Chicago Tribune on House Of Blues

[Brian Cady <brianinatlanta2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

On line here:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0209250416sep26.story

Who's next?
As Pete Townshend marches on, acolytes Eddie Vedder
and Pearl Jam seek new rock adventures
Published September 26, 2002

It was a rare opportunity to glimpse the Who's past
and its possible future on one stage Monday at the
House of Blues. The Who may be half of what they once
were, but they still pack a mighty wallop. That much
was evident in the charity performance for Maryville
Academy, as the venerable British duo of Pete
Townshend and Roger Daltrey soldiered on without
fallen bandmates Keith Moon and John Entwistle.

Opening was perhaps Townshend's most famous acolyte,
Eddie Vedder, and his band, Pearl Jam. Of all the rock
bands to emerge in the last decade, Pearl Jam is the
one most closely patterned after the Who, and the
Seattle quintet's devotion was palpable.

After introducing his bandmates, Vedder said, "It
takes a lot of guts to come on stage when you know a
guy named Pete Townshend is gonna come out later and
wipe it with you."

But Pearl Jam had nothing to fear. Though the band has
been relatively quiet for several years while
recording its forthcoming studio album, "Riot Act,"
and was without guitarist Stone Gossard (who was
honoring another charity commitment with an
environmental group) the music was like a welcoming
blast of fresh air in the tightly packed club. The
wallop of Matt Cameron's drums transformed the opening
"Last Kiss" from a melodramatic '60s teen-love lament
into a crackling sing-along, and kept kick-starting
"Insignificance" back to life every time the song
started to fade.

Without a word from the stage promoting "Riot Act,"
Pearl Jam dived into three songs in a row from the
unreleased album. With guest keyboardist Boom
providing rich organ fills, "I Am Mine" rode its sea
chantey groove into a lyrical Mike McCready guitar
solo. "Love Boat Captain" opened with only Vedder's
guitar strumming and Cameron's hi-hat ticking, swelled
into a rumination on loss and existence -- Vedder at
his most Townshend-like philosophical -- and then
closed in a hush: "I know it's already been sung,
can't be said enough, love is all you need, love. . .
."

Though short on Pearl Jam classics, the set salvaged
two of the best: "Not For You" celebrated youth with
doomy chords, a clenched-fist sequel of sorts to the
Who's 1965 anthem, "My Generation," and "Better Man"
roused the crowd to join on the chorus. Like many of
Vedder's songs it empathizes with those who have had
choices made for them and are looking for a way out,
perhaps in vein -- it is the story of Jimmy,
Townshend's "Quadrophenia" protagonist, taken into
adulthood.

Vedder paid homage to his heroes by covering the minor
Eddie Holland Motown-era hit "Leaving Home," which the
Who performed in their early '60s incarnation as the
High Numbers. Pearl Jam took the Who's "Maximum R&B"
to the garage, with trashy organ fills and surf guitar
licks from Vedder and McCready. Then McCready framed
the closing "Yellow Ledbetter" with beautiful guitar
lines, borrowing from Jimi Hendrix in ballad mode, ala
"Little Wing."

The set's adventurousness stood in sharp contrast to
the Who's reliability. Townshend and Daltrey pared a
couple of tunes from their arena set list such as "You
Better You Bet" and "Bargain," most recently heard
last month at the Tweeter Center, but otherwise stuck
to the program in sequence, moving from "Meaty Beaty
Big and Bouncy"-era singles into sections of "Who's
Next" and "Quadrophenia" and closing with a suite from
"Tommy."

The one exception was "I Don't Even Know Myself," a
1970 B-side, notable for its last-gunslinger-in-town
introspection and loping country keyboards by John
"Rabbit" Bundrick.

Yet there was undeniable power in this performance.
Zak Starkey has done the impossible, expertly
channeling mad-man Moon's drumming. It's a feat that
would have been beyond Moon, who was incapable of
playing anything the same way twice, so unhinged was
his genius. But Starkey has emerged as a potent foil
for Townshend's volatile solos, and epics such as "Who
Are You" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" were played with
finely calibrated power, every fill in its place,
every explosion expertly timed.

Unlike Starkey, who has had years to grow into the
surrogate Moon role, Pino Pallidino has the
unforgiving task of replacing John Entwistle, who died
on the eve of the current tour June 27. Pallidino had
more presence in the mix than he did last month at
Tweeter Center, but his deep, self-effacing style is
so far removed from Entwistle's aggressive tone that
it can't help but impact the music.

As if to compensate, Townshend tore into his solos
with a ferocity that belied his hearing problems. For
a man reduced to playing acoustic guitar exclusively
only a few years ago to protect his ears, Townshend
played with remarkable intensity and volume, and took
songs such as "Eminence Front," "Anyway, Anyhow,
Anywhere" and "5:15" beyond their expected, time-worn
conclusions into the sonic unknown, wind-milling his
instrument into stuttering, machine-gunning climaxes.
Daltrey sang with bloodied conviction, even if his
stentorian bray sounded a bit frayed from road wear,
no longer quite capable of sustaining the high notes
in the demanding "Love, Reign O'er Me" and "Won't Get
Fooled Again."

The pair of survivors ad-libbed some lines about
growing up and having kids of their own in "The Kids
Are Alright," which was played as a folk-rocking
jangle rather than a mod-era pop single. No mention
was made of the recently departed Entwistle, let alone
the long-gone Moon, but all of the songs performed
betrayed their absence.

The Who have moved on, a career band content to play
their hits as best as humanly possible, and at this
point, it's difficult to expect anything more. Their
songs are towering monuments to what once was, and
Townshend and Daltrey can still do them justice. Their
sweat and enthusiasm are still real, even if their
zeal to add to their creative legacy no longer burns.

The task is better left to bands like Pearl Jam, who
in their wildest dreams hope to still be captivating
audiences 40 years into their career. Right now,
they're still on course.


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
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