I've been in New York for several days, but made it back to Detroit in time to catch the first show of the tour, which is scheduled for tonight. I'll post a setlist when I get home and a few random thoughts tomorrow morning, unless I'm too hungover. I plan on having a few too many Remy Martins in Pete's honour tonight.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-10-21 16:36 by tatters.

Detroit Setlist:

I Can't Explain
The Seeker
Getting In Tune
Fragments
Who Are You
Behind Blue Eyes
Tatoo
Baba O'Riley
Relay
Sister Disco
Mike Post Theme
Eminence Front
5:15
Love Reign O'er Me
My Generation
Won't Get Fooled Again

Magic Bus
Pinball Wizard
Amazing Journey
Sparks
See Me, Feel Me
Tea And Theatre

Hello Tatters,

'Getting In Tune' and 'Tattoo'?
Now that is more like it.

'Sister Disco' isn't,though,heh-heh-heh!

Nevertheless,an encouragingly (slightly different set-list),but where is 'Dreaming From The Waist'?
Yep,The Stones ain't the only band to have set-list whiners sorry,advisors!

Cheers,

Si.

Looks good to me. Thanks, tatters!

I Can't Explain.......or more accurately, I Can't Complain.....at a 22 song setlist - hope someone can post a review of the show.

I can't complain much either with the number of songs, but as someone who's never seen them before, I'm a bit disappointed at some of the songs not played..........hence the warhorse Stones complaints for those of us who have seen them millions of times.........LOL You know one of my favorite Who songs is a Quick One - do they often play that live? It's a long song.

No Bargain, Happy Jack, Pictures of Lily, I Can See For Miles.....

But on the flip side all 3 songs that I wanted to hear were played, so just how much complaining can I really do?! LOL Can't wait to buy the live album!!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-10-22 15:17 by VoodooLounge13.

Fantastic set list! Some real gems and I would love to hear how they went off. How were the harmonies on Tattoo? Whew! That is a winner if they pulled it off! Getting in Tune...was lucky to see them do that one on their tour with the Black Crowes/Page...always my favorite from Who's Next. Their recent versions of Relay are frigging incredible! Long extended jams...did this happen at this show? And so great to see Townshend and Daltry still into Endless Wire, not a throw away excuse to tour but some great vital new music from the TWO. Mike Post Theme is the child of Punk Meets the Godfather, same slicing riffing with Daltry's howling. Great stuff! Was a bit surprised that the encore was the same they were pulling out during the last tour. But it could change...was opening night.

OK, the more I look over the other great songs in their catalog I guess the more depressed I get......also no Join Together, Long Live Rock, Kids Are All Right, Real Me, Man In the Purple Dress, It's Not Enough, and Substitute

The Palace of Auburn Hills normally has a seating capacity of around 21,000, but no seats were sold behind the stage, and the upper level seats at the far end of the arena were also closed off and not for sale, so for this show, the seating capacity was probably around 15,000. It was not a sell out.

Pete, as usual, told the story about the Who playing to a crowd of 250 people, the smallest-ever US show, at a club in Ann Arbor in 1967. He also mentioned the legendary Southfield High School Gymnasium show from that same year, a show that EVERY Michigan Who fan of a certain age now claims to have attended. He continued to kiss considerable Motown ass by mentioning that important role Detroit played in early Who history, as the first city in America where Who records sold in large amounts and where they received their first heavy radio airplay. "Anyway", he said, "That's why we're here". He also had praise for a Detroit-made 1956 Lincoln Continental which he said was the best car he's ever owned.

Technical difficulties ruined the first three songs. I couldn't tell if the problem was just with Roger's mike or with the entire PA, but at least a dozen times the sound cut out for a split second. They made no mention of this, much less apologize for it. Pete turned up his amp during Getting In Tune, as if trying to overpower the PA gremlins with sheer volume. The sound cut out one more time during Fragments, and after that, it only happened one more time, at the end of Sister Disco, yet during Who Are You, Pete was having some other problem, as he completely stopped playing for about 15 seconds and was instead frantically waving his arms at soundman Bobby Pridden.

It took a long time for me to really get into the music. I think the first time I even applauded was at the end of Baba O'Riley. Relay was where it all came together, one of the few times, along with the jam at the end of Amazing Journey, where they resembled the heavy rock band they once were. Nice and loud. I could feel my drink vibrating in my hand.

