This is the day I've been waiting for for years now, seeing the Who was a dream come true when I got my tickets, and on that Thursday night I had one of the greatest nights of my life.
It started with me walking down some steps and falling, onto concrete, which is never fun. I sat down with my mum, she had hold of a pint of cider for me and whilst my foot was throbbing with pain I managed to keep a cool as it was only half an hour away until my heroes stepped onto the stage.
And then all of a sudden there they were, as large as life (well, from where I was sat; as large as very small peas). But nonetheless there was Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend stood together on the stage, right in front of me, in the same room as me and suddenly the pain in my foot didn't bother me anymore.
Opening with Quadrophenia, the Who brought a breath of fresh air to the album, which in previous years has never aired so well live - 1973, Keith Moon over dosing and collapsing on his drums, and in the 90's when they asked Gary Glitter to join, this time without having moon the loon, or a, you know, criminal... the Who managed to bring a lease of life to this fantastic album, proving that even after 40 years Quadrophenia is as relevant now as it was during it's release.
There were no over the top theatrics, the were beautiful visuals on huge screens throughout the one and a half hour show, that happened to have no breaks either. Visuals of the Who blending in and out of mod reels, Keith Moon and John Entwistle made appearances during which brought a tear to everyone's eyes. They were beautiful tributes to two of the greatest musicians ever to have lived, 5.15 showed John Entwistle doing what he did best, giving it his all during one of his last ever live shows, a video sample that lasted over a good few minutes but no one ever tired of. But what had me was 'Bell Boy', Daltrey stared up at the screen as Moonie sang to him, for a moment or two it felt like Keith Moon was actually there with us, it was like he was actually on stage with the band.
The Who were joined by Simon Townshend, who did a brilliant job of his performance of 'The Dirty Jobs', and who was also a great companion to Pete's guitar playing and windmilling. Scott Devours, replacing Zak Starkey, on drums, and Pino Palladino on bass. The band as a whole did a fantastic job of bringing Quadrophenia together, and even turning out some of our favourite Who tunes.
It was a brilliant night, being able to sing 'Don't cry, don't raise your eyes, it's only teenage wasteland' along with Pete Townshend was a dream come true. I couldn't have imagined a better night with the Who unless they actually brought back Keith Moon and John Entwistle from the grave, but even then we know that Keith Moon would pass out on the drums and we'd have to fetch someone from the audience to carry on the show.
No comments:
Post a Comment