Real Time Thoughts on 121212 Concert for Hurricane Sandy

I tell ya, the way to watch the 121212 Sandy benefit concert is on DVR. You skip the hurricane montages and the Billy Crystal filler between sets and get right to what you want.

I actually skipped the first 30 minutes or so. Sorry but Springsteen has never done much for me, and his special guest Bon Jovi even less. Maybe it's because I have never had a true blue collar job and don't relate to the east coast but Bruce has never clicked for me. I'm sure he rocked and was a cool choice to open the event but I guess I'll never know!

So that means I jumped right to Roger Waters. Man, who invited him to this thing? I love Waters and Floyd but if you wanted uplifting, you weren't going to get it here!

He opens with In The Flesh, which is very in your face, then continuing to tell the MSG that we don't need no education. Money and Us and Them are totally aimed at the politicians in attendance and viewing around the world. Maybe not the most appropriate cause at which to get on the soapbox but it was pretty cool.

My only problem with Roger Waters' band doing Dark Side stuff is that Waters doesn't sing on any of it, so it's a bit of a tribute band situation. Those two songs didn't do much for me.

The closer, Comfortably Numb, was good. Eddie Vedder guested to sing the choruses and was excellent. But the whole thing was too heavy for the cause if you ask me.

Next up we had Adam Sandler with Paul Shaffer between sets doing a silly version on Hallelujah that was more appropriate to the cause than Waters' whole set, which says a lot!

Bon Jovi was up next. Skipped most of it. Again, not super into him but Richie Sambora sounded good.

Next up was Clapton, who walked out with a nylon string guitar and sat down. I thought oh no holy shit bossa nova Layla. But no, it was a sweet version of Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out.

Then a drummer and bass player joined and Clapton picked up his Strat for a funky version of Got To Get Better in a Little While. Nice to see Clapton in a three piece that isn't Cream, and his solo was absolutely off the hook. Next was a jumpy version of Crossroads. The whole set was really stripped down, blues-based jamming. It was cool. Could have as easily been in a bar!

I generally think he is over rated but truth is, Clapton really shines at events like this where he can hand pick four or five tunes that he can really own. But I did think, why didn't Clapton get up with Waters and rip a solo on something? He did lay down sweet leads all over Waters' Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking way back when, but oh well...

The Stones followed. I was pretty excited to see this based on their recent UK and US shows. Interesting set list and decent playing. The opener was really surprising! You Got Me Rockin from Voodoo Lounge. But slower and more groovy, like almost everything I heard on YouTube from those other concerts. The only other song they played was a super slowed down Jumpin Jack Flash.

Two songs? Total tease. But Jagger was tremendous. Still skinny, slinky and jerky, and his voice sounded strong as ever. Woodie sounded great. Had all the licks down. Pretty mellow onstage now that he's sober but gets the job done. Charlie is rock solid but as noted, slower. And fucking Keith. He is absolutely ancient. Shit they all are but somehow it works.

Next up was the first artist who wasn't between the age of 48 and 70. Alicia Keys, born in New York in 1981. I don't know much about her but she played three songs on piano and she was awesome. Fantastic voice, no autotune bullshit. Real singing and real playing. She was also so far the only NY-born artist, which helped her connect with the audience when she asked the whole MSG to put their lit cellphones in the air. Her generation's version of the lighter I guess...

Then it was time to roll out more oldies, with The Who. Wasn't sure I'd dig them or not. Lots of shark jumping lately for example their atrocious Super Bowl appearance. But The Who owned it. From the opening synth of Who Are You they slayed it with reckless abandon. Second song: Bell Boy from Quadrophenia. Are you kidding me? Epic! Using films of Keith from the 1973 tour for his vocal parts was brilliant.

I could have done without Pinball Wizard (ever again) but Baba O'Rielly was on fire (much because of drummer Zak Starkey and bassist Pino Palladino) and Love Rein O'er Me was a surprise electric finish (no Fooled Again) but it worked. The tempo was a little slower, so it was kind of brooding and Daltry really brought it. Daltry and Townshend wrapped it up with an acoustic Tea and Theatre, a newer gentle, introspective tune I have come to enjoy.

So I thought The Who stole the show to this point. Yeah, Daltry's voice has had it and he looks a bit like William Shatner up there, but Pete windmilled away, ripped some blazing leads and sawed at his guitar, while Starkey and Palladino channelled their best Moon and Entwistle. So The Who do six songs and the Stones do two. Weird.

