http://www.sonicnet.com/news/archive/story.jhtml?id=1124537&pid=911217

Wallflowers Play Madison Square Garden - As Openers
Jakob Dylan finds himself in awkward role of opening act for British rockers
the Who.
Senior Writer Brian Hiatt reports:

NEW YORK - Roots-rockers the Wallflowers are about to release one of the
fall's most anticipated albums, but in their show with the Who on Tuesday
night, they found themselves assuming the unaccustomed - and apparently
uncomfortable - role of just another opening act.

"I know some of you probably aren't familiar with us," frontman Jakob Dylan
said to the Madison Square Garden crowd early in his band's abbreviated set,
which offered only a brief taste of the group's new album, Breach, due next
week.

A substantial chunk of the crowd still was meandering into the arena as the
Wallflowers opened their set with a laid-back version of "Sleepwalker,"
their catchy current single.

The band followed with "Some Flowers Bloom Dead," a new midtempo rocker
driven by crunchy rhythm guitars, with Dylan and lead guitarist Michael Ward
loosely harmonizing on the chorus, Jagger-Richards-style. Ward added nimble,
thick-toned solos to almost every song, pushing them beyond their recorded
versions.

The band summoned more fire for "Letters From the Wasteland," which moves
from an atmospheric opening driven by keyboardist Rami Jaffee's organ to an
anthemic, power-chord-boosted chorus.

Though he was opening for one of rock's most famously explosive live bands,
Dylan clearly felt no pressure to pump up his laconic stage demeanor.
Throughout the set, he hardly moved from his spot in front of his
microphone.

"You're very kind," he told the crowd, responding sardonically to the polite
but hardly ecstatic applause that greeted most of his songs. The Wallflowers
appeared as the replacement for Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and the
Black Crowes, who had to cancel their tour together after Page suffered a
back injury.

The Wallflowers filled out the rest of their set with their cover of David
Bowie's "Heroes", as well as the hits "One Headlight", "Three Marlenas," and
"Difference," from their breakthrough album, 1996's Bringing Down the Horse.

"You've been very patient - the main event is on its way," Dylan said to the
audience near the end of the performance.

As promised, the Who took the stage 40 minutes later, blasting out their
early hits "I Can't Explain," "Substitute" and "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" in
quick succession.

Guitarist Pete Townshend clearly was energized - he rocked back and forth on
his thick-soled boots, leaped about and windmilled his right hand across his
guitar so furiously that at one point he hit himself in the nose.

Throughout the band's greatest-hits set, Townshend modernized old favorites
with lengthy guitar solos, which, with their rapid-fire hammer-ons and
smoothly executed arpeggios, sounded like nothing he'd been known to play in
the past.

But the rest of the band's music sounded much as it did in the Who's '60s
and '70s prime, with bassist John Entwistle calmly playing his supremely
complex lines, and singer Roger Daltrey pitting his rough shout against
Townshend's higher-registered backing vocals.

Drummer Zak Starkey, son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, gamely filled the
late Keith Moon's slot, and longtime Townshend associate John "Rabbit"
Bundrick re-created the essential keyboard parts on such songs as "Bargain,"
"Who Are You" and "Baba O'Riley".

The band didn't update the crowd on the songwriting sessions that Daltrey
had promised would take place on their tour, which ends its current U.S. leg
after three more Madison Square Garden shows.

But Daltrey, Entwistle and Townshend, who have reunited and broken up
several times since announcing the end of the band in 1982, appeared, for
once, to be getting along.

"What makes me feel lucky is that I'm playing with these old lads named
Roger and John," Townshend said. "It's love that brought this band together.
It's not about the money, and it's not about the music, really. It's really
about love."

The evening's first opening act was British rock group Unamerican, who've
opened for the Who throughout this tour. With their muscular,
roots-conscious brand of rock landing in a stylistic niche directly between
the styles of the Who and the Wallflowers, Unamerican seemed a logical
addition to the lineup.
by Brian Hiatt
Sonicnet News

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