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Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The Who plays Gwinnett
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend could be phonin’ it in by now. And who can blame them after 40-plus years and endless itirations of retirement and comeback tours.
The Who isn’t making any pretense that this is the last go around. In fact, the rock legends proudly played several cuts from its latest, critically acclaimed release “Endless Wire.”
This is actually the Who’s first appearance in six years in metro Atlanta, skipping the area in 2002, the year John Entwistle died. This time at the Arena at Gwinnett, Townshend wasted no time (actually about 90 seconds) before unleashing his trademark windmill motion on his guitar during the opener “Can’t Explain.” He doesn’t quite leap the way he used to but he can still shred, especially during “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
While staging was relatively bare, the band took advantage of newer technology: a massive five-part HDTV screen behind them to better show off graphics and give the folks in the back who paid only $52 (vs. $204 at the front) a better look at how well they’ve aged.
Daltrey, his tight curls much shorter than they used to be, looks far younger than his 62 years. And vocally, he has held up surprisingly well.
The videos weren’t always terribly subtle. During “Behind Blue Eyes”? A closeup of several eyes.
They did a sampler from “Endless Wire,” a 12-minute stretch which led Townsend to note semiseriously, “We invented this: the mini opera!” The mix included an ironic tune, “We Got a Hit,” ironic because it’s been a quarter century since the group has had a genuine hit (“You Better You Bet”) .
After the opera was over, Townshend noted, with a wink, “That’s not as long as a proper opera. And not even as long as the track that follows.”
So they broke into one of the most iconic guitar/keyboard combo riffs in rock history from “Baba O’Riley.” Just four days earlier on the same spot, the Blue Man Group did the same song — just with more drums and a lot weaker vocals. And the theme to “CSI: Miami” also happened to be the last song ever played on 96rock, which became Project 9-6-1 last Friday.
Fortunately for those who paid the big bucks to relive their childhood, the Who didn’t skip over the big ones, liberally sprinkling in the likes of “Who are You” and during the encores, “Pinball Wizard” and “See Me, Feel Me.”
But they finished with an acoustic version of the plaintive “Tea & Theatre” from “Endless Wire.” “We did it all, didn’t we?” Daltrey sang with a mix of weariness and pride.
The opener was another great rock group The Pretenders, led by Chrissie Hynde, a time capsule from the ‘80s, but the cool part of the decade, not the cheesy one. She wore the same bowl-ish haircut and white coat that would have fit right in when “Back in the Chain Gang” was on the charts and her silky, sexy voice remains as strong as ever. Too bad she didn’t have time as an opener to play “Middle of the Road” or “Brass in Pocket.”
“It’s good to see old faces,” Hynde said, jokingly. “Makes me feel good at least!”
The Who set list, November 22, 2006, Arena at Gwinnett:
Can’t Explain
Seeker
Anyway Anyhow, Anywhere
Fragments
Who are You
Behind Blue Eyes
Good Looking Boy
Mini-opera: Sound Round/ Pick up the Peace/We Got a Hit/Dream Come True/Mirror Door
Baba O’Riley
Eminence Front
A Man in a Purple Dress
Mike Post Theme
You Better You Bet
My Generation
Won’t Get Fooled Again
ENCORE:
Pinball Wizard
Amazing Journey/Sparks
See Me, Feel Me
Tea & Theatre
