The Who (live)

[Architeuthis]

Just saw THE WHO live last night in Seattle at the Key Arena. I have to say they absolutely blew my mind!!! I had never seen them before and a friend of mine called me Sunday morning and asked if I'd like to meet him over there, so I did. It was well worth the 2 hr drive from Sequim.  The band had a perfect sound and just killed it! All the seasoned fans that were there said this was Roger Daltrys best vocal performance ever, I agree he was spot on. Pete Townshend and the band delivered an electrifyng performance as well. The stage production and lighting was out of this world good!
 They played all their hit classics plus half of Quadrophenia. This was one of the best classic rock shows I've ever seen, right up there with Rush, Yes, and Boston. I would have never went if it wasn't for my friend inviting me. I got a single ticket for under 40 bucks and had a great unobstructed seat. The Arena looked to be sold out, I got lucky. The crowd went nuts through the whole show..
 The same friend that invited me came to the Dream Theater show on Wednesday night for TA at The Paramount Theater. He never heard DT and he loved it! All in all, a great Rock n Roll week for me, first Dream Theater, then THE WHO... 

[Cool Chris]

I was at this show too. Been a Who fan since high school, but never had a chance to see them live before. (I know, it's only two of them. Shut up). I echo the sentiments above (however the heck you pronounce that username). Roger sounded great all the way through. And he seems to know his limitations, holding back a few times when necessary, without sounding like he wussed out. The rest of the band was stellar. Zak behind the drums is a beast, Simon was awesome on the guitar and vocals, Pino nailed the bass (and if you didn't pay close enough attention to his fingers and his right foot, you'd think he was dead. I've never seen a guy move less on stage).

But to me, this was Pete's show. Aside from his songwriting and stage presence, he is a very underappreciated guitarist. Pete at 70 is simply cooler than any rock star at any age.

The setlist was what you would expect. I wish there were a few lesser known hits played (something like Substitute or Happy Jack) but I won't complain. Seeing I'm One and The Rock was a pleasant surprise. They did only play 4 Quadrophenia songs though, not half.

[Architeuthis]

Awesome, I'm glad you made it to the show! I agree, Pete Townshend knocked it out of the park, and his brother is a great guitarist and vocalist too. Zak is an amazing drummer, the toms sounded more clear than the DT show. I'm glad you had a great time Cool Chris. 

[El Barto]

Awesome, I'm glad you made it to the show! I agree, Pete Townshend knocked it out of the park, and his brother is a great guitarist and vocalist too. Zak is an amazing drummer, the toms sounded more clear than the DT show. I'm glad you had a great time Cool Chris. 

Yeah, last time I saw them Simon singing Dirty Jobs was one of the highlights.

I have mixed feelings about the current state of The Who. The two guys that matter the most to their sound and image are still there, so I enjoy the shows when I go. At the same time the two really talented ones are dead, and that tends to bug me when I go. Pino and Zack are both very good at what they do, but they're a far cry from who they replace. Generally, if I get passes I go and if I don't I don't. I've seen them enough times to know that they're not going to surprise me at this point.

[ozzy554]

I saw them when they came to boston. Great show

[lonestar]

Pete Townshend is a god.

[Architeuthis]

Pete Townshend is a god.

I have a whole new appreciation after seeing him live. He does have some insane rhythm and lead chops.
 I'll never forget when Dream Theater and Queensryche closed a show with Comfortably Numb and Won't Get fooled Again. That was epic!!!

[red barchetta]

Awesome, I'm glad you made it to the show! I agree, Pete Townshend knocked it out of the park, and his brother is a great guitarist and vocalist too. Zak is an amazing drummer, the toms sounded more clear than the DT show. I'm glad you had a great time Cool Chris. 

Yeah, last time I saw them Simon singing Dirty Jobs was one of the highlights.

I have mixed feelings about the current state of The Who. The two guys that matter the most to their sound and image are still there, so I enjoy the shows when I go. At the same time the two really talented ones are dead, and that tends to bug me when I go. Pino and Zack are both very good at what they do, but they're a far cry from who they replace. Generally, if I get passes I go and if I don't I don't. I've seen them enough times to know that they're not going to surprise me at this point.

Have you seen them when Keith Moon was alive?  I have never seen them but I have always like them.  I enjoy a lot watching the live performances of the band in the 70's.

[Cool Chris]

So... finding an official thread for "The Who" is impossible here. Searching for "The Who" sure as heck doesn't work.