How do you follow up The Who? You don't bother trying so you put Kanye West onstage. Who gives a fuck? Fast forward after 29 seconds. Take fast forward off to see what I am missing and hear Kanye's voice through auto tune. Really? Oh forget it...

How do you make up for that shit? Billy Joel? Close my eyes and his voice sounds exactly the same as it always has. Fantastic! Dude hasn't put out an album in 17 or 18 years but an still bring it at an event like this. Joel is a bit of an anomaly to me. Have a Merry Little Christmas into New York State of Mind was a nice touch. Closing with You May Be Right and Only The Good Die Young was cool.

I have never thought Billy Joel was very legit but over the years he had stuck through it and now has earned a bit of respect. Kind of like Neil Diamond. I dunno maybe I am smoking crack. He was good at this event.

Next up was Chris Marin from Coldplay on an acoustic guitar for some reason. Damn is his stuff singable. He did Viva La Vida and then dragged out Michael Stipe for Losing My Religion. Was pretty cool, actually!

Then the closer was supposed to be Paul McCartney and I feared for my sanity at hearing that dreadful song of his, Freedom. But no, he showed up playing Kurt Cobain in a reformed Nirvana.

Well, first he played some stuff with his usual absolutely killer, rocking band: Helter Skelter, Let Me Roll It, 1985, a new tune called My Valentine, and Blackbird.

But then here we go. No lie. Dave Grohl on drums. Recluse bassist Krist Novoselic. First guitarist Pat Smear. And McCartney. Huh? Did it work? Yeah!

But it was weird! Reminded me of McCartney's side project The Fireman. Dave Grohl plays harder than McCartney's usual drummer, if that is possible. Novoselic looked uncomfortable and strange. McCartney was playing some boxy looking slide guitar thing. The new song co-written by the Nirvana folks and McCartney was called Cut Me Some Slack or something like that. It totally rocked but then it was back to normal and McCartney played I've Got A Feeling and a few others to close it out with Live And Let Die. The Nirvana tune should have been the end. But what are ya gonna do?

All in all a hell of an event and lineup. Jagger said it best when he said this has got to be the largest collection of old English musicians ever assembled in Madison Square Garden!

As with most of these events, there were loads of celebs answering phones and talking between bands. Nothing much to call out except when did Chelsea Clinton get semi-hot?

Here is the McNirvana tune:

Stones, The Who, McCartney, Roger Waters, Springsteen to Rock MSG for Hurricane Sandy

I would be crucified for suggesting there is an upside to horrible tragic events like 9-11 and Hurricane Sandy, but New York tragedies do tend to lead to the most killer all-star charity concerts.

Take tonight, where the 12-12-12 Concert for Hurricane Sandy cranks up at 7:30 p.m. ET, with this crazy all-star cast: Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Roger Waters, Bruce Springsteen, The Who, Eric Clapton, Dave Grohl, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, and Chris Martin of Coldplay. I am sure there will be guests too.

Some of the pre-event buzz says that Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl will do some kind of a duet, and Roger Waters told Jimmy Fallon last night that he’d be closing with Comfortably Numb with the assistance of a special guest, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. That will be pretty cool.

My kid has his Christmas program tonight – I really have to tell the school to consult with my rock and roll calendar before booking shit – so it’ll be DVR all the way for me!

Here is the full video from Waters’ interview on Fallon last night. Fallon is always so freaked out by Waters, it’s funny! Hulu won’t let me embed the video but you can see it here.

Jim Marshall - the Father of Loud

Gawd has it been a whole month since my last post? Life has been really busy - apologies! Thinking about what happened in the last month, there have indeed been a few things going on in the world of music.

Maybe the one thing that is way overdue for a post is something about the passing of Jim Marshall earlier this month. Obviously a huge, huge name in rock and roll. Things would not be the same without his heeding the numerous calls from Pete Townshend to make a louder amplifier!

One of my all time favorite live Who performances, from the Isle of Wight in 1970, suddenly becomes more potent. I think I have posted this in the past, but scroll to 3:45 to see what Mr. Marshall's invention enabled Mr. Peter Townshend to accomplish. True sonic bliss!



Damn, that whole video gets my blood pumping.

Jim Marshall - the Father of Loud indeed

Roger Daltrey had Throat Surgery Prior to Superbowl Gig

As I think about the recent announcement that the Black Eyed Peas will perform at the Superbowl soon, I find myself actually longing for the shitfest Who, Stones and Tom Petty performances of recent years.

