Orange Co. Register review of the HB show

["Dennis C." <out_of_control@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry if this has been pointed out previously.
I found it to be one of the better HB reviews, although
I don't agree with the writers takes on the 2000 tour.

God Bless john Entwistle, Long Live the WHO!

http://www.ocregister.com/sitearchives/2002/7/3/show/who00703cci3.shtml

The question going into the Who's sold-out summer tour kickoff Monday night
at
the Hollywood Bowl wasn't whether the legendary band could carry on without
singular
 bassist John Entwistle, who died last week of an apparent heart attack.
After all, it isn't as though such crises haven't been averted before. For a
decade now,
the Stones have done just fine without the retired Bill Wyman. As for the
Who, well, not
 to be crass, but these guys are pros at recovering from a death in the
family.
Nearly a quarter-century and at least two farewell tours since Keith Moon
ascended
 (or is it descended?) to the Great Beyond's Big Bash, they're on
replacement
drummer No. 3, Ringo's kid Zak.

Purists should stifle their scoffing. Surely Pete Townshend and Roger
Daltrey
 will be able to manage without the quiet Ox. But the real question this
night - more
important than how strong they might sound without his busy bass lines
anchoring
 their quintessential rock - had to do with timing. To trudge on as the Who
while Entwistle's
corpse is still above ground? Is that the most respectful move?
And how would they be able to pull off this premiere a mere four days after
the end of the
 group - the real end this time - seemed a foregone conclusion?

If it wasn't obvious before, it is crystal-clear now: Never underestimate
the Who. Delivering
a two-hour-plus performance that simply had no right being so astonishing,
the band defied
dismal expectations and confounded cynics, this one included.

I sat through a soul-sucking show from these graying eminence's two years
ago in Irvine and
 was convinced they should quit immediately. They were sloppy, unfocused,
jaded.
Entwistle looked bored. Daltrey couldn't hit a high note if you let him
swing his microphone
 at it all night. Townshend appeared in bad need of arthritis medication -
and an attitude adjustment.
They were picking up a hefty paycheck, as they are now. Undoubtedly, that's
at least part of
the reason they have opted to forge ahead, though sympathetic minds must
realize there
are more livelihoods banking on this high- ticket tour than those of its
Hall of Famers.

Yet imagining this half-Who soldiering on in the name of money was
borderline nauseating.
What a seismic shock, then, to discover that the incarnation on display
Monday night
(with session ace Pino Palladino filling in for Entwistle on two days'
notice) didn't just
shame the Who of two years ago, it ranks among the best post-Moon editions
of the band, period.
They were so flat-out fierce that it only made me miss Entwistle that much
more. Really,
if they were this potent without him, how much mightier could they have been
with his
infallible girding in place?  Then again, perhaps his absence is what
brought out their
best here. Suddenly, a band that has had nothing to prove for at least 20
years was facing
 one of its most daunting challenges - and as every die-hard knows,
Townshend and Daltrey,
 the heart of the Who despite its rambunctious rhythm section, are not the
sorts to cower
away from such a test of mettle. Nor are they the sorts to get misty- eyed.
"Tonight we play
for John Entwistle," Daltrey announced three songs in, after a biting
rendition of
"Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" - a fitting choice for these survivors, given
that it's the only
 Townshend-Daltrey composition in the Who songbook. "He's a true spirit of
rock 'n' roll,
and he lives on in all the music we play."  But apart from a brief comment
from
 Townshend - "We're not pretending that nothing's happened" - and a montage
of Entwistle
photos that flashed on giant screens flanking the stage, little mention was
made of his
 passing. You had to read between the lines, figure out why they chose to
dig up "Another Tricky Day"
from the justly forgotten "Face Dances" album, rather than make sentimental
statements.

Of course, there were moments when Entwistle's absence was unavoidably
noticeable - during
 the solos in "My Generation," for instance, or the monstrous fills in
"Bargain" or "Substitute," or
the way his galloping wallop could ignite "Behind Blue Eyes" and (this
night's surprise)
 "Sea and Sand."  Palladino deserves a lengthy standing ovation for an
extraordinary
yeoman's job. But I gather at the end of this tour, an inescapable truth
will remain: He is
a hollow shell of his forebear - subtle where John was thunderous, measured
and disciplined
where John was intuitive and ragged. And still this further reconstituted
Who impressed.
 Daltrey hasn't sang so convincingly since the band stopped making albums;
his tremendous
vocals on "Love Reign O'er Me" alone were worth the $400 scalpers were
charging for good
seats. For his part, Townshend shook off his lethargy and returned to
shredding and soaring,
attacking his ax during "My Generation" and wailing throughout "Won't Get
Fooled Again."
That epic, with Daltrey motioning toward Entwistle's corner during the line
"smile and grin at the
change all around," concluded the main set, and it would have been enough.
An all- "Tommy" suite
for an encore - nonstop from "Pinball Wizard" to "Amazing Journey" to
"Sparks" to "See Me, Feel Me"
- was icing, however rapidly melting. To be blunt, it was a jaw-dropping
performance.
And the Who knew it. "Even without that huge, harmonic sound that usually
comes from that
 side of the stage," Townshend said at one point, "it's sounding pretty good
tonight."
For once, understatement.