Las Vegas Review-Journal review

[Brian Cady <brianinatlanta2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

On line at:
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Sep-16-Mon-2002/news/19640187.html

REVIEW: Band takes 'then there were two' approach
The Who proves the show must go on 
By MIKE WEATHERFORD 
REVIEW-JOURNAL 

The music outlives us all, but some rock legends have
an easier time facing up to it than others. 

Those who believed The Who shouldn't have forged on
after the death of bassist John Entwistle weren't part
of an ecstatic crowd shouting along the lyrics to any
song from "Who's Next" on Saturday at the Hard Rock
Hotel. 

The band returned to Entwistle's June 27 death site to
make up the club date that was supposed to launch a
summer tour the next day. Coming at the end, it found
the British legends a little ragged and worse for
wear. 

The first hour was more or less as a run-through,
before they summoned some real power that led to a
moving "Tommy" medley as an encore. "Sparks" kindled
that dynamic magic you wanted to see much earlier, and
the album's finale seemed to tap into its spiritual
source. 

Fans were torn when The Who announced the decision to
carry on with bassist Pino Palladino even before
Entwistle's funeral. Seeing the group on stage
Saturday served as a reminder that the controversy is
really rooted in the band's ambiguous approach to
touring ever since the 1978 death of drummer Keith
Moon. 

The Who fall in the philosophic middle between two
other British legends. Led Zeppelin has steadfastly
refused to tour by that name since the death of
drummer John Bonham, while the Rolling Stones have
weathered several changes to keep themselves
forward-minded. 

The Stones, due to return in November, go out of their
way to make younger bassist Darryl Jones, longtime
keyboardist Chuck Leavell and even the backing singers
fully a part of things onstage. 

The Who, on the other hand, took the "and then there
were two" approach on Saturday. 

They've been a working band again since their October
1999 concert at the MGM Grand Garden. Surely their
decision to forge on must have been reassured by the
continuity of powerhouse drummer Zak Starkey and
longtime keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick, who gives
the music its graceful edge and makes the songs sound
like the albums. 

But at the Hard Rock, the spotlights were trained
almost exclusively on guitarist Pete Townshend and
singer Roger Daltrey. Palladino and Townshend's
guitarist brother Simon were shadowy figures backed up
to a wall of amplifiers, more like roadies watching
from the wings than functioning band members. 

And anyone expecting dramatic moments of silence for
Entwistle got the quirky British versions instead. Did
Townshend really say, "This is what we do for a
living. We try not to do it for a dying," when he
introduced "Bargain"? 

I think Daltrey murmured "This one's for John
Entwistle" -- he said it so fast it was hard to be
sure -- before "Another Tricky Day," the ironic
post-Moon hit that proclaims "This is no social
crisis" and that "Rock 'n' roll will never die." 

Fans who paid more than $350 to see the group in a
small room got a set with a suitable "Live at Leeds"
vibe of ragged finesse. 

Daltrey's famous wail was a few notches lower,
downshifted into a lower register for "Who Are You."
Townshend wore goofy sunglasses for much of the show
and sort of talk-sang his part on "Bargain." 

The classics catalog seemed to motivate Townshend more
as a guitar player. Fully electrified once again --
there was a time when a hearing condition made him go
acoustic -- he tore new improvisational detours out of
"5:15" and "My Generation" like a veteran bluesman. 

Bundrick's keyboards gave an elegiac underpinning to
"Behind Blue Eyes." But the oddest biographical moment
was Townshend and Daltrey adding new lyrics to an
extended bridge in "The Kids Are Alright." 

"When I wrote this song I was nothing but a kid,"
Townshend sang, going on to note what a miracle it is
that "there's nothing wrong with you kids." 

Daltrey strummed an acoustic guitar and sang about how
he's "hanging on to the kid that's inside." 

He will, no doubt, until the day he can no longer
display a washboard abdomen. Even so, the end of each
tour brings the drama of whether The Who will ever be
seen again. 

The 1999 show brought all the promise of a new
beginning. Saturday's show certainly wasn't the
easiest in the band's career, but somehow didn't feel
like the end.


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
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