Featured Live Music Artist of the Week - The Who / Quadrophenia

A definite Throw-Back-Thursday moment here - going back almost 2 - yes 2 - decades!!

The Who performs Quadrophenia
United Center, Chicago
1996

My friends tease me about this, as the concert itself was about 2 hours long, but I can tell the story of the concert for 4 hours..........or more.  So, I am going to attempt to give you the Internet Digest version, as nobody wants to read this blog for 4 hours!

Some of you may know the story behind The Who and the original tour of Quadrophenia in the States.  The tour was so poorly received by the audience, that after just 2 shows, Pete Townshend shut the tour down and they went back to just playing a greatest hits tour.  He swore he'd never play Quadrophenia live again.

And he kept that promise, until 1996.  Now, sadly, in 1996 Keith "The Loon" Moon had long since passed away - as so many good drummers seem to do.  So, Keith was not with them - physically at least - but boy was he there in spirit!!  And I think his spirit manifested itself in one Zak Starkey who was ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL on the skins!!!!  PHE-NO-ME-NAL!!!!   And, folks, that is an UNDERSTATEMENT.  Never mind the fact that Zak Starkey was taught by one of the greatest drummers of all time - his dad Ringo Starr.  Zak was killing those drums like only Keith Moon could. I really thought the drums were just going to explode at any given moment!  I kid you not!

Now, what else did this show have besides Zak Starkey on drums?  Well let's see :

It had a lady in a percussion box - literally a cube of every percussion instrument available.  This lady can only be described as a human ball of energy.  I don't think she EVER stopped spinning and pounding the entire evening - EVER.  She was hitting some percussion item with a stick or her hands at ALL TIMES - ALL NIGHT!!!  The energizer bunny in a box!

It had a 6-piece string ensemble.  Yep - a 6-piece string ensemble right on stage!  Dressed in tuxedos - of course!

It had a 6-piece horn section.  Yep - a 6-piece horn section right there on stage!

It had Pete Townshend's brother, Simon Townshend, on acoustic guitar!  Yep - 2 Townshend musicians for the price of one!  (Oh speaking of price - $50.00 main floor - 7 rows away from Pete Townshend himself!)

It had Pete Townshend, THE guitarist extraordinaire - THE compose extraordinaire.  I still contend that if Quadrophenia was written in the times of Mozart, kids would be studying it in music class from grade school through university!!!  (see how I said university, like in England, instead of college)

It had The Ox - John Entwhistle - standing tall and kicking out bass riffs like NOBODY ELSE CAN!!  You could FEEL the bass - in every song - all the way through your bones - and through your soul itself!!  The Ox standing tall and calm - and playing riffs that would blow anybody's mind!

It had Roger Daltrey - the epitome of "front man" - the "front man" of all "front men" - the "front man" that "front men" wish to be!!  Right there - FRONT AND CENTER!!!  And, of course, without a doubt - the spiraling every swinging microphone on a cord!!!!

It has MULTI-MEDIA!!!  It had a movie on a 20 hundred by 10 hundred foot movie screen behind the band! (ok, I might have exaggerated a little on the size).  The movie screen that played clips throughout the show!

It had "suspension of disbelief" as anybody and everybody in the audience truly - 100% truly - believed that Roger WAS Jimmy.  This wasn't Roger singing the songs of Jimmy.  This was Jimmy living it out - the bad and the good - in front of 20,000 people!!!  Roger? Roger Who?  This was Jimmy through and through!!!

And I can't even begin to explain the sheer talent on that stage - the musicianship - the vocals. It was SPOT ON PERFECT from "I Am The Sea" all the way to "Love, Reign O'er Me" - NON-STOP PERFECTION!!

This was the VERY DEFINITION of a ROCK OPERA.  Not just a cliche little word or phrase - this WAS a LIVE Rock Opera.  The band was "in character" the entire time.  Roger never spoke to the audience as Roger.  Though Jimmy spoke to us - in word and song.  Pete never talked.  This was a true live PERFORMANCE worthy of Broadway and beyond!!

Oh yeah, and there were guests too - Gary Glitter as one of Jimmy's personalities - and Billy Idol as the "Bellboy" or "The Ace Face".  Gary and Billy were also 100% in character, never once acknowledging the audience or taking accolades.  Billy delivered the luggage just as The Bellboy would, right to the feet or Roger (err, Jimmy).  Jimmy disdained Ace Face so much for being the Bellboy he even kicked his butt (literally as he walked away) and spit at him.  This was no concert - this was a performance!!!!!!

Maybe for a brief second, I thought, "Hey that's The Who" - because I was mostly watching Jimmy struggle with his Quadrophenia!

Let me leave you with this -

It was a cold and rainy October night - Halloween to be exact
The audience could hear thunder
was it outside - wait, is it inside
The stadium darkened - the thunder grew louder
Suddenly
Lightning bolts across the sky (but wait, I thought I was inside??)
Moe lightning - then subsiding
Waves, waves
Waves crashing on the beach, quietly
then louder
then
600,000 JIGAWATS of pure white spotlight from the stage
SIMULTANEOUS
with the big first bass note of The Real Me
and only yards away....................

Jimmy standing - alone - front and center