It's a tough gig - it's all lip synced except the vocals and whatever they can shove a mic in front of after setting up the fireworks displays. For example, the Who gig was only Daltrey's mic and Pete's guitar, and I think the drums - I read that everything else was mimed.

My biggest beef was the song selection, which was basically CIS theme music but a lot of people bitched about Daltrey's voice. Turns out the dude had just gone through throat surgery to remove suspicious growths.

From Starpulse:

In a CBS TV interview at the beginning of December Daltrey revealed his voice wasn't "performing in a normal way" and friends put him in touch with master throat surgeon Steven Zeitel in Massachusetts in late 2009.

Daltrey says, "It was becoming hard work to sing... He (Zeitel) saw me and told me that he didn't like what he saw."

One week before Christmas in 2009, Daltrey went under the knife, according to RollingStone.com.

The rocker adds, "He took off what he could from the problem area on my vocal cord. He said it wasn't cancer, but it was pre-cancerous, and you have to keep an eye on it.

"(Now) I see him every time after I finish a tour and he swears that he'll keep me singing into my 80s. That might upset some people, but it keeps me happy."

So cut the Rog some slack and just bitch about Pete's bogus hat!

Rush and Tom Petty Classic Album Releases

I posted about this a while ago, but I think the Eagle Vision Classic Album series is one of the best music-related shows out there. They spend an hour or more picking apart classic albums from bands from U2 to Floyd to Cream, interviewing the band, producers, engineers, managers, hell the dude who swept out the studio...

Just watch the DVD on The Band's first two albums. They are able to interview Rick Danko before he passed, and the breaking down of the music by isolating tracks in the studio is breathtaking. Same with The Who's Who's Next album.

These DVDs are top notch and I am so stoked that there are two new ones out this year that I will watch more than a few times. The first I already posted about is Rush 2112 and Moving Pictures. This one will be out next month and it looks like one DVD covers both albums, so I hope it's extra long.

The other one I just found out about today, and it's Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Damn the Torpedoes. It is available right now.

Below are trailers for the DVDs I just mentioned. Rumor has it that they would like to do The Wall. Actually, the bottom of this article talks about what it takes to put these out and some of the artists they are thinking about. It's an interesting read.

Damn The Torpedoes:


2112/Moving Pictures:


Who's Next:


The Band:

The Who to Trot Out Quadrophenia Again?

After the band's atrocious Super Bowl performance I was about ready to throw in the towel and say The Who have officially jumped the shark for me, again.

I say 'again' because they jumped it when they had Kenney Jones replace Moon in 1979, again in 1989 when they rolled out the Who Review tour with a full horn section and line of backup singers. And despite the intense resurgence of the band's energy in the 90s through Entwistle's death, they jumped it yet again with the thud of a new album (Endless Wire) and boooorrrring tour I saw in 2006 and reviewed here.

I don't think anything would get me back into an arena to see these guys again. Except perhaps Quadrophenia. My interest and passion for the band was fully renewed in the mid 90s when I saw the guys (with Entwistle of course) tear through the whole album live, with guests Billy Idol as the Ace Face and Gary Glitter as the pedophile.

The performance ripped my head off and Townshend was fully engaged. Something about the music on that album up-levels the band's game, and I would eagerly see even this rather gutless, tired version of the band play Quadrophenia again.

I MAY get the chance, based on what Daltry told Billboard yesterday:

"We're just working out what to do next," singer Roger Daltrey told Billboard.com. "We've got ideas ... We're looking on probably being out there, hopefully if all goes well, in the spring of next year ... We definitely don't want to stop. We feel it's the role of the artist to go all the way through life 'til you can't do it anymore."

While there are tour plans in the works, there are a few things that the Who need to sort out -- namely, the potential of incorporating the band's 1973 rock opera 'Quadrophenia' into the show.

"There are issues with it to make it work at our age," Daltrey said. "I'm 16 years older than when we last did it and I always had a bit of a problem as far as the crowd was concerned, with the way we were presenting the show, the way our position within the piece was explained. For the newcomers, it was narratively a bit of a puzzle, what Pete and I were to this guy on the screen. It needs a revamp. It would be dated to put it out as it is now. We need to fix that area, but I know how to do it."

One more thing that Daltrey cites as a concern is bandmate Pete Townshend's severe Tinnitus, but he believes it's something that shouldn't be too much of an issue with the help of technology.

