30 years ago today...

It was thirty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught...No, wait that was twenty years and that's a different band.  I'll start over.

It was thirty years ago today that I saw The Who in concert for the very first time.  Back in August of 2008, I wrote up my memories of that show as part of a series of blogs about my concert going experiences.

In commemoration of the anniversary and in acknowledgement of it being Rocktober, I'm reposting that blog here (with a couple minor adjustments, I just can't resist)...

The Who w/T-Bone Burnett
10/2/82 St. Paul Civic Center w/John & Eric Ticket Price: Unknown

This was a life changing concert for me. I know that sounds dramatic, but it is true. Seeing this show got me big into The Who and that lead me to punk rock which lead me to even more and varied styles of music. At the time I was listening to mostly crap. Journey, Styx, Foreigner, Boston, yuck! (Although, I must admit a soft spot for some of that crap to this day.)

I wasn’t much of a Who fan at the time. I knew who they were, knew a few of their songs. I knew Pete Townshend had some solo stuff out. The Who’s new single ‘Athena’ was getting some airplay, so I was aware of that song. I thought they were ok and that was all.

In fact, I hadn’t planned on going to the show at all. I was even in downtown St. Paul right next to the St. Paul Civic Center (now the Xcel Center, home of the Minnesota Wild) that afternoon. I had been at a comic book shop getting my monthly comic book fix and had just hopped on the bus to head home, when I was accosted by a pothead who worked at the same restaurant at which I was employed.

Pothead: “Hey, Man! Are you going to The Who concert tonight?”

Me: “No.”

Pothead: “Oh! Man!”

Me: “Sorry.”

Well, I got home and my mom told me to call John right away. I did. It turned out John had bought three tickets to the show, but he hadn’t anyone to go with. He did finally find one friend (Eric) to go and I would make it three if I wanted. And I did.

I called the restaurant I was working at and told them I might be a little late for my shift that night. I was working the graveyard shift and I did end up being only about 10 or 20 minutes late. No big deal.  This was The Who’s North American Farewell tour and I was glad to risk being a little late for work to see them, because they’d never tour again. Riiight.  (Turned out that that night would be the last night I worked at that restaurant.  But that's another story.)

This was also the tour that saw The Clash opening some of the shows, but not this one. We got T-Bone Burnett. We had no idea who he was or what he was doing. He did a guitar solo consisting of him plucking one note at one part of the stage and then walking to another part and pluck another note. It was a baffling guitar solo.

John and I have talked about how we regretted not getting The Clash as the opening act, but, if we had seen Burnett after we’d begun exploring and appreciating new kinds of music, we might have enjoyed his act more. In doing some research for this blog I found that it was likely Mick Ronson (who had played with David Bowie during the Ziggy Stardust days) was with Burnett’s band at the time. I may have seen a rock legend that night and didn’t even know it.

Speaking of legends, there was a headlining act, the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world, The Who. As I said, this was to be their last North American tour and they were promoting their latest album, ‘It’s Hard’. Not a perfect album, it’s no ‘Quadrophenia’ or ‘Who’s Next’ and it does lack the maniac Keith Moon, but it’s not as bad as the critics were making it out to be.

I attended the first night of a two night concert stop in St. Paul. And it was loud! It may be the loudest show I’ve ever seen or, certainly, one of the loudest. Both shows were sold out, packed with boisterous Who fans and I got caught up in it. I found myself shouting and whistling as loud as I could. Cheering for Pete in particular. I’m not sure why, but a connection to Pete Townshend was formed that night and it has never been broken.

I wondered if they would play any of his solo material. They didn’t. It was a Who concert after all. They also didn’t play ‘Athena’, their minor hit at the time. They did, however, feature four or so other songs off ‘It’s Hard’. They played the great song ‘Eminence Front’ and I was surprised to see Roger playing guitar on that and other songs. Something he hadn’t done since he took over lead vocals back in the days when they were The Detours.

Their light show featured three sets of spotlights. One set on either side of the stage and one at the back of the main floor. Aimed straight up, they would twirl around and open and close, casting bright white beams of light to the heavens (well, the ceiling of the Civic Center anyway).

Another fun feature of the show was the glow sticks that were sold to the fans. People starting tossing the green glowing objects over the audience’s heads. They looked pretty cool as they sailed over us. Even better was when some fans realized that if they used a lighter (a must have item at concerts) to melt a hole in the plastic container and then throw it high above the crowd, the glowing liquid would sprinkle out. This made for an awesome effect.

John remembers a very lame attempt by me to throw one of the melted glow sticks, spilling the liquid on myself and him. I don’t recall that, but that’s what John remembers.

