Pete's the Talk of the Town

HYPER-VERBALISM: Pete Townshend at the Beacon Theater SUSAN WATTS

By Jim Farber

Daily News Staff Writer

Pete Townshend did a lot of talking at his Beacon Theater show Tuesday. Between every number, he got incredibly chatty, telling us things like the best song he ever wrote, songs he wrote that he hates, numbers he recorded with The Who that really should have been solo numbers. Was this a concert or an interview?

Both, as it turned out, and maybe something of a shrink session, too. For Townshend, the road show—his first ever without The Who—clearly represents a coming clean, an event to free him from three decades' worth of mythical baggage, so that he—the auteur—could greet his audience head-on.

Luckily for him, the Beacon crowd was dominated by long-time Townshend scholars, a crowd dedicated enough to savor his indulgences as well as his triumphs—a balance that's key to understanding him.

CERTAINLY, PLENTY OF TIME was devoted to both poles this night. During the fascinating two-hour-and-45-minute extravaganza, Townshend sandwiched all of his new "Psychederelic" album between two sections comprised of smart selections from throughout his career. The result was not unlike finding an especially yucky filling in a yummy chocolate candy.

Not that his "Psycho" center was entirely gag-inducing. Musically, Townshend's new work represents his most involving material since 1980's "Empty Glass." But he has hacked the work to pieces with spoken-word sections to construct an incoherent radio play—an idea he had the chance to ditch live.

Instead he made matters worse, by not only hiring a trio of actors to yammer between numbers but packing a giant video screen with information, all of which only made his convoluted story line that much more baffling.

THEN AGAIN, SUCH HYPER verbalism plays into Townshend's obsession with communication, not to mention his need—evident since "Tommy"—to challenge rock's narrative form.

But for every maddening passage this night, there was a divine one. Like: an acoustic version of "I'm One," rousing takes on "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "You Better, You Bet," plus great numbers from his solo career, like 1971's "Let's See Action," '76's "Heart to Hang on To," and 1980's "A Little Is Enough" (his self-proclaimed best number). A versatile nine-member band enlivened them all.

REVIEW

The group was also versatile that it could play wildly different sets at Townshend's two N.Y. shows this week. That served to underscore Pete's love of spontaneity. On Tuesday, Townshend even seemed to take pleasure in his technical problems. The result erased the line between the personal and the professional, reemphasizing Townshend as one of pop's most human stars.