"It's nothing that can't be sorted out -- just different monitor systems, different onstage volume, which is where the issue is," Daltrey said. "Pete being the addictive character he is, if he gets carried away he tends to turn up his volume to the odd levels, and that's when it causes the trouble. That's one of the problems with rock 'n' roll, once the old adrenaline kicks in."

The Who Bust Out Quadrophenia at Royal Albert Hall

The Who performed Quadrophenia last night at the Royal Albert Hall, concluding the 10th year of concerts initiated by Roger Daltrey in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Special guests Eddie Vedder (PearlJam) and Tom Meighan (Kasabian) joined the band, filling in the roles played by Billy Idol and Gary Glitter on the 1996 tour.

That 1996 show in Portland still stands as one of the best shows I have ever seen. Entwistle was still alive and I think it was the first time I had seen drummer Zak Starkey with the band, and they just killed it.

It doesn't hurt that Quadrophenia is one of my favorite albums, and they did the whole thing end to end.

Word is that Pete's hearing is so on the fritz again that he may be done with live shows, but we have all heard that before. If that is the case though, what a way to go out with a bang.

Below is a video from the show last night. Rolling Stone also covered it here.

I've Had Enough

My Superbowl (Who) Prediction

The Who are scheduled to play some kind of medley at the Superbowl this afternoon. Here is my guess at which songs will be included:
--My Generation
--Pinball Wizard
--Won't Get Fooled Again
--Who Are You

I bet I get at least three of these four correct.

UPDATE:

I got 3 out of 4 right. They did:

--Pinball Wizard
--Baba O'Rielly
--Who Are You
--The intro to See Me Feel Me
--Won't Get Fooled

I was not terribly impressed by the performance. It was cool to see them do this, but they jumped the shark a while ago. I have been very impressed with the current lineup in certain situations and not so much in others, like today. Daltry's scream was pretty epic though! What did you all think?

The Who Windmill Contest Winners Announced - Yawn, Snore and WTF?

I wrote about this a while ago here. Kind of interesting to see the winners. I think the guy who won the grand prize had a funny video but didn't really bust out any solid windmills, which I thought was the point of the contest. The runners up are just flat out weird. I don't know who the judges were but they need to stay away from the brown acid...

You can check out the winners at The Who page here, or just watch them below:

The winner:


Runners-Up:
Kind of funny...


Kinda cool, but lame windmills...


WTF?....


Whatever. I think the people I put on my post blow all of these out of the water...

In other Who news, Roger Daltry announced a solo tour called the "Use It Or Lose It" tour. The idea is that the voice is a muscle and if he doesn't keep it in shape, when old Pete calls for the next Who project, Daltry's voice may be shrivelled to a whisper.

The closest he gets to my neck of the woods is Seattle, but I won't be driving up to support the cause. Tour dates are listed here.

Who The F*** Are YOU?

My two year old had a pretty bad earache recently and to keep him content (taking his mind off of the pain) I let him sit on my lap and watch various kid appropriate YouTube songs. We enjoyed The Wiggles fruit salad song, various versions of Wheels on the Bus and even some Barney.

Yeah, I was about to pull my head off. But just when I was about to crack one open, we stumbled on a familiar voice. Lo and behold, it even showed the dude in the studio laying it down. It was so reminiscent (visually only) of a video I have seen probably 100 times starting in high school that I had to laugh at the before and after.

Here it is for you to enjoy as well:

The before:


The after:


Oh and this one killed me. Get this one started so you can hear the music and then scroll to the comment posted by 'fordblowz.'

DVD Review - The Who at Kilburn 1977

The Who at Kilburn is actually a double DVD with two concerts. One DVD has the Who live in 1969 at the London Coliseum and the other is the advertised 1977 gig filmed on a soundstage for the movie The Kids Are Alright but scrapped by the band due to the performance quality.

Both of these concerts are amazing and are a must have for any fan of the Who. Let’s start with the 1969 show. This is actually the second DVD and is cited as ‘bonus material’ on the box. I think that highly undersells what you get with this set. Yeah, the film quality is not that great – it’s similar to the footage of Young Man Blues in The Kids Are Alright movie. It’s dark and since the concert was never intended to be released on film, there are moments of blackness on the stage and funky camera angles.

The first song looks kind of like a fan video on YouTube. Then the other cameras kick in and we have multiple angles and close ups. But who the hell cares? This DVD captures the Who on the cusp of their prime. The band had only been performing Tommy live for a few months. They are broke, young and hungry. They are not yet mega-stars and indeed it was just before this period where drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle were going to quit the band and join Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in their new supergroup.