The Who concert weekend was a pretty big event judging by the excited talk at school that following Monday. It was truly a major event in my life. I was transformed into a monster Who fan. I bought all their albums and bought and read books about them. I was all about The Who and Pete Townshend.

I’ve mellowed some, but not much.  Love Live Rock!.

concert memoirs pt. 38 - the who

The Who w/Counting Crows
9/24/02 Xcel Energy Center w/Amy Ticket Price: $150.00

The image for this installment isn't a ticket stub. I know I saved it, but I can't find it. What you see is the cover of the CD of the show. It's part of a two disk set, recorded live that night, that could be purchased from The Who's website. A CD set was available for each show of the tour. It's a recent option in the music industry to try to make money from music.

These days with buying songs online and with pirating songs as well, there just isn't as much money to be made on album sales. So the real money is made from the concert tour, that is if the musical act is a big enough name. Hence the astronomical ticket prices. (Did you see what we paid for one ticket?) I think it's a very cool idea to offer the show you just saw on CD, making a great keepsake.

So, that's what the image is all about.

This also is the last blog of this concert series in which I know the date of the show. I will continue the series highlighting shows that I just remember seeing, but have nothing else to show for it.

Amy and I spent $300 on a pair of tickets!! By far the most either of us had ever paid for concert tickets. It was The Who! Amy had never seen them and I wanted to see them with her, so $300 be damned! We only live once.

But, before we could even get the credit card out to go $300 in debt, we got the bad news. It was a Saturday morning when our friend, Dave (the Dave with whom I attended the previous Who concert - Target Center, 7/22/97) called to ask if we'd heard the news.

"What news?" I asked.

"John Entwistle is dead."

"What?!"

It was true. Entwistle was in Las Vegas just prior to the tour beginning. He was having a coke party with some strippers in his hotel room, when his heart gave out. I guess that's rock 'n' roll!

But, what about the tour?

Our worries of whether The Who would tour or not were short lived. Rog and Pete decided the tour would go on (goon?). A tour that included a stop in St. Paul.

Counting Crows opened. You may have heard of them. They're a future rock 'n' roll footnote that Amy and I don't particularly care for, so while they played we wandered around the Xcel concourse. Amy had never been to the Xcel Energy Center so it was as good a time as any to have a look around. It's a very nice building which is located on the spot where the St. Paul Civic Center had been. Readers of this blog series will remember that it was at the St. Paul Civic Center where I had seen The Who for the first time (10/2/82). Twenty years and I'd come full circle.

The warm up act finished their whining and wailing, so Amy and I went in to take our seats. We were looking forward to the show, but we had a minor concern. There was a group of two forty-something couples seated directly behind us. That in itself isn't a concern, but they were doing quite a lot of yakking. Loudly. One of the fellows fancied himself an expert on whatever it was they were talking about. So, he was particularly annoying. Our concern was that the group would continue yakking through the show.

"They had better shut up for the show or you'll have to beat them up, Honey Bunny!" my sweet, loving wife said to me.

We needed have worried though. When The Who came out to perform, the couples turned their attention toward the stage. Phew!

The Who (or maybe they should have changed their name to The Two?) were in great form, despite the absence of John Entwistle. Pino Palladino filled his spot. Pino was good if not the same, but who could be?

Zak Starkey, Simon Townshend and John "Rabbit" Bundrick made up the remainder of the band, as they did when Dave and I saw them on the Quadrophenia tour in 1997. A great band, but not on the same level as when they were the original four. If only I could borrow Mr. Peabody's way-back machine and witness The Who at their height. I have seen John play (twice), but I never saw the mad brilliance of Keith Moon in person.

Roger's voice had become a little rougher over the years. Roger made note of his voice being especially croaky that night, because the night before they had played Chicago's House of Blues. They played in front of about 1200 people, "All smoking!" Roger declared. He promised to give us he all that he had and he kept his promise.

Pete mentioned that that night we had, along with them; rock 'n' roll, Oprah and masturbation, with a bit of political satire. He told us that he thought we were so spoiled living in the Twin Cities. An area he considered "one of the cultural capitols of the world, if not THE cultural capitol of the world." The crowd roared its approval, but I thought Pete was laying it on a bit thick. I wondered how many other cities he said that about on that tour. Just call me cynical.

They played most of their big hits. They played them with all the power and energy you would expect from a band as great as The Who. There was a review in one of the local papers the next day that rated the show very highly. The writer made a comparison of the opening act, Counting Crows, and The Who. He stated that the show demonstrated the difference between a good band (his opinion) and a legendary one.

