Pat Dickelman
Who stirred a breeze in the Cellar Thursday, a night so hot that abandoned paper cups crumbled up by themselves.
The Who, a british pop rock group, appeared at the Arlington Heights teen club between a Detroit date and the upcoming Monterey (Cal.) Pop festival.
After 20 minutes of electronic troubles, the four launched their shows with Substitute – friendly Keith Moon lightning up on drums, kinda sarcastic Roger Daltrey on vocals and theatrics a la James brown; business like Peter Townshend, who writes a lot of Who’s songs, on lead guitar, and John “hostile man†Entwistle on bass guitar.
The show was too short (15 minutes) because of the mechanical troubles and the Arlington Heights curfew – but it was sweet and loud. The four worked well together, with good instrumental balance. Some gutsy guitar and vocals stood out particularly on Happy Jack, their current hit here.
My generation, the closing number, grabbed the biggest empathic screams. Lights flicked off and on, a smoke bomb set up a screen, and The Who went crazy gyrating and bobbing. Peter smashed his guitar, a gimmick the group is known for and which Keith says has put them in big debt.
“Antonloni offered us the guitar smashing bit in the movie, ‘Blow Up’â€, said Keith, “but we had a club date at the time. So they used The Yardbirds, who copied out bit.â€
After the show, a fan asked Peter what he’d do for a guitar tomorrow.
“Glue it back togetherâ€, he answered.
With an act like that, what do they do for an encore?