Pete played well, but this was the least energetic I have ever seen him. He apologized for his relatively lackluster performance, blaming it on jet lag and lack of sleep. Sitting up high, where I could get a good look at him, I spent most of the night watching Zak. Visually far more interesting than the geriatric, slow-motion movements of Pete and Roger, who looked just like a couple of old guys doing tai chi in the park.

Roger's voice always tends to sound better "in the room", than it does when you go back later on and listen to the soundboard, and he sounded okay for most of the show last night, but by the time he sang See Me, Feel Me his voice was like a death rattle, and I really wondered how he could possibly get through tonight's show in Ontario, much less the rest of the tour.

When he sang Tea And Theatre, in a voice that produced the most grotesquely offensive sounds I've ever heard come out of a concert PA, it made the lyrics seem all the more poignant.

So great are the Who, that even this, the worst Who concert I've ever attended, was still a somewhat enjoyable and ultimately, worthwhile experience.

After the show, I called the on-air DJ at the local classic rock station and talked about the Who for a while. He was doing a "Who concert replay", playing all of the songs the Who played in the order they played them. He needed my help. He asked me which album Tatoo was on. I told him it was on The Who Sell Out. This answer seemed to confuse him. He skipped over Tatoo.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-10-22 15:43 by tatters.

Thanks for the review. I have seen many a show at The Palace:-) And a mixed bag it sounds like. Moments of spark, but they sound tired.... are they selling every live show again on line?

Boy, this doesn't bode well for Boston from the sounds of things.

Quote
whitem8
Thanks for the review. I have seen many a show at The Palace:-) And a mixed bag it sounds like. Moments of spark, but they sound tired.... are they selling every live show again on line?

I don't know. I logged on to themusic.com yesterday, thinking maybe I could pre-order a copy before the show, as I did last year with Genesis, but there was no mention of a 2008 Who Encore series. Maybe they just haven't got it up and running yet.

Quote
SimonN
'Getting In Tune' and 'Tattoo'?
Now that is more like it.

'Sister Disco' isn't,though,heh-heh-heh!

Nevertheless,an encouragingly (slightly different set-list),but where is 'Dreaming From The Waist'?
Yep,The Stones ain't the only band to have set-list whiners sorry,advisors!

Interesting setlist: enough warhorses for the first timers, and a few odd choices for those of us who have seen them a lot. Getting in Tune? Tattoo? Cool. They haven't been big on mixing up the setlist since Entwistle died, however. So my hunch is that this is what we get for this tour.

I suspect that Dreaming from the Waist is permanently retired because the whole reason to play it live was Entwistle's lead bass. As for Bargain, Happy Jack, Pictures of Lily and I Can See for Miles, they haven't played Happy Jack or Pictures of Lily live in decades. Bargain was a regular from 1999 to 2002. I Can See for Miles was a regular in 1979-80. They tried it once in Camden, NJ in 2002, but didn't play it again. Something about it requiring too many harmony parts.

Hi Tatters,

Thank-you for taking the trouble to post your even-handed review.

As you say,there is always some point during a show when it all clicks (and I don't mean bone-issues here) and PT looses himself in the moment.

That is why I continue to turn out for as many shows as I can!

Cheers,

Si.

Quote
VoodooLounge13
Boy, this doesn't bode well for Boston from the sounds of things.

So great are The Who that even on their worst night they are still very impressive to people who have never seen them before. Plus you get the added benefit of Roger having a day off between Ontario and Boston.

I hope I'm not disappointed. Tea And Theatre has become my 3rd favorite Who song - I had completely overlooked it EW, but when I saw them sing it at the Rock Honors, I was so completely moved that I immediately sought it out in my collection and was amazed to find it on there. Of course it sounds nothing like it does live, and that was the main reason why I was looking forward to the live cd release - to have that poignant, gut-wrenching version of it. I do hope they continue with that encore series, but if they have technical glitches, they may not.

Seems great. 9 differents song from the last time I saw them in 2006.

Hope the tour will be longer and do play more gigs in Europe (only two dates in London and it seems like it will be impossible to get tix for those two shows)

BTW, What about the tix prices? Someone here said that they were too expensive.

I didn't think the prices were bad, but then I guess if you go see them a lot the prices are up over the last tour people say. I guess it's no different than our boys. But compared to them, I thought the prices were a bit more reasonable. I paid $90 for tix that probably would have cost me $150 for the Stones.

Quote
SimonN
Hello Tatters,

'Getting In Tune' and 'Tattoo'?
Now that is more like it.

