Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Loud Goodbye

For about a zillion reasons, not the least of which is the toxic level of pious sanctimony we'll be witnessing on TV all day today, I can't bring myself to comment on the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Thankfully, the Who -- seen here at the post 9/11 Concert for New York City, with the then not dead John Entwistle -- have no such constraints on them.



MSG-TV is airing the entire show tonight at 8pm East Coast time.

11 comments:

Cleveland Bob said...

The Who has seemed to be one of those bands that some folks hate and others revere. Very few opinions in the grey zone.

Me. I'm a huge Who fan.

If it weren't for Townshend his mates as well as Ray Davies and the Kinks, I might not be listening to much of anything these days. IMHO, they both saved rock from itself several times over.

BTW, Did I spy a quick shot of John Cusack in the crowd in this clip? I just saw Being John Malkovich the other night on IFC. Great movie. Cusack is all right with me too.

We need a post regaling the brilliance of his performance in High Fidelity...

steve simels said...

I seem to recall that one of the boy bands played this show -- N Sync or Backstreet -- and one of this was interviewed afterwards about the Who.

He -- might have been Lance Bass, but I forget -- basically said, "Holy crap. I was too young to see them back in the day and I simply can't believe how fucking amazing they are."

He was really quite becomingly humble about it...

Anonymous said...

I've always loved them. The scream at the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again" is one of the greatest moments in rock, IMHO. They put on a kick-ass show (although I think Roger can retire the mic flinging ... it's getting a little dated). And Zack has turned into quite the drummer ... he clearly learned a lot from "Uncle" Keith.

Weren't The Who originally considered for that famous scene in "Blow Up"?

steve simels said...


Weren't The Who originally considered for that famous scene in "Blow Up"?


Yep, fer whatever reason -- it may have been money, although I can't remember -- the scene was obviously written with them in mind, i.e., the guitar smashing.

Prior to that movie, I don't think there's any evidence that Jeff Beck ever smashed a guitar....quite the opposite, in fat.

steve simels said...

That's "in fact," not "in fat."

Sheesh...

Anonymous said...

For the first minute or two it seemed like an exercise in impotence. As we've been doing since we were teenagers we go into a closed room full of flashing lights and pummel our senses into nothingness as the world outside turns worse, unengaged. What are these drum/guitar explosions for? At times they are unsettlingly like the explosions that took our friends.

Then the statement comes into focus. We are humanists, not fanatics, and no matter how many of us get taken out by fanatics - Muslim nutjobs in airplanes, Christian nutjobs shooting women's doctors - our art goes on. A murderous gesture in the outer world is no match for our artists' gestures in the inner world, clear-eyed, not kidding ourselves.

And at the end the whole thing turns into one hell of a party for people who really deserve it.

Anonymous said...

Prior to that movie, I don't think there's any evidence that Jeff Beck ever smashed a guitar....quite the opposite, in fat.

Hey, who ya calling fat?

/Britney

Anyway, I don't think he did, either. He kicks the shit out of them while he's playing, but musically, not physically (although I understand his hands take quite a beating). But he seems to have reverence for his instruments, which is one of the things I like about him.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and what Peter Spencer said.

Anonymous said...

Prior to that movie, I don't think there's any evidence that Jeff Beck ever smashed a guitar....quite the opposite, in fat.


That was Leslie West.

steve simels said...

Peter --

That was kind of profound...

Seriously.

TMink said...

Wow, Pete was feeling it, Roger ended big, Entwhistle was absolutely nailing the bass, and the kid could drum!

I appreciated how much Pete played lead, how Zack started the drum break with his own brand of bombast, then quoted Keith, I enjoyed how the band seemed to take turns pushing the tempo.

Great to see that.

Trey