The Who - TD BankNorth Garden, Boston, MA 12/03/06

Yes, Keith Moon has been dead for 28 years.

Yes, John Entwistle shuffled off this mortal coil (amidst a fog of drugs, booze, and women...in Las Vegas, of course) four years ago on the eve of a new Who tour.

Yes, I realize that is one half of what is known as The Who. And I don't care. I plopped down some hard-earned cake to go to the local Enormo-dome and see a couple of aging rockers cling to their greatness, like dentures that grab that turkey leg in such a vice-like kung-fu grip that they end up extracting themselves from the gums of their octogenarian owner.

Well, a funny thing happened at the Garden last Saturday.

The Who, or what is left of them, completely blew me away.

The band has long been one of my favorites, despite not having put out an album of original material in almost a quarter of a century. But utterly classic albums, like Quadrophenia, By Numbers, Who's Next, and the seminal Live at Leeds (the best live album ever recorded) stoke the fires. Just listening to the old band is a mix of nostagia and awe: Moon, on drums, was incredibly acrobatic and talented...easily one of the best rock drummers to ever play. His rhythm partner, the Ox, Entwistle, laid down some of heaviest, thickest, metallic basslines this side of Jupiter and then changed on a dime to play his bass like a lead guitar. Pete Townshend, one of music's greatest songwriters and underrated guitarists shared the front of the stage with Roger Daltrey, a singer initally renowned more for his looks than his pipes. But as the Who grew up, so did Daltrey and his singing became one of the Who's many trademarks...his voice so undeniably recognizable. His gutteral screams (the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again") coupled with pensive, emoted vocals ended up defining the Who just as much as Townshend's windmill guitar strum or Keith Moon blowing up his kit at the end of a set, or even Entwistle, stoically doing his job whilst smoothly avoiding flying cymbals and pieces of Townshend's strat.

But that was a long time ago. The last truly magnificent Who albums were all made around the time I was born. They've lost two founding members to excess and seemingly toured out of necessity more than want for many years.

Townshend, the brain to Daltrey's brawn in the band, announced that the Who would not tour again unless they had new material. Perhaps sensing the audience's discontent with hearing the recycled greatest hits setlist tour after tour, but probably more in an effort to challenge himself to come up with something fresh and exciting, Townshend began writing anew and the result is a really wonderful nod to the glory of the Who's past: Endless Wire. Sure, there are some warts on it and the production is sketchy at best, but there are tracks that are so emotional and raw, expertly orchestrated by Townshend and equally impressively sung by Daltrey. Townshend even indulges with one of his patented mini-operas, called Wire and Glass, addressing the state of music today.

So, when the Who rolled into town, it was easy to be a little skeptical. But, I had never seen any incarnation of the band, one of my all-time favorites, and although the price was certainly NOT right for tickets, I didn't know if this would be my last opportunity to see one of my guitar heroes live, not to mention Daltrey, who, over their career, blossomed into an amazing vocalist.

Opening up for the Who was The Pretenders, who I am sure most know of. I have to admit to not having a really strong opinion of the band either way (their fine; I don't own any of their material), but they were quite a treat as an opening act. The band was flawless in their execution and I was most impressed by how utterly pristine Chrissie Hynde's vocals were. An excellent choice of opening bands, the Pretenders blew threw their 45-minute set and left to such an enthusiastic response from the crowd that Hynde remarked how happy she was, since she only expected the joint to be half-full for them.

After a short set-change break, the lights went down and the video screens (one large on both side of the stage, two large at the front) lit up and the place went nuts. For some reason, I expected the Who to come out with Endless Wire in its entirety first (I happily avoided seeing any reports of setlists, since the band hasn't altered them at all since the tour started), so when Townshend's crisp guitar blasted out the opening chords to "I Can't Explain", a content smile formed on my face and, although my seats were somewhere in the Horsehead Nebula, I was there. At the show. Seeing The Who. It was fantastic.

Most of the video screens showed the band live and up close so us poor folks in the back could actually be sure that it was Daltrey and Townshend themselves and not some cover band. Below the main screen at the front of the stage was a three-paneled video system which showed various montages all throughout the show. When the set started, these screens showed all old photos of the band...everything from their tongue-in-cheek cover shoot for their "Sell Out" album to pics of them clowning around with Jimi Hendrix. Later, those screens would be visual accompaniment, like a mini-movie, for the newers songs. And as the final notes of "I Can't Explain" rang out, Townshend's powerful riff that begins "The Seeker" exploded, as did the crowd, as a fresh series of pictures dotted the video screens. Chill-inducing.

All business at first, the band (which had Pino Palladino on bass, Zak Starkey...yes, Ringo Starr's kid, on drums, Simon Townshend, Pete's brother, on guitar and vocals and a keyboardist whose name I didn't catch...more on all of them later), was tight beyond belief, giving the fans a few oldies before the first new song of the night, Endless Wire's opening track, "Fragments".