This info just dropped: a tour with orchestral backing, and new album for 2019.

https://www.thewho.com/the-who-announce-2019-north-american-moving-on-tour/

[lonestar]

Wow they skipped the SF Bay Area, wonder what we did wrong.

[Architeuthis]

 Well I'll definitely be going to this one. I've never been to the home of the Mariners ( Safeco Field). I can't believe their changing the name of that stadium to "T- Mobile"! 

[Stadler]

The Who is an amazing band.   I used to have a greatest hits album ("My Generation - The Very Best Of The Who"), and it was enough.   Didn't care for the early singles, and basically started with the 1969 material and moved up.   Then I got the expanded Who's Next, and the deeper tracks - Getting In Tune - and the Lighthouse stuff - Pure And Easy, Too Much Of Anything - blew me away.  Then I saw them play Quadrophenia live, and... it blew me away.  Then I figured, I owe myself to listen to Tommy, so I bought it and "A Quick One..." and, well, Tommy didn't blow me away, but it was better than I had thought it was going to be.   Then I bought a lot of Who CDs on eBay (everything up through It's Hard), and some of the deeper tracks, especially in the early- to mid-1970's were REALLY good. 

I always sort of thought they were a second tier band (from the Beatles and Stones and Zeppelin and Floyd) because they only had a handful of albums, and the crazy farewells and what not, but they're not. You hear their sound in an amazing array of bands (even bands you would expect, like Oasis, U2, Rush, The  Flaming Lips... I would even argue Marillion and Genesis in an odd way).  I have a ton of respect for that band these days.

[Cool Chris]

I've never been to the home of the Mariners ( Safeco Field). I can't believe their changing the name of that stadium to "T- Mobile"! 

I've been to a few Mariners games, never to a concert or other event, and yes thinking of it as T-Mobile is weird. There's no way to abbreviate it or give it a good nickname, and they have the worst color scheme in the history of business.

I always sort of thought they were a second tier band (from the Beatles and Stones and Zeppelin and Floyd) because they only had a handful of albums, and the crazy farewells and what not, but they're not.

I think it might be a US issue, in that they did not "conquer" the states the way the above four did. The Beatles were the "Lads from Liverpool" but The Who always seemed like more of a British band who were always bigger over there (and I think album sales numbers proves this, too lazy to check). And while they may have had fewer albums, they had arguably two landmark rock albums (Tommy and Who's Next), a legendary live album (Live at Leeds), a reputation as one of the best live bands (and for a time the holder of the "Loudest band in the world" title), and a couple songs that top perennial "Top Rock Songs of All Time" list (Won't Get Fooled Again, Baba O'Riley).

[TAC]

Other than Who's Next, I've never owned a Who album. I am not into them in any way, but I have total respect.


Regarding Keith Moon. He's obviously a huge influence, but are there any drummers that you can point to and say that "he" was obviously influenced by Keith Moon?

To me, the only one that comes to mind is Nicko McBrain. His playing totally reminds me of Moon.

[Cool Chris]

I think Moon might have inspired a ton of people to play drums, even if they weren't necessarily inspired to play like him.

[robbob]

I was never a big fan when I was younger, only really knew of the "hits" on the radio. But, about 10 years ago started to dive into their music a bit more. What a great, unique band, all of their early stuff up into the early/mid '70's was good. Totally agree with Stadler, the expanded version of Who's Next is worth getting, most of the Lighthouse tunes are good. Always heard that Live at Leeds was one of the best Live albums, once I finally got it, I understood why. The band is on fire, so much power and energy , they were in their prime at that point.

Keith Moon is such a unique drummer, at times sounds sloppy (probably for obvious reasons) but at other times is phenomenal.

Lots of respect for this band and how they did influence many others. So, unique in how they started as kind of a singles band in the same vain as the early Stones or Kinks. But, then changed and were able to play many different styles.

[Stadler]

Other than Who's Next, I've never owned a Who album. I am not into them in any way, but I have total respect.


Regarding Keith Moon. He's obviously a huge influence, but are there any drummers that you can point to and say that "he" was obviously influenced by Keith Moon?

To me, the only one that comes to mind is Nicko McBrain. His playing totally reminds me of Moon.

