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Re: Hollywood Bowl From Front Row Center



The reviews of Hollywood Bowl I've read so far have pretty much covered
the show.  This post is as good a jumping off place for a few more
comments as I can find.  Interestingly, I had exactly the opposite
reaction to the show.  I sat there and listened to the first few songs
and thought, "It's okay."

Don't get me wrong--I am a major John fan.  I really missed him.  It's
true that there's a gaping hole where there was once elegant bass, but
give them a while to deal with it.  I'm not the expert on this kind of
thing that others here might be, but I have a few comments on the bass.
 We got the same timekeeper/melody work from Pino that John always
performed.  It was eighth notes instead of sixteenth, but it did the
job.  Those who have complained about the mushy and indistinct quality
of JAE's bass in recent years may well like Pino's clearer sound.  In
many cases the individual notes were distinguisable, whereas John has
tended to blur into white noise.  I missed the white noise, as it was
an artistic effect.  Did the buzzard just make that noise when John
switched it on?  I thought I heard a touch of it, but I think Pino was
holding a chord.

Pino seemed very conservative during most of the show, paying attention
and minding his p's and q's, but by the time we got to the encore, he
must have been feeling much better about the whole thing.  During
"Pinball Wizard" he gave us some bass feedback.  I predict that once
they've had a chance to really rehearse, he can give us some very
interesing bass work.

As other fans have said, everybody else worked harder to fill the
deficiency in their sound, and the show approached brilliant at times. 
Something I haven't seen mentioned is that Roger and Simon both played
acoustic guitar on "Who Are You," which seemed to adequately fill the
gap left by the bass.  At the end of this number, Roger said, "That's
Who we are...well, maybe," and I thought, "You're right, Rog.  The Who
is still alive and well." 

I did pretty much turn my life upside down for a few days to get to
this show, but I didn't spend $1000 to sit center front.  Maybe that's
why I have a different perspective than Lauren and Stef.  I sat up in
the back with the poor folks, the ones who enjoy The Who enough to make
the show, but not the rabid fans you meet hereabouts who have to sit in
the first ten rows or not go at all.  I had twenty-somethings to my
right, thirty-somethings to my left and forty-somethings in front of
me, most of which were Counting Crows fans, too (a California band). 
All seemed to enjoy the show as usual, dancing and pumping fists and so
on--no one mentioned any problem with the bass, except that it was very
sad that JAE had passed on.  

Zak especially blossomed during this show, and produced the thunder
that Roger promised us with more bass drum--the gal in front of me
asked a lot of questions about him, watched him though binoculars and
pronounced him "adorable."  Afterward, a number of fans were blasting
LIVE A LEEDS from their car stereos.  Again, Roger was clear as a bell
and perfectly on key all night.  "Love Reign O'er Me" hurt my ears even
up there in the back.  There was no foolishness from Pete (which seemed
to disappoint some of the fans)--he worked hard and kept the theatrics
to a minimum.  

"Baba O'Riley" was very rocky, but Roger made do on the hamonica until
they got it right.  All in all, I thought it was a breathtaking show. 
I don't know how they will all feel about it once the tour is over, but
if they want to keep going, all the elements are there to work with. 
We would all miss JAE, but we also miss Keith, and now we have Zak to
love.  We would never have had that if they had really quit in 1982.

Other observations.  The media seemed very excited about the HB show. 
There were several news vans parked outside, including ABC and CNN, and
a number of breathless reporters and other hopefuls rushing about and
lining up to go back stage after the show. 

Also, those were bootleg tee-shirts for sale with John's picture on
them--which means that none of the money for them goes to the band. 
It's possible the band will issue some commemorative shirt later, so
I'd hold off on buying any of them.  


