Rock Survivors

The Who shows it still has a talent for thriving after decades in music world

Concert review

The Who Saturday, Aug. 19, The Gorge

By Heather Lalley

Staff writer

It would be easy to write off The Who as just another dinosaur-rock revival. The band released its first album 35 years ago, for goodness’ sake, and hasn’t put out any new material since 1982.

But after 2½ blistering hours of their greatest hits Saturday at The Gorge, the guys proved their brand of rock ’n’ roll is far from extinct. Roger Daltrey’s throaty vocals are still strong and emotion-packed (and he can still twirl a mike with lounge-singer abandon). Pete Townshend still plays guitar like a man possessed, with wild, windmill strums and amazing fingerwork.

And John Entwistle continues to quietly impress with his masterful control of the bass. On this tour, the trio is joined by keyboard player John “Rabbit” Bundrick and drummer Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr’s son), who looked very Beatles-esque with his mop-top and his Nehru-style shirt.

Backed by a glowing, egg crate-like set, The Who kicked off the show with “I Can’t Explain,” one of the first songs Townshend ever wrote back when the boys still called themselves The High Numbers.

“This is a really lovely venue,” Townshend deadpanned after playing “Substitute.” “It’ll be lovely when they’ve finished it . . . a proper highway in here, a place to land my helicopter.”

That was the first of many quirky bits of stage patter Townshend shared Saturday, most of them unprintable in a family newspaper. At one point, in his thick British accent, he begged the stagehands for a cup of tea, saying “We might not make it to the end of the gig” if one doesn’t arrive.

We never saw the tea, but Townshend and company certainly had no problem surviving the show. With so many memorable songs in its repertoire, The Who could have played for many more hours.

But the band managed to take an appreciative, multigenerational audience on a fine tour of its career.

Daltrey, boyish despite his years, with curly hair and unbuttoned shirt, took out his harmonica for the bluesy, honky-tonk “I Don’t Even Know Myself.” Entwistle claimed attention on “My Wife.”

Townshend played mesmerizing solos during just about every number. It’s amazing that so much sound could come from just one guy and six strings.

The band members’ familiarity with each other and the songs allowed them to take relaxed, extended approaches to many of their hits. They wowed the crowd with “Baba O’Riley,” “Pinball Wizard,” “Who Are You,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “You Better You Bet.”

They jammed during “Magic Bus,” sharing the limelight and taking time to joke like old friends,

which, Townshend says, after all these years of ups and downs, is what they’ve finally become.

With their arms around each other, the trio left the stage before returning for an encore of “The Kids Are All Right” and, of course, “My Generation,” proving that their tunes are just as timeless and their chops just as well-oiled today as they were a generation ago.

Another group of guys from London opened the show. UnAmerican played 45 minutes of sturdy, reliable rock, though the band’s liberal copping of sounds from R.E.M. and Nirvana (with a Neil Young cover thrown in) made it sound unmistakably American.

■ Heather Lalley can be reached at (509) 459-5089 or by e-mail at heatherl@spokesman.com.

[Photo caption:] Roger Daltrey, lead singer for The Who, performs with the group June 29 in Burgettstown, Pa., near Pittsburgh, early in the band’s U.S. tour that included The Gorge on Saturday.

File/Associated Press