I think Chris is kind of right; but Dave Grohl has moments of Moon, as does Bun E. Carlos.  But it's the idea of Moon more than his sound (kind of like Hendrix).   Controversial comment, but as great as a guy like Mangini is, I imagine you can brute force his style if you had to; repetition until the technique is mastered.  I know enough to know that Moon wasn't randomly bashing on the drums, but his style was so loose and on the edge, it's hard to replicate that. 

I find this with my guitar; some guys that are very good, I can just start slow, work through and speed up and get to it.  Then there's guys - like Blackmore (who was very influenced by Hendrix) who's often so on the edge (even though he's known for his precision) it's hard to "bull" your way through.

[Architeuthis]

I think Moon might have inspired a ton of people to play drums, even if they weren't necessarily inspired to play like him.

Neil Peart has mentioned many times that he is influenced by Keith Moon.

[Silent Man]

I was a Who fan from the beginning in the mid 60's, saw them live in Copenhagen and Malmö in the late 60's. One of the first LPs I bought was the My Generation LP. There were no other bands playing like this at that time. Townshend's guitar playing was and is still today, unique. So many bands and so much music as of today is still influenced by The Who, even many of the young musicians are not aware of it. I once saw some punks in a club in the 90's, I think they never knew about The Who. The club ran a video on the wall of an old live show with them, playing a killer version of My Generation at blasting volumes. It was funny to watch the kid's faces: staring eyes, empty for words and their mouths open. The Who had a killer radiation when entering the stage: fearless, mean and absolutely devastating volumes, it was like they smashed their DNA right in the faces of the audience. I only try to describe it, but can't really. For me their best album was Quadrophenia, it's epic. But also the lesser known albums, like Who By Numbers, Who Are You, Face Dances, It's Hard, and more, contains some quality stuff. Also, about Keith Moon: someone will insist that he wasn't that much of a technical drummer - maybe, but his musical talent made him an important part of the soul of The Who - their DNA. I can recommend the live DVD 'The Who live at Kilburn'. I think it's one of the last live performances of Moon before he passed away. He was still good, and he still left an impression like 'this is the real Who playing', he contributed to their soul. The DVD set also includes really old footage where Moon is in insane shape, very exciting to watch.

[Architeuthis]

Yeah Pete Townsend is a really unique guitar player. It's not as easy as it looks. I used to play in a band where we did a cover of Pinball Wizard.. The acoustic strumming is insanely difficult and I struggled with it every time, we eventually dropped it from the set list for that reason. We replaced it with Behind Blue Eyes which is much easier. His solos are awesome too,  but his rhythm playing is out of this world. He's such a great composer, and has written some of the best songs in all of Rock-n-Roll!  Roger Daltry is the perfect voice and frontman for that band.

[El Barto]

Daltry has never been the frontman. He's the perfect singer for the band, and I'm a big, big fan. It's Townshend's band, though. There are times where Daltry might as well be Cliff Williiams, marching to the front of the stage to sing and then marching right back to his spot behind everybody while Pete's doing his thing.

And when it comes to being noticeably influenced by Moon, Frankie Banali takes the cake, though he doesn't seem to admit it.

[DragonAttack]

They were big enough in the States to sell out the old Pontiac Silverdome on a couple of different tours.  Moon's drumming...it can be all over the place, and then so subtle.  Nothing 'by the numbers'.

'Who's Next?' ....what a great album from start to finish.

Side Four of 'Quadrophenia' ....one of my favorite top five album sides. 

[lonestar]

He's such a great composer, and has written some of the best songs in all of Rock-n-Roll! 

So much this. For me, no one delivers the complete composing package like Pete. He always broke grounds, and never dwelt on said grounds too long for them to become stale. He pushed the edges, and always took it to the extreme.

Side Four of 'Quadrophenia' ....one of my favorite top five album sides. 

The Who when all members were peaking in ability and passion, it's one of the few examples of perfection in rock and roll. There are no flaws on that side.

[El Barto]

The Who when all members were peaking in ability and passion, it's one of the few examples of perfection in rock and roll. There are no flaws on that side.

I'd call the end of Leeds (My Generation and Magic Bus) the perfect example of that. Man, those guys were really on fire at that point.

[KevShmev]

To me, Tommy is where the Who peaked.  Great songwriting and the raw sound of the band was still captured perfectly on record.

Everyone raves over Who's Next, and it is a good record, but the sound and production makes it sound like someone cut their balls off.  The fire and passion of the band was lost once the sound quality got better.  They still have plenty of good songs in that decade, and I like Quadrophenia a lot as well, but the fire and passion of their 60's material has stood the test of time a lot better, if you ask me.

