Despite the appalling weather
on the final leg of Saturday night, thousands of excited revelers went ga ga
as the heavens opened when The Who took to the stage at 9pm.
Greeted like long-lost heroes, lean looking Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey (right)
beamed with delight at playing the inaugural Knowsley Hall Music Festival.
After Daltrey’s sip of refreshment (tea, methinks), the band launched into
their near two hour set with their first top ten hit in 1965, I Can’t Explain,
which kick started the rain drenched party.
Soaking wet and undeterred, fans threw themselves into the spirit of the
occasion with lumi-sticks flying all over the place. From the off, Townsend
and Daltrey did their customary pouting and strutting: Pete gave them his
trademark windmill enough times to keep them all happy, while drummer Zak
Starkey (Ringo’s son who turned down the chance of being a full-time member
last year), Pete’s brother Simon on guitar, former Free keyboardist John
‘Rabbit’ Bundrick and bassist Pino Palladino kept things nice and tight at
the back.
The Seeker and Anyway Anyhow Anywhere they went for
Fragments from last album Endless Wire, which was well received.
"Good evening. Thank you for coming. It’s good to be here. I think it’s
better than Glastonbury", Townsend said about the weather. The atmosphere
kicked up an extra gear when Daltrey asked the crowd, "Who are you?... Who,
who, who are you?", as the band threw themselves into the 1978 hit with
archive footage running on the screens behind them.
Good Looking Boy was introduced with Daltrey saying, "This is who
got me into this: Elvis." as a huge black and white image of the King
hung above the band. Barbara Riley upped the lighting effects. Daltrey hit
the harmonica. Townsend did the posturing. Then from 1973 we got a thumping
Relay.
The crowd certainly enjoyed the show.
Dipping once again into Endless Wire, Man In A Purple Dress, Townsend’s
song influenced by Mel Gibson’s The Passion Of The Christ lowered the
din, just for a while. With the arrival of My Generation (a seriously
extended and most welcomed version), and the booze sinking freely, mud madness
broke out in the guest area stage left: dives, somersaults, rugby tackles
aplenty.
"Why don’t you all f-f-f-f-fade away", helped by the crowd at fever
pitch, never sounded so brilliant. The harder the band played, the more the
fans went for it. The biggest cheer of the night rang out for the intro of
a magnificent version of Won’t Get Fooled Again while Daltrey slow
marched alone with mic aloft, before he embarked on bouts of mic swinging
with the reinforced white strapping taking the strain.
Mimicking Townsend (right), air-guitarists could be seen everywhere with multiple
rotating images flanking the entire band. Main set done, our Pete thanked
them for staying with them as the rain finally stopped. A quick band bow
prefixed The Kids Are Alright, which seemed appropriate.
With Tommy images on show, rapid strumming signaled a full-length Pinball
Wizard. Zak was pounding harder than ever. Rog went for a twin tambourine
bashing routine while Pete indulged in some exhilarating solos. Closing the
20-song set (6 in the encore) it was just the magnificent pair for the genteel
T And Theater with Daltrey still clinging to his cuppa. So far The
Who’s 2006-2007 tour has apparently grossed $28m, proving who’s better, who’s
best right now!
A long-shot of the main stage.
The Coral - The Invisible Invasion:
Relative local boys The Coral (right) a six-piece from the Wirral once again
showed why they’re in a league of their own. Their often idiosyncratic music
was a breath of fresh air. Their 14-song set went without a hitch, until one
song towards the set end, In The Rain, seemed to summon the rain gods,
as light drops descended.
New single Who’s Gonna Find Me a chunky funky slice of modern pop with
gorgeous harmonies was aired to great response. Further in Pass It On
(from forthcoming album) was a more straight forward and foot-tapping pop
ditty that got the crowd going. Feedback, thumping bass and tribal drums
opened sing-along Remember Me. Dreaming Of You went well too, as did
hit single In The Morning and I Remember When with its soaring
harmonies.
The Maybes on the MySpace stage.
The View - Hats Off To The Buskers:
Belting out songs from hit album Hats Off To The Buskers, Dundee’s
overrated but popular The View (right) lead by tousled hair frontman Kyle
Falconer romped through Superstar Tradesman, Same Jeans and plenty more.
Fans, clearly pleased to see and hear the Scottish quartet cheered after every
song, though much of their music left me cold, despite knowing how to play to
the crowd.
They’re very competent musicians, but this band has a long way to go to prove
they’re worthy of the current accolades. They were however, perfect fodder
for this type of event.
NOTE: To purchase a copy of The Who’s performance at Knowsley, log on to
themusic.com
and click link The Who 2007.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Dipping once again into Endless Wire, Man In A Purple Dress, Townsend’s
song influenced by Mel Gibson’s The Passion Of The Christ lowered the
din, just for a while. With the arrival of My Generation (a seriously
extended and most welcomed version), and the booze sinking freely, mud madness
broke out in the guest area stage left: dives, somersaults, rugby tackles
aplenty.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.