Put simply, the 1969 show is The Who at their very best. Moon is in full tilt, twirling his sticks and generally putting on the most incredible show. I have never seen anyone play drums like that before or since. Pete is in the white boiler suit playing the Gibson SG, Daltry in the fringe jacket, etc. If you like Live At Leeds, the 1969 DVD is basically that album on film.

Note that to see the whole of Tommy and A Quick One you need to access the bonus features on this DVD. There are a lot of camera and audio gaps, so it looks like the directors wanted to keep Tommy as a whole out of the main DVD program. A bit confusing, but if you get annoyed that Tommy picks up near its completion in the main concert, just access the bonus features!

In general, the Tommy stuff is out of control and other high points are Young Man Blues, and a totally heavy Happy Jack. And a final note – the band’s vocal harmonies are prevalent and very tight in this period.

Then we also get the 1977 Kilburn show, which is really the focus of the DVD.

This is the same band 8 years later, but are they really the same? They are now rich and famous. Punk is in full force and the Who are seen by some in this new movement as dinosaurs of the same ilk as Yes and ELP. The band has nothing left to prove but is still trying to remain relevant.

Compounding this problem is that Keith Moon, a central power in the Who's live show, is a shadow of his former self. The last 14 months, he has been in California, partying and not playing drums. He is overweight and is lacking the confidence on display in the 1969 show.

Sure enough, the first thing Daltry says onstage is that the band hasn't played in more than a year so he's not sure what is going to happen.

Having said all of this, I don't think the band disappoints. Yeah, there are a few train wreck moments where Moon comes in at the wrong place, and one spot where Pete gets totally lost. But it's great to see the band this raw and this human.

I actually feel like Moon is more on the ball in this show than he is at the show filmed six months later that was used in The Kids movie (Baba O'Reilly and Won't Get Fooled Again). On this latter show, Townshend is certainly more on the ball. He is smiling and clowning during the songs in the Kids film.

In the Kilburn film, he is surly. He does not look happy to be onstage and there is a classic moment where he goes back to turn his amps up and a roadie interferes. Pete throws a tantrum and shoves his Hi-Watt amps backwards off the speakers. The hair stood up on my arms when he did that.

The song choices are great in the Kilburn concert. Some of the standouts are My Wife, Dreaming from the Waist, Shakin All Over and a really rough keyboard-less version of Who Are You, which the band was just learning.

Despite the weird energy onstage, the band is seriously on fire. Yeah it's raw, but it's LIVE. Daltry's voice is still raging, and Entwistle does not disappoint either. I still found myself focusing on Moon. Even though he was not up to his prime, he is still unreal. And frankly, a pissed off Pete is a great Pete live.

These two concerts could not be more different from one another. In 1969, you have a young, hungry and broke band, still really trying to prove itself. In 1977, you have a bloated supergroup trying to prove it is still valid. It is fascinating to watch live footage from both of these periods.

Here is the trailer:

VH1 Rock Honors Who Fest - A 2nd-Hand Report

A friend of mine was lucky enough to score tickets to the VH1 Rock Honors show in L.A. over the weekend, where The Two (Daltry and Townshend) were joined by the Foo Fighters, Flaming Lips, Pearl Jam and other bands and actors to pay tribute to the band.

Since the one story I read today from E! misidentified Baba O'Riley as "Teenage Wasteland," I thought a partial report from someone who actually attended would be nice. So below is an excerpted email I got today.

I removed the gushing "Brandon Boyd of Incubus is so hot" stuff and wound up with the following (yes, my friend is a girl, and it's actually her friend's report, so I guess technically that makes this third-hand but whatev...):

Tai and I went around the back of Pauley Pavilion after the show and hung out waiting to see who would exit our way. Within seconds, a stealth Pete Townshend drove in on a golf cart, waved quietly to the crowd, and went home without fuss. We waited a bit more, then tons of other rockers came out. Roger Daltry signed a few autographs, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam spent some time with the crowd. We waved to Taylor Hawkins off in the distance. Kyle Gass (Tenacious D) waddled by (no wave to anyone). Jeremy Priven was in sight. Mila Kunis from that 70s show walked by. Sean Penn gave us a wave. Probably more I'm forgetting.

