I saw the Who at the Deer Creek/Verizon/Klipsch/Ruoff Amphitheater in Indy last night. They were absolutely fantastic, in my opinion. It's hard for me to be objective about it, though, so take this with a grain of salt.
First the negatives:
1. The drums and bass were way down in the mix. These guys are not original Who members (Ringo's son Zach is the drummer), so they may have wanted to deemphasize them. I thought the music lost a little bit due to that mix.
2. Roger's voice sounds like a 70-something man trying to sing stuff written for a 25-year old man. Pete deputized many of his harmonies to others (primarily his younger brother Simon)
Now the positives.
1. The vocals were fine. Being a fan of music made by old men these days, I have become very forgiving on this front. I like the original guys still making the music, and singing where they can get away with it. I only put it in the negatives because I think the critics are going to be all over that.
2. The song selection was just stunning. They didn't parade out just their best hits, but more stuff that actual Who fans would love. They only played one pre-Tommy "hit". They didn't play My Generation, Can't Explain, Kids are Alright, Pictures of Lily etc. This was fine with me because I had seen them do that stuff years ago and didn't need to see them reproduce hits. Instead, they went deep on Tommy, Quadrophenia and obviously Who's Next, with lots of jammed out songs. There were songs I wish they had done ("Bargain", "Slip Kid"), but that's to be expected. I liked that they touched on the later stuff just enough ("You Better You Bet", "Eminence Front").
3. Pete and Roger did "Won't Get Fooled Again" with just a single acoustic guitar. Again, if I had never seen the whole band do it, then that might have been disappointing. But that not being the case, it was fantastic. It was a lot like what Pete did for the Secret Policeman's Ball, but with Roger singing.
4. They had an orchestra, which really fit in well, and did not get in the way (except maybe pushing the drums and bass lower in the mix?)
5. Pete is playing some excellent guitar right now.
They were freakin' awesome back then. Still one of the best concerts I've ever been to. (Also, the best seats I've ever had for a major band in a major venue, right in front, 20 rows back...that might have helped make it a good show.)
I saw them both at an indoor venue (Brendan Byrne arena) and at Shea Stadium. The Clash opened for them at Shea.
Got into an auto accident with a woman who ran a stop sign there. She totaled her new car. My old 70's Buick basically got a bent headlight.
I straightened it out myself and used the insurance money to party. It was great.
by 20 year olds.
It was like when I went to see Mickey Mantle play in his last year of 1969. Yeah, it was still the Mick, and I’m glad I saw him, but the greatness was long gone.
The only place they seemed to have lost a step was in hitting the high notes on the vocals.
Would you have enjoyed Mickey Mantle if he hit three home runs that night, but circled the bases a little slower?
summer.
I just adjust my expectations.
Mantle didn’t do much that game. Dude was seriously hobbled. But, I’m glad I saw him as I always have the memory. Also, sounds like they put on a pretty good show versus some that I’ve seen.
That probably helped.
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Tea & Theater, for instance, is a nice song. Seems age appropriate too, unlike the crap that the Stones have been pumping out for the last, oh, four decades.