[DragonAttack]

^
No

They were older, more 'mature', lest angst, and....it contains the greatest scream in rock 'n roll history!

(plus, it was great to listen to when stoned for years on end....not that I ever did that back in the day )

[Stadler]

^
No

They were older, more 'mature', lest angst, and....it contains the greatest scream in rock 'n roll history!

(plus, it was great to listen to when stoned for years on end....not that I ever did that back in the day )

Not to argue with Kev, but I'm with you on that.  To this day I marvel at how clean and balanced that "Who's Next" record sounds.  I'm not a gear head or a Luddite, but I think there was a period there in 1970-1972 or so where the best SOUNDING records were ever made.   Who's Next, Zep IV, Abbey Road, Sticky Fingers, Aqualung, Meddle, Fragile...

[KevShmev]

Maybe it is an unfair comparison, but LZ's sound and production went up about the same time, yet nothing was lost in the drumming department from a sound standpoint.  The power and fury of Bonham's drums was always on full display.  Meanwhile, there are times on Who's Next where it sounds like Moon is lightly tapping his drums, but you know he was probably beating the crap out of them for real; the energy and power just wasn't captured well in the mix.  The mellower songs like The Song is Over and Behind Blue Eyes sound great, but the rockers are where it suffers.

[Architeuthis]

To me, Tommy is where the Who peaked.  Great songwriting and the raw sound of the band was still captured perfectly on record.

If you like Tommy, I highly recommend the bluray that recently came out of them playing it in its entirety at The Royal Albert Hall.  They also play the staples during the second set.
If you like Who's Next and Quadrophenia, I would recommend The Who live at Hyde Park on bluray. Both of these releases came out around the same time just a year or two ago. Roger Daltry does a way better scream at Hyde Park than he does at Royal Albert..lol!

[KevShmev]

To me, Tommy is where the Who peaked.  Great songwriting and the raw sound of the band was still captured perfectly on record.

If you like Tommy, I highly recommend the bluray that recently came out of them playing it in its entirety at The Royal Albert Hall.  They also play the staples during the second set.
If you like Who's Next and Quadrophenia, I would recommend The Who live at Hyde Park on bluray. Both of these releases came out around the same time just a year or two ago. Roger Daltry does a way better scream at Hyde Park than he does at Royal Albert..lol!

I don't love the Who enough to buy any of their live material. I'd watch it once and then never again. 

While I like the Who, if I did an updated top 50 favorite artists list, they probably wouldn't make it.

[DragonAttack]

That would be an interesting list.

While I can see many not having them in their Top Ten, and some not in their Top 20......I'm curious to see the 50 artists you'd have above them (not snarking, just curious)

[KevShmev]

I did the below list 9 years ago, but it wouldn't look the same now.  Neal Morse and Spock's, for one, are way too low on that list (cannot remember why).  And there are a few artists there I'd leave off and replace with others.  Steven Wilson (solo), XTC, Tears for Fears and Haken would all easily make it now. Looks like I had the Who at 42 back then.

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=12360.msg405747#msg405747

[Cool Chris]

On the subject of live releases, I own Leeds and Isle of Wight. Are there any others that I should pursue? I am talking releases that are either audio only or include a CD with the package.

[ytserush]

I love The Who. Have most of their stuff and all of the solo Townshend stuff and some Keith Moon and Entwhistle (And Daltrey's Under A Raging Moon.)

Saw them in 1989 at Giants Stadium for their "2nd Farewell Tour." It wasn't so I never saw them again.

Great live band though. The evidence is there. At this point, Townshend is the only one I'd want to see (Simon too I guess.), but not for what I'd have to pay to do it. Glad they still do Eminence Front. Probably still my favorite Who song ever, especially live.

Sonically, I think the best album is Who Are You. Don't know how they did it, but I think it's their best sounding ever. It just washes over you.

And their performance at the 9/11 concert? They blew every single band their off the stage. Of course Enwhistle was still alive then and more often than not he was the engine. Only reason I have that CD is for them and McCartney.

[ytserush]

On the subject of live releases, I own Leeds and Isle of Wight. Are there any others that I should pursue? I am talking releases that are either audio only or include a CD with the package.

I've got these as well and a few more from the late '90s. No bootlegs though.

A few more archival releases (from the mid-70's I think) have come out they've been on my radar, but I just haven't gotten to them yet.