by Dave Garrett
It seems that rock and rollis ot dead after all, it has merely “en sleeping inside Pete “fownshend’s guitar. And it re"merged in full force last Thursday in the Seattle Coliseum. The legendary Who were in town to ut on the show of a lifetime. The massive audience, that had been S.R.O. (sold right out) for well over a month, was made mostly of older Who fans. The Who seemed to anticipate this for the bulk of the material played came from earlier albums (mostly Tommy and Who's Next, with a fine selection of older classics). Only two elections were played from their most recent album, By Numbers.
Beginning with an old favorite, “| Can't Explain,” the Who set a high standard for themselves from which they rarely slipped. Finishing the song to a response the likes of which I have never experienced for an opening song before. they quickly thundered through “Substitute.” Only then did they pause to breathe, greet their audience, and introduce Keith Moon as Keith Emerson.
They then played a John Entwhistle composition, “My Wife.” which allowed Daltry a chance to step to the side and let Entwhistle take over vocals. Extending the instrumental section of the piece, Townshend let loose some of his assorted leaps and bounds (he seems to have something against playing with both feet on the ground).
On their last tour, the Who featured Quadrophenia. For that tour they used tapes to recreate onstage the massive amount of keyboards, horns, etc. that were used in the studio.
Unfortunately this torced them to play like a record, not allowing any improvisation at. all. Needless to say it failed miserably, with the Who onstage playing as much as fifteen seconds off the Who on tape. For this reason I was extremely surprised when they announced that they were going to play “Baba O’Reily,” for this song includes extensive use of synthesizer. Even though the keyboard is largely in the background they seemed to have trouble with the song, often looking very uncomfortable with the restrictions of tape. They very wisely chose to replace the violin on the album with harmonica played by Daltry. Still the piece worked despite the obvious difficulties it presented.
One of the most exciting parts of the show was a selection of songs from Tommy. Beginning with “Amazing Journey” they played through a combination of “Sparks” and “Underture” (which provided an absolutely brilliant musical climax on its own) and other favorites like “Uncle Ernie” and “Pinball Wizard.”
The moment that stole the whole show was “We're Not Gonna Take It.” Aside from the fact that it was basically an incredible performance, the visual effects utilized had to be seen to be believed. Just as the band moved into the final “See Me...” chorus nearly all of the stage lights went out, and over Daltry’s head shot a green beam of light, straight and narrow to the back of the arena. It turned out to be a laser. Three other beams quickly followed, in three different colors. These three beams were fed through a device that split them into half a dozen pencil thin lines of light. These beams were then moved about over our heads creating a vast array of patterns in the air. The effect was, to say the least. startling. Then as the band began the finale of the song, a bank of lights were turned on the audience revealing a sea of people on their feet clapping, stomping and singing along. The Who received a standing ovation long before the song was ever finished.
After all that it hardly seemed more was possible, but with a cry of “Do you want to rock and roll!??", Townshend broke into the opening of “Summertime Blues.” Then followed “Magic Bus,” (I find myself running out of superlatives). “Magic Bus” was followed by the most well known Who song in history, “My Generation.” As on the Live at Leeds album, they did an extended jam with the piece, which featured a verse of the song being played in slow blues fashion.
A couple of technical observations are in order here. For fans of concert lighting, the Who toured with the most amazing lighting equipment I have ever seen. I counted between 150 and 200 light instruments, not to mention nearly ten spotlights. The whole stage lighting was done with the aid of a computer, allowing them to pull off miracles normally impossible. As for the sound, it was immaculate. Such good concert sound is extremely rare.
As a final comment I would like to suggest that an old rock tradition be changed. You see the Rolling Stones have long held the unofficial post of the “greatest rock and roll band in the world.” Well, this is my official motion to have the ttle moved to the Who, they earned it.