One last thing, as the lights went up and the audience began to file out, Amy turned to me and said, "He's so sexy!"

"Who? Roger?" I asked, though I should have known better.

"No! Pete!"

Yes, he is.

concert memoirs pt. 2 - the who

The Who w/T-Bone Burnett

10/2/82 St. Paul Civic Center w/John & Eric Ticket Price: Unknown

This was a life changing concert for me. I know that sounds dramatic, but it is true. Seeing this show got me big into The Who and that lead me to punk rock which lead me to even more and varied styles of music. At the time I was listening to mostly crap. Journey, Styx, Foreigner, Boston, yuck! (Although, I must admit a soft spot for some of that crap to this day.)

I wasn’t much of a Who fan at the time. I knew who they were, knew a few of their songs. I knew Pete Townshend had some solo stuff out. The Who’s new single ‘Athena’ was getting some airplay. I thought they were ok and that was all.

In fact, I hadn’t planned on going to the show at all. I was even downtown St. Paul right next to the Civic Center (now the Xcel Center, home of the Minnesota Wild) that afternoon. I was at a comic book shop getting my monthly comic book fix. I hopped on the bus to head home. The bus stop was located right in front of the Civic Center. While on the bus I was accosted by a pothead who worked at the same restaurant at which I was working.

“Hey, Man! Are you going to The Who concert tonight?”

“No.”

“Oh! Man!”

“Sorry.”

Well, I got home and my mom told me to call John right away. I did. It turned out John had bought three tickets to the show, but he hadn’t anyone to go with. He did get one friend, Eric, to go and I would make it three if I wanted to. I did.

I called the restaurant I was working at and told them I might be a little late for my shift that night. I was working the graveyard shift and I did end up being only about 10 or 20 minutes late. No big deal.

This was The Who’s North American Farewell tour and I was glad to risk being a little late for work to see them, because they’d never tour again. Riiight.

This was also the tour that saw The Clash opening some of the shows, but not this one. We got T-Bone Burnett. We had no idea who he was or what he was doing. He did a guitar solo consisting of him plucking one note at one part of the stage and then walking to another part and pluck another note. He did that a few times.

John and I have talked about how we regretted not getting The Clash as the opening act, but if we had seen Burnett after we’d begun exploring and appreciating new kinds of music we might have enjoyed his act more. In doing some research for this blog I found that it was likely Mick Ronson (who had played with David Bowie during the Ziggy Stardust days) was with Burnett’s band at the time. I saw a legend and didn’t even know it until now.

Speaking of legends, there was a headlining act, the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world, The Who. As I said, this was to be their last North American tour and they were promoting their latest album, ‘It’s Hard’. Not a perfect album, it’s no ‘Quadrophenia’ or ‘Who’s Next’ and it does lack the maniac Keith Moon, but it’s not as bad as the critics were making it out to be.

I attended the first night of a two night concert stop in St. Paul. And it was loud. It may be the loudest show I’ve ever seen or, certainly, one of the loudest. Both shows were sold out, packed with boisterous Who fans and I got caught up in it. I found myself shouting and whistling as loud as I could. Cheering for Pete in particular. I’m not sure why, but a connection to Pete Townshend was formed that night and it has never been broken.

I wondered if they would play any of his solo material. They didn’t. It was a Who concert after all. They also didn’t play ‘Athena’, their minor hit at the time. They did, however, feature four or so other songs off ‘It’s Hard’. They played the great song ‘Eminence Front’ and Roger played guitar on this tour. Something he hadn’t done since he took over lead vocals back in the days when they were The Detours.

Their light show featured three sets of spotlights. One set on either side of the stage and one at the back of the main floor. Aimed straight up, they would twirl around and open and close, casting bright white beams of light to the heavens (well, the ceiling of the Civic Center anyway).

Another fun feature of the show was the glow sticks that were sold to the fans. People starting tossing the green glowing objects over the audience’s heads. They looked pretty cool as they sailed over us. Even better was when some fans realized that if they used a lighter (a must have item at concerts) to melt a hole in the plastic container and then throw it high above the crowd, the glowing liquid would sprinkle out. This made for a very fun effect.

John remembers a very lame attempt by me to throw one of the melted glow sticks, spilling the liquid on myself and him. I don’t recall that, but that’s what John remembers.

The Who concert weekend was a pretty big event judging by the excited talk at school that following Monday. It was truly a major event in my life. I was transformed into a monster Who fan. I bought all their albums and bought and read books about them. I was all about The Who and Pete Townshend.

I’ve mellowed some, but not much.