dimland radio 5-7-16 "the who show" show notes

Second Easiest Show Notes I've Ever Done...

 

Photo credit: Steve Cohen/CityPages

Honestly, I had not intended for the show to be solely about the greatest rock band ever: The Who. I even had notes prepared for a few other non-Who related topics, but I just couldn't help myself. I just had to gush about my all-time favorite band.

 

I talked about the first time I saw The Who. I hadn't planned on it, because I wasn't much of a Who fan then. But, my friend had an extra ticket and asked if I would go. I said yes and my life has been a love affair with the band and Pete Townshend in particular ever since.

 

I also covered the other times I saw the boys in concert. Each concert was thoroughly enjoyed by me, but then why wouldn't they be? I'm a massive fan and The Who are the greatest rock band ever. Have I mentioned that?

 

As part of my Who indulgence show I included the story behind this current tour and it's postponement due to Roger's illness in the fall of 2015. That illness added close to seven months to what would have already been a yearlong wait. The tickets went on sale in October 2014 for a show that was originally scheduled to take place in October 2015. The concert was to be part of Amy (my wife) and my 14th wedding anniversary celebration, but, because of the postponement, it became part of our Mother's Day celebration.

 

Photo credit: Steve Cohen/CityPages

The concert took place in the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis. The Target Center is located across the street from the legendary nightclub First Ave & 7th Street Entry. Before heading into the stadium, Amy and I went over to see the temporary memorial that has been put up by Prince's star on the wall of First Avenue. There was a posting on the wall from The Who paying tribute to Minnesota's musical genius.

 

I described the show. I talked about my favorite moments and about the crowd. I speculated about those elderly audience members and how they may have conducted themselves way back in the 70s when they were young and going to concerts.

 

There are two versions of my review of the concert online. A shortened version for the Stuck in the 80s blog and a more verbose version on my weekly blog at Warehouse Find, the official blog of Nostalgia Zone. And was able to find a YouTube video of the ENTIRE concert! It's not the best quality video or sound, but you will be able to see what I was talking about.

Movie Recommendation: None

I ran out of time, so no recommendation this week. You are on your own.

 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Another Tricky Day' & 'Athena' by The Who

Second ad break bumpers:  'Cry If You Want' & 'You Better You Bet' by The Who

Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com
 
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concert memoirs pt. 27 - the who

The Who
7/22/97 Target Center w/Dave Ticket Price: $31.00

Dave and I were working together in those days. Slaving away at small t-shirt printing shop in Minneapolis. I was in the art department, he was a printer. We discovered we had in few things in common. One being that we were both fans of The Who. We had both seen them at least once before and we were both uncertain about seeing them again if it was going to be another greatest hits tour.

It’s true that when I had seen them at the St. Paul Civic Center (10/2/82) it was a life-changing event for me. And it’s true that it was mostly a greatest hits show. I guess I wanted to keep those memories untarnished by seeing a show of aging rock stars going through the motions (as if The Who ever did that).

Then I heard on a local adult contemporary radio station that The Who would be performing their second rock opera, Quadrophenia. Quadrophenia is the favorite album of most Who fans. There’s just something about that album that gets into every fiber of your being. It’s hard to explain.

I told Dave. Dave said, “We’re going!”

Although we opted for the cheaper seats, we were geeked about the show. Working at a t-shirt shop, we were able to make up a shirt with a 100 day (or whatever the number was, I forget) countdown to the concert. Each day one of us would put the shirt on and the other would use a marker to X out the day. What a couple of dorks.

Our seats were decent. A bit far from the stage, but we had a straight shot at viewing John, Rog, and Pete. The good drummer, but a poor fit for The Who, Kenney Jones had been replaced by Zak Starkey. Starkey, unlike his father, Ringo Starr, is a drummer. (Ok, I stole that line from some cable show.) Zak Starkey is an excellent drummer. He’s a great fit for the band.

To flesh out the Quadrophenia story they had some film clips on the big video screens and a couple of extra performers to sing a couple parts. But it was still essentially The Who. Gone were the horn section, extra backing vocalists, percussionist and guests like Phil Collins and Billy Idol. All of which were used for their Tommy tour a few years earlier. They did have Pete’s brother Simon for an extra guitarist and vocalist to take over for John whose voice had gotten too low to be used in concert. And they had “Rabbit” Bundrick on keyboards.

Roger’s voice had aged, but he could still belt out the songs. Pete and John were as good as ever. These guys weren’t just going through the motions. Although the tour may have been put on mainly to get John Entwistle out of debt, the band still had the fire, the passion for rock’n’roll.

The absolute highlight of the night was Townshend’s acoustic solo performance of the song Drowned. On the album Roger sings the lead, but as far as I can tell, when performed in concert Pete takes the lead vocal. It’s one of my favorites off that album. And when Pete performed it that night it was glorious.

He has a power to pull so much sound out of an acoustic guitar. Townshend has said that when John plays he’s like an entire orchestra. I’ve heard the same said for Keith Moon. I say that when Pete Townshend picks up his acoustic and plays as he did that night it’s mesmerizing. Drowned alone was worth the price of admission.

Realizing that I came to The Who late in their career, I was very impressed with the number of younger people at the show. Dave and I were surrounded by many Who fans who were much younger than we. I was further impressed when, during the encore, the band played an acoustic version of Won’t Get Fooled Again and the youngsters recognized the song before I did. Imagine that!

It had been nearly 15 years since I had first seen them in concert. The Who could still deliver the goods. I’m glad Dave and I had decided to go to that excellent show.