Townshend's playing throughout the night was inspired and ferocious on the rocking songs and gentle and pensive on the acoustic numbers. He played songs that he has played a million times before but did so with an emotion that proved that he was anything but flying on auto-pilot. The new songs seemed fresh, yet still harkened back to an old-style Who sound, and the excitement with which Townshend and, particularly Daltrey, approached them, was wonderful to hear and see.

The "Greatest Hits" fans won out after "Fragments" as the CSI staple, "Who Are You" began to thuderous applause. As worn out as the song is from being used as the theme to one of that friggin' shows seemingly 135 different incarnations, I still couldn't get enough of it. And truth be told, I honestly feel like that single performance of that song on Saturday was one of the best live performances of ANY song by ANY band I have ever seen. They absolutely slayed it.

The mini-opera "Wire and Glass" followed and while the new songs translated so well live, I was very disappointed by the courteous, yet tepid, response the band got when it was over. I realize they aren't playing "The Very Best of the Who" from start to finish here, but fans of the band should be a little more excited to hear some new material for a change, especially when it is executed so perfectly.

That response, or lack thereof, was magnified even more when the band followed a new tune with an old classic.

And while Townshend annouced "Baba O'Reilly" as one of the few songs that he has no emotional attachment to, he slyly joked that the song has become the audience's more than his, but he still held the copyright. Easily, that tune elicited the longest ovation upon its completion than any other.

The rest of the set was an excellent mix of new and old, acoustic and heavy rock. The pummelling riff of "Eminence Front" was wonderfully offset by "A Man in a Purple Dress", which found only Daltrey and Townshend on stage. Pete, delicately playing acoustic guitar, while Roger was singing his heart out.

The band itself was extremely solid. Starkey's drumming, while not quite as herculean as Moon's, definitely was impressive (especially during the drum fills of "Won't Get Fooled Again"), all while Simon Townshend held down "Best Supporting Player" honors by helping to fill out Townshend's guitar solos with tasteful rhythm and also by bailing out Daltrey on some of the more challenging vocal parts with pitch-perfect vocal harmonies.

And the man with some big shoes to fill, Palladino, played some truly jaw-dropping basslines, particularly in the intro to "You Better You Bet". Pino was an absolute beast, and in regards to the new songs, the biggest compliment I can bestow on Palladino is that he played basslines that I could easily have heard Entwistle play if he recorded the disc.

Daltrey and Townshend seemed to have great chemistry on stage and it appeared that the emotional nature of the new material brough them closer. They earnestly expressed their thanks to the crowd, and when Daltrey announced that he has been working with a genius his entire career, the crowd erupted, not only in agreement, but also in admiration of Daltrey and his own particular genius as well.

"Won't Get Fooled Again" closed the main set and while the encore break was brief, the encore itself was a little disappointing as it contained only songs from the band's groundbreaking 1969 rock opera, "Tommy". But as "Listening to You" faded out, the rest of the band left the stage while Daltrey and Townshend stayed on for one final number, the beautifully acoustic "Tea and Theatre" from Endless Wire. Strange for such a loud band to go out with such a soft song, but the Who was never about doing what was expected. A hug between Townshend and Daltrey closed the set to a deafening ovation.

And thus ended what was, in my opinion, a near-perfect show. The only slight downers were the seizure-enducing light show all through "Baba O'Reilly" (I'm still seeing spots when I close my eyes) and the complete lack of any tunes from one of my favorite Who albums, Quadrophenia (come on! You couldn't throw in "Love Reign O'er Me" or "The Real Me"?!?!). But all in all, I was fine with the setlist and absolutely ecstatic with the energy of their performance. And on top of it all, I can saw I got to see the fucking Who.

Some may call these guys dinosaurs and there might be some truth to that. But there is one big difference. The dinosaurs didn't survive the Big Bang. Meanwhile, the Who created their own.

The setlist:

• "I Can't Explain"
• "The Seeker"
• "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere"
• "Fragments"
• "Who Are You"
• "Behind Blue Eyes"
• "Wire and Glass" (a. "Sound Round", b. "Pick Up The Peace", c. "Endless Wire", d. "We Got A Hit", e. "They Made My Dream Come True", f. "Mirror Door")
• "Baba O'Reilly"
• "Eminence Front"
• "A Man in a Purple Dress"
• "Black Widow's Eyes"
• "Mike Post Theme"
• "You Better You Bet"
• "My Generation"
• "Cry If You Want"
• "Won't Get Fooled Again"

encore:

• "Pinball Wizard"
• "Amazing Journey"
• "Sparks"
• "See Me, Feel Me"/"Listening To You"
• "Tea and Theatre"