THE WHO - MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - 10/7/00
in a spoken intro to "bargain," pete townshend spoke about how stupid it was to pay so much fucking money to see the who play, but he hoped that, by night's end, the audience would've felt like they got a bargain. the whole time, i'm standing there, snickering to myself about the irony of the situation. see, i had gotten my first work-related perk: free tickets to the show, so, yes, it was indeed a bargain. the who surprisingly rocked me harder than i'd ever have imagined. but, first, there were opening acts to sludge through.
the first act was a british band named unamerican who strike me as one of those bush/bbmak sorts who achieve more fame here than in their native land: the fact that they have the word "american" in their name seems to confirm that. they played straight-ahead, meat-and-potatoes rock in the oasis vein. the first song had a good riff but the rest of what followed was lost in a haze of guitars, drum, & bass. by the time they hit their third song, i found myself saying, "bring on the wallflowers!" words i never thought would pass my lips.
and, yes, the wallflowers were next. this tour had started off as a classic rock fan's dream: the who with the black crowes & jimmy page. that is, until page threw out his back and the wallflowers took their place. the wallflowers are very classic rock in their own way: they're like bruce springsteen without "born to run" or the songwriting chops, meaning well-intentioned, innocuous mid-tempo rockers. my theory is this: if you're going to have to sit through an opening act, they might as well be an inoffensive band like the wallflowers. playing live doesn't seem to be their thing and the tunes from the new album suggest that i won't be picking up my first wallflowers album come tuesday, but they thankfully kept it brief and their hits passed the time.
when the who took the stage, you knew that this was a legendary band. comparing the stage demeanors of the three bands that played that evening, you could tell which one would be considered historic. certainly i made jokes about the old boys hitting the road again, each new concert tour supposedly their last, and, if i hadn't received the tickets free, i wouldn't have gone, but it was a great show nonetheless.
some background: the who aren't one of my favorite bands ever, though they do have a handful of kick-ass tunes and certainly had enough material to make a two-hour show enjoyable. my main problems with the band is that they're a great rock band but townshend didn't seem content to merely rock: he had to get into rock operas and "experimentation." beyond that, the man never struck me as a great songwriter: every song seems to be written in the same key and they're not very distinguished, on the whole. nevertheless, i was primed for an evening of nostalgia and, above all, RAWK.
first off, i must say that roger daltrey has kept himself in good shape. the last arena show i'd seen was page & plant several years ago, and i don't think i need to get into how robert plant's range has declined. he hit all of the notes and then some. he did his mic twirling, townshend did his windmills, entwhistle -- the who's charlie watts -- looked on stoically, and zak starkey played the drums very capably, if not exactly making anyone forget keith moon.
the setlist was about as good as it could be, though i wouldn't have minded shortening "5:15" and making room for "i can see for miles" and/or "love, reign o'er me." the two highlights, as far as i concerned, were my two favorite who songs: "baba o'riley" and "won't get fooled again." "baba" was absolutely perfect: the band gave off the feeling that they knew they had written an anthem with the song and that it was a classic but played it with a gusto that didn't suggest that they'd played the songs a million times in their career. "won't get fooled again" was nearly as good, with daltrey nailing his scream near song's end. both songs changed my way of thinking about the who a bit. on record, i'd believed that townshend's ideas about rock uniting people and saving the world were naive and done in a pretentious manner. hearing them live, though, in an arena with people clapping and dancing and singing along, lighters aloft, i thought that maybe he was onto something.
their reputation as a great live band was proven that night, as songs that i never particularly cared for (e.g. "bargain," "my wife") sounded great. all of this isn't to say that the night went off without a hitch. "5:15," as i said above, went on for too long. yes, entwhistle's bass solo was fast, but it only worked if you could *see* it: his solo on the closing "my generation" sounded much better. during the night, they were prone to self-indulgence, but i couldn't hold it against them. they've entertained people for so long that i think they deserve the right to enjoy themselves on stage. sure, it would've been nice if they avoided "my generation" the way page & plant kept away from "stairway," but they had fun with it and i think that came across. it was the last night of their tour and, despite townshend's negative reactions to a few bad reviews, i think it was a successful one for them. they played with a vigor that belied their age and showed that they weren't just in it for the money, a la another british invasion-era band whose name i'm sure you don't need me to mention, but i'll say "the rolling stones" anyway. if there's a "next time," and there very well may be, perhaps i'll pay to see them! perhaps.
setlist:
I Can't Explain
Substitute
Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere
Relay
My Wife
Baba O'Riley
Bargain
Don't Know Myself
Behind Blue Eyes
Pinball Wizard
The Real Me
You Better You Bet
Who Are You
5:15
Won't Get Fooled Again
Encore:
Magic Bus
The Kids Are Alright
My Generation
(c) 2000 - fred solinger -
please do not reprint without permission.
