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Re: JAE who songs on tour
>I've always felt any Who is better than no Who & we're lucky they still
>tour. But it's puzzling they are so apprehensive about playing some of
>their most wonderful stuff. They don't like to practice. And at the same
>time they don't care about making mistakes on stage. Then in that case,
>play some of the lesser played stuff. We don't care either, but would love
>it just the same. Otherwise, it is still great. Just a selfish thought.
I think the philosophy is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The way
they/Roger make up the set list is why the shows are so powerful. There's a
certain structure that makes it fly, and they can see any weakness in it
immediately from the audience reaction. I'm sure they hate that drop in
energy when the crowd fails to react to what they're playing, moves
restlessly, streams to the toilets, etc. Certainly they'd feel they're
losing the audience if it happens for two songs in a row. This limits the
number of new or unusual songs they can play and still maintain the flow of
the show.
As for practicing, that's always dull and boring because there's no audience
at all. There's no feedback to say if they're doing it right or wrong, and
so they fool with it a little and then go looking for the crowd. A case in
point is Pete's Sadlers Wells video that I was talking about recently. Pete
has changed his mind about how to play the show once he was in front of an
audience, but many of the musicians present on the stage weren't that tuned
in to audience feedback. Pete has that talent to shift what he's doing in
response to the audience, which is one of the things that distinguishes The
Who from lesser bands. Weeks and months and years of practice in a studio
will never provide that ability.
Mistakes on the stage are fine as long as the audience is with you.
Embarrassing, maybe, but not that big a deal. I was at the Boston show last
tour, and they had several really bad screw-ups, a couple of them in the
shows' strongest numbers, but it was still a brilliant show. The audience
was with them all the way.
keets
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