[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Dotmusic reviews RAH night 2



On line at:
http://www.dotmusic.com/live/Review/February2002/live23884.asp

Once again The Who wheel out one of the richest back
catalogues in rock history in the name of charity. As
with their earlier Albert Hall show in November 2000,
the Teenage Cancer Trust are the beneficiaries of
their efforts.

This is the second of two Who shows as part of a
week's concerts that have also included appearances by
Marti Pellow, Oasis, Paul Weller, Jimmy Page and
Robert Plant. It's also a chance for the band to get
their live chops back together in readiness for
American and British tours later this year.

With no fanfare, the three original members plus
long-serving accomplices Zak Starkey (son of Ringo
Starr) on drums and John 'Rabbit' Bundrick on
keyboards saunter onstage and blast into 'I Can't
Explain'. Roger Daltrey twirls his microphone, Pete
Townshend skits back and forth, digging into his
guitar and occasionally unleashing a windmill that
draws appreciative roars, while John Entwistle remains
as stoic and poker faced as ever, letting his fingers
do the talking with his amazing bass runs.

The run of classic singles continues with 'Substitute'
and 'Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere', followed by some
choice cuts from 'Tommy', including 'Amazing Journey',
a fiery 'Sparks' that sees Daltrey destroy two
tambourines with his enthusiastic playing, the
inevitable 'Pinball Wizard' and 'I'm Free'. However,
despite having all this legendary material at their
disposable, things aren't quite going according to
plan.

Townshend is in a belligerent mood, eyeing the front
row at his feet with disdain and seemingly unable to
coax the notes he wants out of his guitar during
solos, while various cues are missed elsewhere, giving
the show a somewhat under rehearsed feel in places.
Even the usually awesome climax of 'Behind Blue Eyes'
seems muted.

Townshend's solo acoustic spot has him reminding the
"c**ts" in the front that he does know the opening
verses to 'Quadrophenia' track 'Drowned', even though
he forgot them the previous night. The "c**ts" lap up
his rebuke but, seriously meant or not, he comes
across sounding as a man frustrated with the demands
of reliving this history again.

Luckily, a fine version of 'Baba O'Riley' gets things
back on track, and a pulverising version of '5.15',
which sees Townshend finally manage to channel his
frustration through his guitar to glorious effect, is
only derailed by an overlong and sloppy bass solo from
Entwistle.

By the encore the show has finally started to grip.
Daltrey straps on an acoustic guitar for 'The Kids Are
Alright' and they revisit two staples of their 70s
live set - Eddie Cochran's 'Summertime Blues' and Mose
Allison's 'Young Man Blues'. If you close your eyes
during the latter, it could be the Moon-era band up
there, Townshend and Starkey in absolute synchronicity
while still managing to both solo. Open your eyes
again and you discover Townshend has fallen into the
pit at the front of the stage. Which kind of sums up
what kind of night it's been.

'My Generation' sends the faithful home happy but this
was a good, not great, performance. Even on off nights
like this, The Who still have the power to amaze the
uninitiated and blow many bands half their age off the
stage. But on off nights like this, they become just
another great rock band playing great songs.
Unfortunately for them, the weight of their history 
demands that they deliver more.

Simon P Ward


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games
http://sports.yahoo.com