so it's Oct 6 -Thursday and I get to the Who concert at the Bowl around 4:45 PM and score a parking spot on Milpas close to the Bowl..they let us in at 5:00 PM, at least up to the bottom of the steps...we hang around the Jerry Garcia glen, then a half hr later we get to go upstairs to our seats...it was hot dry October day....the evening cooled down pretty nice and comfortable.. I got a gorgeous view of the ocean with the crescent moon peering over my right shoulder
at 6:30 PM the opening act Tal Wilkenfeld and her band started playing some techno rock...pretty good...Tal is on bass and singing lead..then she switched to acoustic guitar and started banging away...two real good songs...I mean real good...the crowd is coming in slowly so Tal warmed up our eardrums...
then at about 7:15 PM the crew got things ready for the Who...by the time they came on stage, the Bowl was full... some drunks behind me yelling stupid stuff..the good thing about drunks is the alcohol gets to them early, so they disappear early... but most everyone was cool..and NO SMOKING was allowed due to Daltrey's asthma...
halfway thru the show some dufus hippie next to me lights up a joint and I tell him to put it out or I'll bust his head, and he does...geez.. I don't want to get high from second-hand pot smoke from some dumbass hippie
the stage was set up with a giant screen and we saw some Who history..and throughout the set, the screen was used very effectively for close-ups and even some politics and a cool light show...and it was never a distraction
then the Who Show started...Pete Townshend, tall and lanky, bounded on stage with guitar in hand and Roger Daltrey took the mic...the crowd was in a delirium as the Who played all the great songs...Pete doing his trademark windmill guitar strum...Roger's voice was strong as ever and if you make an argument he's the best rock singer ever, I won't disagree...but he is human and took tumble after tripping over a rubber block that wasn't supposed to be on the stage...fell on his ass!!
but he got up and laughed it off...crowd just cheered
when they did - Love, Reign O'er Me..from QUADROPHENIA, Daltrey hit a note that made me irrationally emotional and almost teary...it was beautiful and powerful..."rain on me Only love can bring the rain"
Pete Townshend was upbeat telling jokes about old people like Joe Walsh and Bruce Sprinsteen ...he played these very expensive guitars, Gibson and Fender, and uses them as orchestral instruments...the guy is a musical genius
the band was so tight and good I thought they were piping in recorded music for a minute...but no, it was all live...Zak Starkey is one hell of a drummer!!
the crowd was up and singing all the choruses and it sounded really beautiful....Behind Blue Eyes was an epiphany!! TEENAGE WASTELAND..IT'S ONLY TEENAGE WASTELAND!!! I Can See For Miles and Miles and Miles!! Talking 'Bout My G-G-G-Generation...oh yeah, I was singing too
beautiful young girls and some foxy older gals filled the seats with equal appeal for young bucks and older dudes...
but it's nearly impossible to explain what I witnessed last night...the Who, icons of the British Invasion way back in the 1960s, gave the best concert I've ever seen...you had to be there
and I'm glad I was
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