The Who - Tommy and Quadrophenia Live
Part One
When it comes to the classic bands that got their start in the '60s, you'll often find people divided into camps. There's the people who see The Beatles as the standard bearers, and you also have those who take the part of The Rolling Stones. Led Zeppelin even has the attention of the harder rock fans. For me, though, it was always The Who, which meant that I was excited to see a new 3-DVD set of some of their concert performances released earlier this month.
Disc one is a live performance of the rock opera Tommy, which originally came to life in album form and then saw subsequent adaptation as both a movie (featuring the members of The Who) and a Broadway musical. It was the first such conceptual project ever specifically billed as a rock opera, and was primarily composed by bassist Pete Townshend. The story is a fictional biography of one Tommy Walker, whose witnessing of a murder at his father's hands causes him to retreat into self-imposed deafness, muteness and blindness. His parents try to find a cure for him, but matters only become worse for Tommy as he is abused both physically and sexually by extended family members. He responds to pinball and masters the game. Ultimately, Tommy is cured, at which point he comes to view himself as a messiah figure. He tries to lead his followers to enlightenment, but his heavy-handed methods and some exploitation from family members cause them to revolt.
The performance, which took place during The Who's 1989 tour, is raucous and full of life. A number of guest stars are on hand to make the show even more impressive, including Patti LaBelle, Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Steve Winwood and of course, Elton John. Collins in particular takes up his role of Uncle Ernie with a glee and aplomb that borders on almost creepy (but that's pretty appropriate given the character's iniquity). Billy Idol is also ridiculously fun.
As for the three main performers from The Who, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, they're energetic and obviously having a blast. That enthusiasm is infectious as you view the DVD, too. One item of note that might bother some purists is the fact that Townshend does most of his playing on acoustic guitar (which was likely due to hearing loss issues that had come to the forefront in that time frame). I'm always a rather big fan of acoustic, anyway, so it didn't bother me.
I'll take a look at the Quadrophenia disc tomorrow, and follow up with a review of the third disc, a combination of three different tours, on Wednesday. I'll go ahead and say upfront that I enjoyed the third disc so much that I had it playing just as background while I did other work for several days in a row.
Part One
When it comes to the classic bands that got their start in the '60s, you'll often find people divided into camps. There's the people who see The Beatles as the standard bearers, and you also have those who take the part of The Rolling Stones. Led Zeppelin even has the attention of the harder rock fans. For me, though, it was always The Who, which meant that I was excited to see a new 3-DVD set of some of their concert performances released earlier this month.
Disc one is a live performance of the rock opera Tommy, which originally came to life in album form and then saw subsequent adaptation as both a movie (featuring the members of The Who) and a Broadway musical. It was the first such conceptual project ever specifically billed as a rock opera, and was primarily composed by bassist Pete Townshend. The story is a fictional biography of one Tommy Walker, whose witnessing of a murder at his father's hands causes him to retreat into self-imposed deafness, muteness and blindness. His parents try to find a cure for him, but matters only become worse for Tommy as he is abused both physically and sexually by extended family members. He responds to pinball and masters the game. Ultimately, Tommy is cured, at which point he comes to view himself as a messiah figure. He tries to lead his followers to enlightenment, but his heavy-handed methods and some exploitation from family members cause them to revolt.
The performance, which took place during The Who's 1989 tour, is raucous and full of life. A number of guest stars are on hand to make the show even more impressive, including Patti LaBelle, Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Steve Winwood and of course, Elton John. Collins in particular takes up his role of Uncle Ernie with a glee and aplomb that borders on almost creepy (but that's pretty appropriate given the character's iniquity). Billy Idol is also ridiculously fun.
As for the three main performers from The Who, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, they're energetic and obviously having a blast. That enthusiasm is infectious as you view the DVD, too. One item of note that might bother some purists is the fact that Townshend does most of his playing on acoustic guitar (which was likely due to hearing loss issues that had come to the forefront in that time frame). I'm always a rather big fan of acoustic, anyway, so it didn't bother me.
I'll take a look at the Quadrophenia disc tomorrow, and follow up with a review of the third disc, a combination of three different tours, on Wednesday. I'll go ahead and say upfront that I enjoyed the third disc so much that I had it playing just as background while I did other work for several days in a row.
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