Last of all came "Mr. Vedder" whom everyone saw on and off again out in the distance. They gave us a small warning that he wanted quiet and no photographs. He came over to the rails and patiently signed autographs. I gave him Tai's ticket stub but I had nothing solid to put under the paper so he used my hand. It started slipping then he said, "No wait, please let me do this right" and proceeded to give Tai a very nice autograph all while holding my hand. How cool was that? Before he got to me, he kept telling the crowd, "Last one" so to insist on doing the autograph "right" was cool indeed. Thank you Mr. Vedder.

As for the show itself...AMAZING. Even though it was a tv event, it wasn't that awkward. I've been to worse. It ran much like a concert with only one or two gaffes, and they'd fill the time between bands with cool footage of the Who and all the rockers who were influenced by them. Powerful performances by all involved. I don't know if I should say more. I don't want to ruin the broadcast for anyone.

I know I sound like a kid, but that's how it feels to see these bands you've loved as far back as when you WERE a kid play great rock, then to see some of them 2 feet away (or closer). It was an amazing night in rock history and just plain fun.

Their photos are here.

The televised version runs on Thursday on VH1.

And, Rolling Stone actually put a good article together here. After this and their awesome recent article on Rush, I have to say I am starting to appreciate the magazine again. Anyway, thanks Tai for the report!

The Who to Tour the States This Fall

Got an email just now that said the following:

ANNOUNCING THE WHO TOUR - USA FALL 2008
The Who will be touring the USA this fall. The first 2 dates to be confirmed are:

Nov. 8 Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Nov. 9 Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles, CA

More dates will be confirmed very soon! Stay tuned.

Thewho.com will be offering an exclusive fanclub presale as well as special VIP packages. These will be available on Monday, July 14 at 10:00AM PDT.

Based on the last show I saw (and reviewed), I probably won't go unless it falls into my lap. I am excited for the Rock Honors show coming up, though. And yeah, of course the Foo Fighters are part of it. WTF!?

DVD Review - The Who Tommy Live

I recently got the triple DVD set "The Who - Tommy and Quadrophenia Live."

Honestly, I bought it for the Quadrophenia disc (which I have not watched yet and will review separately). I saw the "Who Review" tour in 1989, from which this Tommy performance is taken. I remember hovering over my stereo to capture the New York tour premiere, which was simulcast live on the radio and was the band's first full performance of Tommy in more than 15 years.

It was a mind blowing experience. Remember, Pete's hearing was reportedly totally shot, so when Daltry started the show with "Can we have a little quiet?" I thought he was going to ask the crowd to not be too over the top due to Pete's ears. Which would have been a deal breaker. But he instead said, "Like Keith Moon used to say, 'Have a little respect. It's a FUCKING OPERA!'"

And with that, the band launched into the Overture.

Now, I saw the band twice on this tour and was NOT a big fan of the giant lineup - four horn players, three back up singers etc. Lame shit. But that lineup actually lent itself really well to Tommy.

So, back to the DVD. The band played Tommy all the way through only twice on this tour. The New York show I just mentioned, and a show in Los Angeles, captured on this DVD. At all the other shows on this tour, including the ones I saw, they did a stealthy portion of Tommy, but not the whole shebang end to end.

The trouble with this DVD is that the LA show had guest stars. Steve Winwood doing Eyesight to the Blind; Patty LaBelle doing Acid Queen; Billy Idol doing Cousin Kevin. Phil Collins as Uncle Ernie; Elton John as Pinball Wizard. Blech. I so would have preferred the New York show on DVD, where there were no guests.

So I was kind of underwhelmed by this DVD for all of those reasons: not a big fan of this lineup, the guest stars, Daltry's horrible haircut and earring.

But then I noticed that there was a DVD bonus option of running commentary by Daltry and Townshend from 2005. The concert plays in the background and these two pop up on screen to talk about all sorts of things. This bonus feature saved the disc for me as we hear all sorts of nuggets about the tour, how Pete wrote Tommy, etc. Some examples:

--Pete admits the whole 1989 tour was put together so they could make mounds of cash.

--Daltry hated the big band format as much as I did, and Pete admits it wasn't really a rock show, but more of a music revue doing Who tunes. He was very insecure musically and added all of those band members to help him out.

--They had no idea if Elton John was going to show up to that LA show until he appeared onstage. He missed rehearsal and soundcheck. And you can hear the difference in Pinball Wizard as they lowered the key dramatically for him.

--Townshend asked bassist John Entwistle to write the Tommy songs about child abuse (Cousin Kevin and Fiddle About) because he couldn't touch those topics due to his own experience of abuse as a child.