'Sister Disco' isn't,though,heh-heh-heh!

Of Sister Disco, Pete said "We pulled this one up just for you guys. If it doesn't work out, you'll never hear it again".

Not sure if it was "successful" or not. Hard to know what a "successful" version of Sister Disco sounds like.

Well,nice to see the setlist shaken up a bit. As I've said before,I love Getting in Tune.Hope that one stays. As for Sister Disco,maybe they should try something else of off Who Are You. Like Had Enough or Trick Of The Light. Hopefully they will pull themselves together for some better efforts. But Roger's voice is always a worry.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

I was there and I thought it was the best, most energetic Who show I've seen since the current line-up began. Daltrey was in much better voice than the last couple times I saw them in 2006 and while Pete did apologize for th jet-lag I thought he attacked his Strats with a great deal of ferocity. In 2002 they were all shell-shocked from Entwhistle's sudden demise and in '06 they were playing new material for the first time in over 25 years - both scenarios made them just a tiny bit tentative (in my observation anyway) whereas last night they were just playing for the fun of it.

The set list was essentially the same, and in the same order, as the last tour with Sister Disco, Magic Bus, Tattoo and Getting In Tune replacing the time spent on Endless Wire in '06.

Finally, the video effects were minimal last night using just a single long screen and a rather primitive, grainy video feed. I thought many of the images were the same as the last tour and that was confirmed when I watched an '06 DVD this AM. What the visual effects WERE NOT was overbearing to the point of causing coniptions like the last tour. The fact that they were WAY calm downed made it easier to focus on the band. No reason to invest heavily on video effects for a ten date tour OR, apparently, writers for the program book. I usually buy a program and the one from last night was graphically a gem but contained large areas of solid color in the photo arrays where verbage should have been.

Quote
leteyer
Someone here said that they were too expensive.

That was a reference to the prices at Borgata Hall in Atlantic City - although it's a small venue that holds only a couple of thousand, which is probably why the prices are high. The VIP packages (i.e., first 10 rows plus "perks") were $625 - but they weren't selling and so some of the seats were put back on sale at the "regular" floor price of $325. I think the cheaper seats at the back are under $100. I'm looking forward to this gig after reading the setlist and R's review.

Beast,
Where are you seeing them?

Detroit 2008

Gawd! Roger's voice is already shot. Pete needs to sing more songs, I think the fans would understand...I would.

Quote
VoodooLounge13
Beast,
Where are you seeing them?

Atlantic City. I saw them twice in the past few years and haven't yet been disappointed (hope those aren't famous last words). Looking forward to your review of Boston!

Quote
R

Finally, the video effects were minimal last night using just a single long screen and a rather primitive, grainy video feed. I thought many of the images were the same as the last tour and that was confirmed when I watched an '06 DVD this AM. What the visual effects WERE NOT was overbearing to the point of causing coniptions like the last tour. The fact that they were WAY calm downed made it easier to focus on the band. No reason to invest heavily on video effects for a ten date tour OR, apparently, writers for the program book. I usually buy a program and the one from last night was graphically a gem but contained large areas of solid color in the photo arrays where verbage should have been.

The light show was rudimentary at best. NO video screens showing a live feed of the show. Only one large screen at the back of the stage showing REMARKABLY pedestrian, unimaginative conceptual videos. This kept the focus on the band, where it belongs, I suppose, but for what they were charging, they could have offered SOMETHING in the way of visuals. I think when you're playing a stadium or an arena, and you're charging up to $350 a ticket, you just HAVE to do some of that stuff. What was it the Germans used to yell at the Beatles in Hamburg? "Mach shau! Mach shau!" Yeah .... I'm a big believer in that.

Won't get fooled again

Hamilton, ON Setlist


I Can't Explain
The Seeker
The Kids are Alright
Fragments
Who Are You?
Behind Blue Eyes
Real Good Looking Boy
Baba O'Reilly
Getting in Tune
Sister Disco
Eminence Front
5:15
Love Reign O'er Me
My Generation
Won't Get Fooled Again

ENCORES:
Naked Eye
Pinball Wizard/Tommy Medley
Overature/Amazing Journey/Sparks/Underture/We're Not Going to Take It
Tea and Theatre.



The Kids Are All Right!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!! I also noticed that they hadn't played The Real Me

Sister Disco stayed in then. I do wonder how long Daltry's voice is going to hold out. Aren't there gigs back 2 back?