Who Made It? Yes They Did; 3/26 The Who Concert Review

The Who, like many adolescent males, became my band when I was 16. My dad had a Greatest Hits album, that truly wasn't, that as I started playing more songs from, the more each captivated me. While there was only 13 songs(and it didn't have Baba O'Riley, I Can't Explain, among others), each seemed unique and versatile. From the years of 2000-2005 they were close to my end all tastes in music, until I started sliding toward Bob Dylan.

While it's now down to the Two really, I've always wanted to see them in concert. In 2002, they had announced a date in St. Louis, but never went through with it and did a Chicago charity show instead. On the Endless Wire Tour in 2006-07, they skipped over Missouri again, yet played Des Moines and Little Rock. The same thing with the 2012-13 Quadrophenia Tour and other mini tours they've done in the last sixteen years.

However, the Who announced their The Who Hits 50! Tour in 2014, as their last big tour. And it really might be this time, given their ages. And there were St. Louis and Kansas City dates, early on in the tour. I got St. Louis tickets and was as excited as could be. I was finally going to see my teenage heroes, May 7, 2015.
Then a few days before the concert, they postponed both Missouri dates and Louisville, due to Roger Daltrey's cold. They soon announced a new date of December 7 as the makeup date, during the second American leg. Only then, a few months later, they announced that entire leg was postponed due to Daltrey contacting viral meningitis.

The third date, was eventually announced as March 26, which meant my dad would get to go with me on his birthday. And since it was a holiday weekend, I haven't worked in five years, I didn't need to take a vacation. Or so I thought. Great management, led us to having to work Good Friday and then announcing Monday that we were being scheduled for Saturday and wouldn't honor any new vacations. So, I wound up losing my holiday pay.

And to be honest, I was still checking throughout the day, to make sure it wasn't canceled. Me and dad arrived with thirty minutes to start time, which wound up being pretty close to 7:30, with opening act Tal Wilkenfeld, a female bass player and her band. Her group was decent, but as dad said, 'seemed out of place, opening for the Who," even though she's played with other legends. She played eight songs over 45 minutes. Me and my dad discussed that people are too polite and how in the past, opening acts for the Who, would get booed off stage, if not up to par. 

This was supposed to have been Joan Jett and the Blackhearts as the opening act if we would have got either date last year. But she had other commitments and we got a lesser act. This was the biggest loss of the postponed dates, even more so than my lost holiday pay.

I got good seats, 13 rows off to the stage. And the people  in front of us were of fairly large size, so we didn't stand up Won't Get Fooled Again.

One of the neat things in before the shoe and in-between the sets, the large video screen behind the group, showed the history of the band in various aspects, from memoriams to fashion to current band members. They also showed a history of the Who in St. Louis, mentioning opening for Herman's Hermits in 1967, playing Tommy at Kiel Auditorium in 1969, the Quadrophenia Tour at the Arena in 1973, as well as stops their in 1980 and 1982, the Tommy anniversary tour in 1989 at Busch Stadium and the 1997 Quadrophenia Tour at Riverport.

After a 30 minute set change, The Who took the stage to Who Are You? There was a bit of muddiness in Daltrey's voice in the second song, The Seeker, but that was it. The rest of the night his voice was really strong, compared to previous concert reviews I've read the past 15 years.

I've tried avoiding reading set lists, over the past year or two, though I got a glance in my Facebook newsfeed a week or two ago. But looking now, they've stayed pretty static since last summer and if they would have played the original date, we would have gotten I Can't Explain, Magic Bus and Squeeze Box among others.

Townshend has seemed to gotten mellower with old age. He was plagued by monitor issues, as well as a cold, and during his vocals on Bargain, he could be seen spitting something out between lines. Yet, he remained in high spirits all night, laughing and trading barbs with Daltrey all night. When Daltrey was trying to fill a gap during an ear monitor issue, with thoughts on age and still doing this, Townshend said, "We're fucking old pussies."  Yet both men were spry for seventy year-olds. Townshend jumping around and doing his trademark windmill guitar strums full of action. Daltrey as well running around stage and doing his microphone twirl and catch, though missing it a few times. After all "We're a boy band...Just an ugly one," according to Daltrey.
And Daltrey introduced The Kids Are Alright with an anecdote about getting married and divorced after having a child in 1963. Townshend next introduced I Can See For Miles as their first U.S. hit, when most of us weren't born, in 1967. Someone in the front row said they were born in 1963, or Townshend just used it as a setup, saying, "O.K., you were. That's about the same time Rog was having his child. You're his poor bastard child."

My highlight, was probably Join Together, which had everybody bouncing. One of my very favorite songs I'm One, was dampened  by Pete's cold, which made him sound like "Kermit the Frog." As he started singing with his high voice, Pete was sort of right on.

We got nice suites from both Quadrophenia and Tommy, as well as most of their hits. ("Well, none of them were really hits."). The closing was the one two punch of Baba O'Riley and the piece de resistance Won't Get Fooled Again. Afterwards, Townshend introduced the band, which was comprised of three keyboardists, his brother Simon on rhythm guitar, Pino Palladino on bass and Zak Starkey on drums, who was introduced "This poor fucker had Keith Moon as a babysitter...and turned out completely normal. Surprisingly." He is a stellar drummer, who definitely learned a lot from his baby sitter and is more similar to him than his own famous father.

After a few more words and thanks they left the stage, with no encore. Townshend claimed to want to return see everybody and "take at trip down on that river, before I fucking die!" And it was well worth the wait. The set list and show would have probably better if the concert happened last May, but it was still an amazing journey. And totally worth the lost holiday pay.

Setlist

 

Who Are You
The Seeker
The Kids Are Alright
I Can See For Miles
My Generation
The Real Me
Pictures Of Lily
Behind Blue Eyes
Bargain
Join Together
You Better You Bet
I'm One
The Rock
Love Reign O'er Me
Eminence Front
Amazing Journey>Sparks
Pinball Wizard
See Me Feel Me
Baba O'Riley
Won't Get Fooled Again

Post Dispatch Review