--Daltry hated the guest stars at the LA show as much as I did because they took the best songs to sing and he was sort of relegated to stand around in the back a lot.

--Pete talks about the writing of Tommy song by song as the concert unfolds. It is fascinating to hear him go over the storyline in such depth and to hear what his thought process was. I learned a lot. For example, he talks about how the piece reflects a lot of what the Europe post-war generation was going through (Roger Waters explores this throughout his career as well), and how that related to the Vietnam era, etc. Lots of good info.

So, in all, I'd recommend this disc as a pretty good live version of Tommy, but more so for the insight you get from Daltry and Townshend throughout.

Looks like the Quadrophenia concert from 1996 has the same commentary option. But I saw that tour as well and am really jazzed about seeing the live version, so I have a feeling I will like that DVD more overall. They lumped the non-Tommy and Quadrophenia tour songs on a third DVD, which I have not watched yet.

Face Melting Who Performance

One of the comments to my earlier post on Neil Young's face melting SNL performance was that it was one of the hottest live clips I have seen since The Who doing Young Man Blues in 1970 at the Isle of Wight. I wanted to get back to that...

I know in some circles the big debate is "did Zeppelin or Sabbath contribute more to the birth of heavy metal?" I think you gotta throw The Who in there after seeing this. Especially starting at about 3:30 in the below video.

Courtesy of Internet pirates and YouTube, here is the clip. Enjoy.

VH1 Rock Honors - The Who

I watched the last couple of VH1 Rock Honors shows and found them kind of lacking. Seemed like the bands they chose were so past their primes that live sets trying to capture the old magic fell flat.

I am mostly remembering KISS, Def Leppard and Judas Priest. And not fondly.

However, there were shining moments, like when Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters joined Roger Taylor for a triple drum set assault version of We Will Rock You. It was also that performance that made me see that the Paul Rodgers-fronted Queen might not be such a bad idea after all.

So you never know. The jury is out.

Which brings me to today's news. VH1 announced that instead of splitting the next Rock Honors show between three bands, the whole thing will be devoted to The Who.

That could be good. I am willing to watch it, that's for sure! My money says that somehow, Eddie Vedder will be involved. Mark my words.

According to this article, the show will be filmed July 12, and aired July 17.

A Little Bit of This and That

What to report, what to report? A couple of small things:

It's all over the news but Jimmy Page broke a finger so the Led Zeppelin reunion show has been postponed to December 10. The most exciting thing for me on this front is that I found out my friend Al Toribio was able to get a ticket - his wife submitted their email (along with me and a million other people) and were one of the 20,000 selected to buy tickets. Talk about winning the lotto! So they are off to London next month and I hope to get some first hand scoop from Al to post here after he gets back.

Also, Dio in a recent interview with Komodo Rock dropped the news that the Heaven and Hell version of Sabbath will indeed record a new album next year, after some time off after the current kick ass tour that is about to wrap up. That is really good news, because I feel like that band is firing on all thrusters and it would be a shame if they stopped now.

I will leave you with something totally unrelated. A YouTube video of The Who playing Eminence Front at a sound check. This was the MTV video I used to drool over in 1982 and I have been looking for the audio of this for years but alas it remains unreleased as far as I can tell. Despite the tacky 80s garb, Pete's leads in the front of the song are tasty indeed and pretty flipping raw! This looks like the footage they used to make the video before it was edited, too.



And to contrast that with the good old Who I loved so much:



And flash forward to the recent past where they are still loud and obnoxious!

Townshend on the Lost Art of Recording

Fellow Blogger.com poster Pete Townshend (and he's in a little band called The Who) put up a very interesting post about old school recording.

The crux of it is that these days, producers and engineers try to separate sounds in the recording studio, using numerous microphones, soundproof baffles and other means of sound isolation.

Pete yearns for the good old days when the ROOM was the most important piece of the puzzle. Bands would set up in an acoustically killer room, the engineer would place a few mics and then the producer would capture the band actually performing.

For example, it is common these days to mic up a drum set by putting at least one mic on every drum, plus two or more mics suspended over the drums to capture the overall sound. Recording the drums alone might require 15 - 20 microphones!

Read the whole post, but Pete says:

So many wonderful recording rooms have been lost in the last twenty years, all around the world. Rooms that had either been 'found' to sound good, or 'helped' to sound good, or 'designed' to sound good are now serving duty as Loft-style apartments. Old deconsecrated churches and church halls were once commandeered to serve as recording rooms back in the late '50s. Now they are all gone...

