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Flint Journal on Auburn Hills
Glad to see someone in Flint still has a job. The URL
is:
http://www.mlive.com/music/fljournal/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/features-0/1030281604260300.xml
A seemingly grateful Who gets its groove back
FLINT JOURNAL REVIEW
Sunday, August 25, 2002
By Doug Pullen
JOURNAL ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
AUBURN HILLS -- Meet the new Who. Half of the old Who.
The June 27 death of bassist John Entwistle, 57, just
as the seminal British rockers were about to embark on
a summer tour of America, stunned the music world.
Even more shocking was the decision by remaining
members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend to carry on
without him.
Friday's start of the tour's third leg at The Palace
of Auburn Hills not only returned the Who to the
neighborhood of one of the first American cities to
embrace them nearly 40 years ago, but came on the 55th
birthday of Keith Moon, the band's wildman drummer,
who died Sept. 7, 1978.
The band's decision to carry on without Moon was
questionable at the time. His replacement, Kenny
Jones, was the wrong man for the job, and the band's
heart wasn't in its last two studio records, a 1982
farewell tour or a 25th anniversary tour in 1989.
Semi-retirement didn't suit them until 1996, when an
expanded version of the band, aided by the passionate
drumming of Moon disciple Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's
son, played a sprawling, autobiographical 1973 rock
opera "Quadrophenia."
The band pared down to a quintet two years ago for a
tour in which all pretense of playing it safe was
thrown out the window, and its famous improvisational
flair returned.
Those shows were refreshingly rough around the edges.
This time around, with journeyman bassist Pino
Palladeno quietly providing a solid, if less powerful,
foundation than Entwistle, the reconstituted Who and
the often recalcitrant Townshend sound more
comfortable with their legacy and grateful to be
around to celebrate it.
"Every time you come out, you see less of us,"
Townshend noted after a fiery version of "Who Are
You," a song inspired by his own identity crisis.
Daltrey, in fine voice and looking as fit and ruggedly
handsome at 58 as he did at 28, and Townshend, who
looks his 58 years but is playing like a man half his
age, sorted through the ashes of their own gloriously
muddled history Friday. They opened with a triple
blast of early '60s British hits, culminating in a
bristling Townshend solo on "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere"
in which he scraped, picked, pounded and windmilled
his red-and-white Fender Stratocaster, sending the
sellout crowd of 16,000 into a near frenzy with one of
his song-ending leaps.
There were many moments like that Friday (not to
mention an unexpected peek at the breasts of a woman
in the first row that drew praise from Daltrey), and
not just on the obvious crowd favorites including
"Baba O'Riley," "5:15" (minus Entwistle's
fleet-fingered solo) and the rebellious anthem "Won't
Get Fooled Again."
Townshend turned a lilting version of "The Kids Are
Alright," from the Who's 1965 debut album, into a song
of wistful reaffirmation, musing about the Motor City,
the MC5 and the Who's first U.S. gig in Ann Arbor
before reaffirming his belief in the innocence of
youth. "What can ever be wrong with kids," he sang.
There were misfires, too, especially obscurities
"Another Tricky Day" (from 1981's "Faces Dances") and
"Relay" (an early '70s rarity from the aborted
"Lifehouse" project), while "Behind Blue Eyes" and
"Bargain" were a tad too restrained.
The coup de grace was an explosive four-song encore
from "Tommy," the Who's groundbreaking rock opera.
With another '70s icon, Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant,
providing a solid hour of nostalgia and new music in
the opening slot, this Who tour seems to be all about
looking back and forging ahead.
What's left of the band that wanted to die before it
got old sounds content to get old before it dies.
QUICK FACTS
Set list
1. I Can't Explain'
2. Substitute'
3. Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere'
4. Who Are You'
5. Another Tricky Day'
6. Relay'
7. Bargain'
8. Baba O'Riley'
9. Sea and Sand'
10. 5:15'
11. Love, Reign O'er Me'
12. Eminence Front'
13. Behind Blue Eyes'
14. You Better You Bet'
15. The Kids Are Alright'
16. My Generation'
17. Won't Get Fooled Again'
Encore
18. Pinball Wizard'
19. Amazing Journey'
20. Sparks'
21. See Me, Feel Me'
The Auburn Hills show and those afterward will be
available on compact disc via www.themusic.com, with
proceeds going to charity.
--
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
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