LB


--- NakedEye10@aol.com wrote:
> Lauren and Stefani (Whooligan from Seattle) here.  It's tomorrow
> morning. Didn't have it in us to post last night.
> 
> Haven't read anybody else's comments.
> 
> So much and so little to say.
> 
> Brief conclusion:  Roger and Pete were present, not hiding.  They
> both worked 
> incredibly hard.  Zak kicked ass.  
> 
> The Who, in our opinion, is clearly dead, but The Two put on a
> heartfelt Who 
> cover show.  What we got last night is a very sharp version of
> Daltrey Sings 
> Townshend.  (My friend Steve who was in the front row with us was
> even astute 
> enough to be wearing his Carnegie Hall DST shirt.  Stef and I had
> John shirts 
> Fed Ex'd to us in LA.)
> 
> If '96, '97, '99, and Y2K never existed, I would've thought the show
> kicked 
> ass, just as I loved the '94 DST road shows (as distinct from the
> disarray 
> that was Carnegie Hall).
> 
> It is the DST show, substituting Pete for John, and Zak is light
> years better 
> than the already best post-Keith drummer that he was in '94.  In our
> opinion, 
> he really became a full energetic member of the band, and they really
> became 
> The Who for the first time since Keith died with that string of '99
> shows.  
> The Who had been re-born.  Only took 15 years to find a replacement
> drummer.  
> We're lucky to have gotten that window of time.  Who knew that it
> would ever 
> get so relatively good after Keith.
> 
> We both have a much clearer understanding of how some older fans
> after Keith 
> died.  The Song Is Over.  I'm left with only tears...
> 
> And love Pete as we do.  And we do love Pete, both personally and as
> a member 
> of The Who, if we had to pick which of the two member band sounded
> more like 
> The Who, it would be the DST band with Roger and John, not The Two
> band with 
> Roger and Pete.
> 
> FWIW, had John not died last week, it would've been fucking
> phenomenal.  This 
> whole tour would've blown the world away.  They were a lean, mean
> (even 
> rehearsed!) fighting machine.  It would have, in our opinion,
> transformed The 
> Who's place in rock history.  With the high profile of CFNY and
> touring the 
> same year as the Stones (and certain to blow them off the stage),
> this was 
> it.  All for shit, now.
> 
> OK.  That's too harsh.  It'll still be the best tour of the summer,
> and it'll 
> be a great Who cover band, but just as Roger wouldn't go out with
> John, Zak, 
> Simon and Co. and call it The Who, neither is this, IMO, The Who. The
> critica
> l mass is gone.
> 
> As for Pino, I have great empathy for the position he's in and I have
> reason 
> to believe from my own experiences in the past and the experiences of
> others 
> I know that he's a good guy.  And, he's clearly a talented player. 
> That 
> said, he's Kenny Jones all over again.  Shame on them.
> 
> As for touring this week, we agree with Magik's rant of a few days
> ago.  
> Maybe just postponing the first leg would have been enough.  But this
> - it's 
> horrific.
> 
> As for Roger and Pete...
> 
> Both of them were very present.  It was disturbing that Pete was
> hiding 
> behind sunglasses for the first three songs, but after that, he came
> out.  We 
> truly love both of those men, and have great compassion for the
> personal 
> challenges that they are facing.
> 
> They both spoke to the audience and apropriately acknowledged what
> was going 
> on.  And if you're reading this, Pete, I appreciate your concern for
> me 
> during the show.  I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to speak
> afterwards.  I'm 
> not OK, but it is what it is.  (For those who were there, I'm the
> friend he 
> was concerned about when I "disappeared.")
> 
> Like Stefani said to me mid-show, they've really cranked up the sound
> and 
> have to work awfully hard to cover up John's gaping hole.  And work
> hard they 
> did.  Don't know if we've ever seen them work so hard.  And yet, it
> wasn't 
> nearly enough.  Maybe it would be after some time, faced with the
> best of 
> what's left playing Who songs versus nothing at all.  
> 
> Two biggest fuck ups:
> 1)  Playing 5.15.  This was a shameful choice on their part.  It
> should be 
> retired, permanantly.  John is dead.  5.15 is dead.  I couldn't
> fucking 
> believe it.  While I managed to not have any hostile energy the rest
> of the 
> night, I so wanted to flip them both off when I heard those opening
> notes.
> 
> 2)  When Pete introduced Pino and made some comment about what a
> "Bargain" we 
> were getting.  Yeah, everyone who would've gotten on an airplane,
> turned your 
> lives upside down, and gone into debt to spend $1000 on a concert
> ticket to 
> see Pino with The Who, raise your hand.  Fuck that. And Stefani told
> him 
> so...
> 
> Of course there's plenty more to say, but we're out of time.  Gotta
> get to 
> the airport and on the road to NorCal (some of us are flying, some
> are 
> driving).
> 
> With Love to All,
> 
> Lauren, Stefani, (and to some extent, Eddie from VA, Erica - WhoBabe,
> and 
> Steve from LA)
> 
> P.S.  The movie day was great.  So grateful to have a place like that
> to 
> gather.  And seeing Kids and Isle of Wight on the big screen with
> Keith was 
> phenomenal.  
> 
> I once had John sign my Spirit of '76 print with "Wish You Coulda
> Been There 
> For the Best There's Ever Been."
> 
> P.P.S.  Feel free to forward this.  We don't have our mailing lists.
>  


=====
God bless the thunder.  Love to The Who.
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