‘New’ Who gives
jolt to ‘Tommy’

DyJonPu'elu
N.Y.TmesNewsSorvioe

EW YORK —— Twenty years

after it was written, the

Who’s rock opera “Tom-

my" still had its rock ‘n’ roll kick

when a reunited. reconstituted Who

performed it Tuesday at Radio City
Music Hall.

It was part of the band's 25th

anniversary tour. its first since a

supposed farewell tour in 1982.

At Radio City. the Who's old
excesses were replaced by l9805
professionalism. The band mem-
bets didn‘t smash their instruments,
astheydidinthe’605,andthe
volume was loud but not brutal.

Instead. the Who had tightly
plotted arrangements, video screens
alongside the stage and a slide-and-
Film show to go with “Tommy."

The most old-fashioned touch
was that Roger Daltxey didn’t sing
into a wireless microphone. Like
rockersofyore,heusedacordso
he could swing the microphone
over his shoulder and overhead. He
also wore out half a dozen tam-
bourines. slamming pain of them
together.

Playing “Tommy" on stage (and
for a live national radio broadcast).
guitarist and songwriter Pete
Townshend didn‘t — as he wrote in
“Won't Get Fooled Again" ——
“Pick up my guitar and play, just
like yesterday.“

With three original members
of the band —— Daltiey. Townshend
and bassist John Entwistle
joined by 12 additional musicians,
the band didn‘t re-create the I969
album. The assembled forces per-
formed “Tommy" to live up to its
aura of nostalgia and familiarity.
beefed up and a little more grandi-
ose

Anticipation had swirled around
the concert. one of only two full
performances of “Tommy." The
other is to be Aug. 24 at the Uni-
versal Amphitheater in Los An-

geles.

Because the “Tommy" shows
are benefits for the Nordoff-Rob—
bins Music Therapy Foundation
(for autistic children. like the
Opera's eponymous Tommy

Concert Review

Walker). the Roll and Roll Hall of
Fame and other charities. ticket
prices for Tuesday‘s show ranged
from $75 to $1.000.

A spokesman said the concert
raised more than $1 million.

Townshend had been busy lower-
ing expectations, spin-doeton'ng the
tour. He announced that. because
of ear trouble, he would play
acoustic rather than electric guitar.
so an additional guitarist would de-
liver the power chords that put the
Who into rock history.

The group also included a new
drummer. Simon Phillips. in place
of the Who’s original drummer.
Keith Moon (who died in I978).
along with additional keyboards.
singers, homs and percussion.

In a Rolling Stone magazine
interview. Townshend described
the tour as not the Who. but a
group of session musicians playing
the Who‘s music.

Townshend. 44, also said he
wouldn‘t be doing his trademark
windmill motions as he played
guitar because they hurt his hands.

But. while Townshend only
wielded an electric guitar after
“Tommy" was over. during an
hourlong set of Who hits. he still
windmilled. leaped and
duckwalked in fine rockstar style.

"Tommy." two decades later. is
a touching l9605 artifact.

It tells the story of a boy who is
traumatized as a child and becomes
“.deaf dumb and blind." living in
a private world. abused by his rela-
tives. but somehow becoming a
master pinball player.

When he regains his senses. he
starts a totalitarian “holiday
camp,” pmmising enlightenment
through sensory deprivation and
pinball. but the unhappy campers
rebel.

Many ‘60s themes -— among
them distrust of adults, escape from
unhappy reality, a longing for rev-
elation and rebellion against brute
authority — turn up in “Tommy.“

r,

.

Peter Townshend is playing aoousticguntar

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“Tommy" at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

the instrumental “Sparks."

While band members sing all
the words. the opera uses about a
dozen characters and takes its nar-
rative duty sen'ously. mixing a few
full-Iength songs with many frag-
ments.

And it tells its tale with relative
economy. 74 minutes on the album
and only an hour (minus two selec-
tions. "Undenure" and “Wel-
come") onstage.

Although the large group was
sometimes unwieldy and over-an-
ranged. for most of “Tommy" it
added punch in the right places —
slicker than the original recording
but less hokey than an all-star Ken
Russell film soundtrack from l '75.

The I989 ”Tommy" included a
few anachronisms. like a syn-
thesizer solo in “Amazing
loumey" and a new backbeat on
“The Hawker." Entwistle‘s two
featured vocals revealed a long—
gone voice.

The Opera‘s hit single, “Pinball
Wizard." had needless horns weak-
ening its power chords, and Entwis-
tle slipped in a bass line from the
Beatles’ “Daytripper.”

But both Daltrey and Townshend

nearly as thundemusly as Moon
might have, and. when the guitars
could ring out cleanly — which
was often the music still
sounded fresh.

The audience cheered every
familiar chord change and sang
along on the Opera's anthems.

After ”Tommy." the new ver-
sions of the band's hits sounded
stiff at first, with too many instru-
ments replacing the original Who
quartet in “Can't Explain" and
“Substitute."

From there. the second pan of
the show was uneven, from a nadir
of a new song by Townshend. “A
Friend Is a Friend" (with taped
backup) to peaks with “Behind
Blue Eyes." “You Better You
Bet," Entwistle’s “My Wife." 80
Diddley‘s “I‘m a Man" — with a
slashing. long-awaited guitar solo
by Townshend —— and “Won’t Get
Fooled Again."

The members of the Who aren't
pretending to be youngsters any
more — the band didn‘t even play
”My Generation" — and its music
would be better if it were leaner.

. But between the crowd's adora-
tion. the songs' durability and the
band's honest efforts, the Who has

It even has a psychedelic interlude. sang with fervor, Phillips bashed aged gracefully.