The point I'm making is that still, the music, the performance and the space in which the music is made is what is most important. If an engineer is doing more than switching on the gear and pushing up a fader or turning a control knob, there may be too much interference with the performing process.

Backing up Pete's contention, consider that the HUGE drum sound in Led Zeppelin's "When The Levee Breaks" was achieved by sticking ONE microphone a number of feet in front of the entire drum set in an acoustically huge sounding room. Zep's Jimmy Page and other old schoolers also used to do things like put the drums at the bottom of a stairwell and place the microphone at the top of the stairwell, generating organic echo.

Stories abound of Keith Richards walking around a studio, snapping his fingers and listening to the way the sound bounced around the room. He would decide where the drums would be set up based on this low tech observation - just using his ear and experience. A lost art?

In the days of all this electronic gadgetry, it is nice to know that back in the day things were done more simply - and that those methods would still work today if allowed to. The golden age is not dead and gone.

In the meantime, listed to some old Zeppelin, Who, Stones or Beatles and try and figure out how the sounds were achieved. It's probably as simple as what the room looked like and where they stuck the mics!

The Who Lite - Concert Review

Saw The Who last night at the Rose Garden arena. As a life long Who fan (not kidding - by repeated listenings of Tommy, Quadrophenia and Who Are You as a child, these guys helped shape who I am today), I have a hard time writing this review. Because, the concert was a big snore.

For context, I saw "The Who Review" (30 piece band or whatever) three times in 1989 and thought the song selection was great but the backup singers and horn players needed to be killed. I saw Pete on his Psychoderelict tour and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen. I also saw this current Who lineup, except with Entwistle on bass, in the mid 90s when they did Quadrophenia live, and that show kicked major ass too. I also have the recent live DVDs and thought the band SLAYED at the 9/11 and Live 8 concerts, so I had some high expectations.

The band was in good spirits. Lots of laughing and playing around. It was guitar player Simon Townshend's (Pete's brother) birthday as well. They were tight and the extended jams they whipped out in Anyway Anyhow Anywhere, My Generation and Amazing Journey were pretty killer. So what was the problem?

Where do I start? In a classic case of 'be careful what you ask for - you just might get it,' they played a bunch of new songs from their forthcoming album as well as the recent song "Real Good Looking Boy" and I can say with all confidence that all of these songs suck. I have been bitching about The Who regurgitating the same 15 songs live for 20 years, and what do they do? They debut more new songs in one night than they have probably on any tour since 1973. Very ballsy indeed, but THEY ALL SUCKED.

As for the other songs in the set, most of it was standard fare - Behind Blue Eyes, Baba O'Reilly, You Better You Bet - blah blah blah. The only standouts were The Seeker, Who Are You, My Generation, which they jammed on and inserted bits of Cry If You Want into (very, very cool) and the Tommy laden encore. And even here, the only stuff that made my skin tingle was Amazing Journey and Sparks. The rest was just sort of flat. Been there, done that - and all better.

OK, then the little stuff that didn't help. The Rose Garden was about 110 degrees where I was sitting. The Who's light show sucked, unless you think having spotlights shine into your eyes all night is a good light show. Also, aside from some cool photos of the band in the 60s and 70s, the graphics and photos on the screens behind the band were pointless and added nothing. Daltry said zilch, although I must say his voice sounded great. Pete was by far the standout as usual. And I missed Entwistle so much more than I thought I would.

You know, I saw Paul McCartney last year in the Rose Garden and he had the place filled up to the 300 level (which was blocked off last night, by the way). But he made that place feel like my living room. The Who made it feel like - well, a big arena more suited for NBA than Rock N Roll.

What would have helped? Better songs. If they has played more gems, I would have overlooked all of this other crap. Where are songs like Slip Kid, Sea and Sand, Pure and Easy, Bargain, My Wife (would have been a nice tribute to Entwistle), Another Tricky Day, A Hand or A Face, New Song? They even ignored stuff they have been playing off and on over the years like Relay and Join Together. Even if they had played Kids Are Alright or Substitute, I might have enjoyed it more.

Jesus, even KISS knows how to dip into their extensive back catalog better than The Who.

So, you can pre-order DVDs of any Who show on this tour. They will arrive in the mail next year and you can re-live the show forever. You know what? I'm gonna pass.