Pop Corner

Who But

‘. The Who
Can Follow
This Act? »

1331

Peter J. Barsocchinl

A couple of Sundays ego,
on December 12,1 went to
see a rock concert, which' 15
not particularly perverse
behavior rs: any given Sun-
day. But sinCo the concert, 8.
question-has been floating
about» in-my mind which is

rather disturbing to 111e, .

especially since I’m a pop
music critic, so to speak:

The question, simply put,
amounts to this: Can I ever
attend another rock concert?

And if I do, won’t it only be a -

letdown?

What, you mightask,k1nd
of rock concert was it that I
saw on December 12 which
would cause such curious
speculation?

Well,'I went to see The
Who. ‘

For some, those who know

TheWho inside and out, juet-

mentioning attendance nt-n
Who concert would end curi-
osity about my questions.
For others, those unfortun-
ing 'on your stance] who

have yet to see The Who per--
form, the question might

require explanation. I am

still trying to explain it to
myself;

First of all, The Who is no
ordinary rock band; saying
so would be akin to saying a
paper airplane 13 the same
as an Apollo rocket just be-
cause they both fly. That
much I know for sure.

But The Who, I now am
beginningtobelievemrenot

'-only an extraordinary rock

band, they are the rock
band. N at so ' much be-
cause they are coainically
talented, or any other Age of
Aquarias reason, but rather
because they seem to know-_
ingly reach into the helm:

lone depths of the pulsating,

pri‘rhallymoving,pmfo1mdly
pervasive POWER which 13
the core bf the rock experi-

ence, and say to the audi-
once: “We know what you

wantsohere ibis in alarger-

dose than you can swallow,
you wanted’ it so nowHERE
IT IS! ’ Or something like
that.

They seem to exhaust all'

possibilities for rock music.
‘ The .Who rampaged 'for

The Who in octioh: levitation by ToWnshend with Deitr

two hours at Civic Audito-
rium in San Francisco before

eight thousand almost maso-
chistic fans. People stood on
their chairs,_ yelled at the

hip of lungs did everything

‘ they could to absorb as much

as possible of The Who expe-

' ricnce. (11.9111 my ears alot).

And those fans paid for
their pleasur (2,1106 only 111
currency. You see The Who
play rock music at a sound
level which reaches the ab-
surd, aural passages suffer
at the handé of Pete Town-
shend‘s Hi-Watt amps. Ears
ring for days after a Who
concert. But people love ii,
forbetteror worse.

Sound is only one of the
rock music extremes which
The Who convey. Energy is
another. Whereas Duke El-

lington may Vsit funkily

plunking av‘vay at his key—
boards, Pete Townshend
bolts, leaps, and thrashes

‘ about the stage' 111 a frenzy of

frollcing madness. swinging
his feet to kick mikes off the
stage, leaping in the air to
land on his knees.

the extreme.

He knows how a rack star ~

should act, and he does it to
(Of course,
Townshemi realizes the cer-
tain degree of silliness
which such goings onentail.
and he makes jokes about it
on stage. But that doesn’t
stop him from doing it. YOU
WANT IT, YOU GET IT
Townshend s acrobatics
are challenged by those of
the drummen Keith Moon,

‘Who looks like a chunk pir-

ate on a mad binge 'as he
pounds the skins which sur-

- round him, smiling sinistcl-

] y all the while.

Lead singer Roger Daltrey
was rather fired on the 12th
and didn’t perform to his
usual capacity. Which
leaves us only with the ex-
pressianless,
bassman, John Entwhistle,
Who is like art anchor I‘ or the
rest of the band.

The Who blasted, literal-
ly. through old rockers. new
rockers and through a
Tammy medley that ended
with four huge floodlights
being turned on towards the

. unmoving‘

y and Moon. I

audience, blinding them —-
one more sense of being
overwhelmed; . ‘
In‘short, the concert was

dreamlike in its staggering
totalities — the loudest
music, the brightest lights.
thek acrobatics, the fineet.

And after the show the
rack experience seemed
somehow completely 01mm:
mated to me. Done. And that
leaves-me with the question:
Who can top it?

Indeed.WHO?

. .

Merry Christmas Give
away From IPopCorner to ‘_
Who Fans: Yes, Who fans! I
have something for you.
The first three people to
write me me of The Times
Will receive in order I re‘
ceive your requests 1.) a
Who shoulder patch worn by
(gasp!) Who stage crew
members. 2) a Who button;
3) a Who sticker. All gifts
are compliments of Micheal
ShermanofMCAReoords. If
unclaimed I will immediate-
ly send them tothe White
House, so write quickly.