Having followed them for the better part of forty five years it is safe to say The Who and I have history.
Cherished relationships with my wife, sons, step-son, many family members and close friends have not yet lasted as long. Indeed, the only other close association of mine that has been maintained during the exact same period has been with my parents.
Recently it occurred to me that Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey are closer to my parents age (just) than mine, but that is beside the point. Was it not for The Who I obviously wouldn’t be writing a review of this DVD – but without The Who I would never have started writing about rock music anyway (another burden for them to carry).
In all my time as a Who fan it is strange to think they have only released five albums of new material and four of those came within the first eight years of my fascination being aroused.
The much younger man I was would have contended Pete Townshend only wrote great songs and every album The Who had made was a masterpiece.
Older, wiser and sadly more cynical, I know this not to be the case – but as the years go by my admiration of how much they achieved, particularly in the first ten years of their career has, if anything, increased.
That they will reign for all time as the greatest live act in rock history is pretty much beyond dispute, but the six studio albums they made between 1965 and 1975 challenged the perceptions of what popular music stood for and the level of erudition it could attain.
Book-ended by a remarkable debut LP, where lyrics are stuttered and snarled over the most ferocious playing of the time, to an album articulating the contradictions of being a rock star at the ripe old age of thirty, during the ten years in between The Who not only made a run of brilliant singles, but released albums that were experimental, intriguing, cleverly conceived and more often than not absolutely compelling.
They took risks and ran headfirst down rarely explored pathways as Keith Moon, John Entwistle and Roger Daltrey provided essential support to where the ambitions of Pete Townshend would lead next.
There was a feeling every Who album had to be a major step forward, not just for the group but for rock itself and while they may have occasionally faltered when landing in the unknown, no other band demanded more from themselves or their audience.
Throw in what is generally considered the finest live album of all time and almost a year-on-year ability to take their stage act to heights nobody else could attain, it is hardly surprising their greatest shows of this time are remembered less as rock concerts but more as one reviewer put it:
‘A heady transcendental experience.’
Which may go someway to reinforcing my belief the casual Who fan does not exist.
From personal experience those most deeply affected by the music, the story, the entire challenge of fathoming a band who from early in their career eschewed the uniformity of an album comprising of ten largely unconnected songs in favour of a grand conceptual idea, have stayed the course – believing this is what rock music was meant to do and this is the band who made it possible.
Others, with understandable justification, sought their listening pleasure elsewhere and no doubt derive the same satisfaction from a slew of wonderful albums that are not bound by a linear narrative. What I do accept is The Who are not, in the straightforward sense, an easy listen and readily admit is not to one of their albums I go when choosing what to hear on a daily basis.
In fact I seldom play a Who album these days, preferring instead music that better suits my older, generally more relaxed mood – but every so often the need arises for the particular brand of mood music only they can deliver, my muse of the moment given a rest in favour of a complete run through of ‘Tommy,’ or ‘Quadrophenia,’ as only hearing half of the story simply would not do.
But when saying The Who repeatedly challenged their followers it is also worth remembering a Who concert audience has certain demands of their own.
While this has happened to a lesser degree in recent times with the changing dynamic of the crowd, The Who play to more teenagers now then they ever did – who in turn have reintroduced a rowdy element to the shows, there remains a feeling veteran Who watchers have become more judgemental than ever and after a perennial live favourite like ‘Behind Blue Eyes‘ you sense conversations among the faithful such as:
‘Better than Birmingham in 82, but not as great as at Hammersmith in 75.’
The week before The Who recorded the DVD: TOMMY – LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL (in April 2017), I saw them in Birmingham. In the previous ten years I had seen The Who on half a dozen occasions, each a thoroughly enjoyable show (the one in the intimate surroundings of the Indigo Club in London – December 2008 – on a night when they summoned the aggro and anger of old was an absolute blinder).
But waiting for them to take the stage in Birmingham that night it occurred to me there was something somewhat contradictory in attending what is effectively a celebration of two pensioners performing songs of young man angst.
That was until they came on and suddenly there is nothing remotely ridiculous in being in the same room (admittedly a large one) as Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend – who proceeded to make this grizzled old-timer feel a little choked up as they delivered a superb set, just as they do at The Royal Albert Hall.
It might not have quite the intensity of legendary ‘Tommy‘ shows that were propelled by Moonie and The Ox, but they still produce a high energy rendition that has more guts and gusto than anyone has a right to expect.
There is something profoundly reassuring in the way Zak Starkey pummels his kit with a Moon-like ferocity through ‘Amazing Journey,‘ the roar of approval when Townshend strums the opening chords of ‘Pinball Wizard‘ and although Daltrey’s voice might not have the power of yore, he still delivers every line as if his life depended on it.
There are trademark microphone twirls and windmill guitar-playing and the Albert Hall crowd have long been on their feet by the time of the ‘See Me Feel Me‘ Tommy finale. At the end constant waves of thunderous applause offer validation of not only a double-album rock opera – but also a group who in name at least have been around much longer than most of the audience.
But this, the most extraordinary of rock bands, then return to the stage for a well-chosen eight song encore that serves as a reminder The Who not only conquered the world because they were loud, dynamic and edgy – but because in the end nobody else had quite as much wonder, wit and innovation.
Listening to them we heard the story and on them saw the glory.
This article was first published on 20/2/2018.
NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of MONTY’S DOUBLE – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle Book.
