Time takes its toll on the Who

As it turned out, the Who’s concert Tuesday night wasn’t a patch on either of the band’s last two Toronto performances: neither its emotional “Farewell” concert in 1982, nor its 25th anniversary effort in 1989.

This show was more like part of a “One More Kick at The Can” tour, performed by a gaggle of about 15 performers, among whom one could occasionally spot Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle.

For the record, Entwistle has evolved into a sort of aging British country squire with his grey hair and beard. Daltrey looks terrific — fit, tan and ageless. As for Townshend, the less said the better, although a few sessions at the Hair Club for Men might well benefit the rocker who once ruminated that dying would be better than getting old.

But if Father Time has messed with the packages, the playing is still magical. Daltrey’s voice is as strong as ever, Entwistle’s bass playing skillful and supple, and Townshend’s guitar work a heady reminder of exactly why he can be considered one of the legitimate godfathers of heavy metal. The predominant problem with this eagerly anticipated performance was more what was played than how.

Almost 90 per cent of this concert was given over to a complete performance of the band’s 1973 rock opera

POP REVIEW

THE WHO

Reviewed by Alan Niester

Quadrophenia. Although a film based on the work was made in 1979, the band originally performed it on only a handful of occasions. For some reason, the Who now feels the need to make up for lost time. Make no mistake — the reviews in the early seventies were absolutely correct. While Quadrophenia has a few interesting highlights, (5:15 and Love, Reign O’er Me in particular) it is by and large an inferior work to the band’s first full rock opera Tommy. Quadrophenia is a lengthy and complex work based largely on Townshend’s remembrances of the clashes between rival gangs called Mods and Rockers in England in the early sixties. It’s a work that hasn’t gained much of a lustre with the passage of time.

The staging was certainly massive. On a huge overhead screen, an actor playing the hero Jimmy provided the storyline on film, and veteran rocker P. J. Proby and singer-actor Ben Waters performed stage roles. The whole thing ran almost two hours, which was probably about 90 minutes too much.

What this show could have been was shown in the final half-hour. After much bowing and congratulatory back slapping, the lads returned to perform a few of their better-known non-Quadrophenia songs in a sort of relaxed, the-pressure-is-off setting, and these were the finest moments of the evening.

Won’t Get Fooled Again was reborn as acoustic folk rock, with Townshend adding Spanish-style guitar to Daltrey’s urgent vocals. Behind Blue Eyes was a campfire acoustic singalong for 12,000 that blossomed into a full-band extravaganza. Substitute was nifty nostalgia, and Who Are You (an ironic choice given the number of people crowding the stage) a sonic crush.

Interesting reworkings all, and a too-tempting hint at what this evening could have been.