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Blog Entry 14 of 83 Jan24-07TRN MWilson YourHub.com column

This column is published each Wednesday in the YourHub.com section of the Wichita Falls Times Record News, written by Senior Copy Editor and YourHub.com Editorial Administrator Mark Wilson.

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The Who concert in OK City

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Contributed by: YourHub.com on 3/26/2007

My worries over Roger Daltrey's voice being shot because of his recent bout with bronchitis (and flu, as he told us in the audience Friday night at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City) - and having to have an IV drip in the hospital - were swept away as he sailed through a 2-hour set with old bandmate Pete Townshend, whose guitar work sounded more like he was polished 21-year-old wizardinstead of the 61-year old he is.
The only minor "complaint" I could come up with is that most of the time Daltrey's voice didn't seem loud enough amid the thunder of the drums and guitars. But that's OK. If I could sing that well at age 63, that would be nice - especially since I can't sing at all now.
The opening band, Rose Hill Drive, is a relatively new band of long-haired skinny kids from Colorado that seems to have plenty of musical talent but needs some help writing songs. That is my biggest complaint with nearly all bands of the past 15 years or so; they often have incredible talent, but no clue how to write a song with a decent hook or a melody. I'd say Rose Hill Drive looked like Hanson and played like Zeppelin.
Daltrey still swings a mean microphone. He looked like it almost got out of control with it a couple of times, but luckily he didn't conk himself in the head and have to be taken to a hospital again.
I fell in love with two Who songs in the early 1970s -- "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Join Together." I think I would rate both among the top 50 or so best rock songs ever. "Won't Get Fooled Again" is another fantastic piece of work, but somehow I didn't appreciate it that much when it came out years ago. The Who apparently does not play "Join Together" live, and I doubt Daltrey's voice could withstand it considering the problem he had recently with the three postponed/canceled dates.
But the set list was plenty good and satisfying, with "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Won't Get Fooled" supported by "Baba O'Riley," "My Generation," "Eminence Front," "Pinball Wizard" and other parts of "Tommy," etc. Most of the songs have such history behind them, and combined with the feeling of looking at them on stage and thinking -- goodness, I'm really here watching The Who (or at least the half that's still alive, anyway; that would be the other regret, that I never saw them in the 70s when Keith Moon was still kicking. I think he's the second-best rock drummer ever, behind John Bonham of Led Zeppelin) in person.
I just happend to sit next to the World's Biggest Who Fan, who had driven to Little Rock, Ark. the night before for that Who concert, returned home Friday for the Who in OK City, and vowed that he would be going all the way down to San Antonio when the group sets a make-up date there. He seemed nice enough, and had lots of interesting things to say about The Who before the concert began, but seemed like he was doing an imitation of that Chris Farley character on Saturday Night Live years ago when Paul McCartney was on there and he just gushed and gushed about how great he was... As each song began, despite the thunderous noise coming from the stage, he would laugh maniacally -- to show everyone that he recognized the song, I presume -- that I could easily hear him over the music even though he was two seats over from me, on my right as I looked to my left toward the stage. It got a little annoying. I felt like nodding and yelling to him, "Yeah, we've all heard this song before, too." The other guy, sitting between us, joined in with Mr. Laughs-a-lot to actually SING very loudly along with several of the songs, which also proved extremely annoying. I bought my $75 ticket, plus about $70 in service fees, to listen to perhaps the greatest rock band ever, and I can't hear the music because of these two out-of-control dolts suffering from arrested development.
But other than that, a grand time was had by all. Oh, and some girl spilled her beer on the guy in the middle. He thought it was an accident, but I suspect otherwise.
By the way, I'd love to see everyone on YourHub write about your own adventures in concert-going.
--Mark Wilson

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