Gund Arena review from Cleveland Free Times

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

I was going back over some of the weekly magazines and found this one.  It
also has a picture of Pete.
Available on line at:
http://www.freetimes.com/issues/903/music-beingthere.php3

The Who
Gund Arena
Saturday, Sept. 30
"You're lucky: I've only ever written one track for one city, and that's
Cleveland," revealed Pete Townshend mid-set last Saturday at the Gund Arena.
After taking a solo acoustic bow on the "Church of Gibson," he then recalled
how the song was written after a tour stop in Cleveland where he enjoyed a
barbecue thrown by local concert promoter Michael Belkin, and at which he
met Joe Walsh and the James Gang. At a later stop on that tour, a homesick
Townshend sat in a church wishing he were back in Cleveland with his new
friends.
Quite a few years later, Townshend and his reassembled group were reunited
with the city for which they still have a great fondness. The feeling was
reciprocated by the capacity crowd. Sure, drummer Keith Moon's death should
have put a full stop on the Who - and musically it did - but the classic
songs still remain, and you can't fault fans for wanting to share them with
the surviving members.
And that's what they did. The band - which included keyboardist John
"Rabbit" Bundrick and Ringo's boy Zak Starkey on drums - arrived on stage
without pretense, said a warm hello and plunged into "I Can't Explain." The
casual entrance set the tone for the rest of the show, with Townshend
introducing nearly every song as if he were filming an episode of VH1's
Storytellers. It was an odd sight considering the band's leader always
seemed to display as much condescension for rock audiences as he did genuine
affection.
But age does mellow, and the once hard-living Townshend and the band are no
exception. Singer Roger Daltrey, though still fit and youthful-looking,
struggled with a few notes and seemed to lack the golden-god confidence that
once allowed him to lariat his microphone by its cord without missing a
catch. Similarly, Townshend, dressed in a sharp black suit and chunky
engineer boots, still has a way with his patented windmill guitar strum, but
his leaps and dramatic rock gestures were a little less dynamic than before.
And bassist John Entwistle ... well, he's always looked like he'd require a
good cattle-prodding before he'd dance around. But with an unbeatable
catalog of songs, the band got by without the bombast during their
two-and-a-half-hour set.
Advance word that the group would be sticking strictly to shorter numbers
proved to be wrong. A few of the set's highlights were epic tracks such as
"5:15," "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Who are You," and even shorter songs
like "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere," "Substitute" and "My Wife" were extended
with improvised sections. Few in the crowd complained. Even Entwistle's
obligatory bass solo was met with crazed applause, or as one fan said, "I
never thought I'd enjoy watching a guy jerk off."
Oddly, the only real lull in the set arrived during the encore. For some
reason the band felt obliged to drag out their signature track, the
proto-punk "My Generation," into a meandering blues that often left Daltrey
looking lost while his bandmates vamped it up. Maybe it was just the band's
way of illustrating their staying power - that they really weren't going to
die before they got old. Who knows. - Robert Cherry

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