The Who - Live at The Royal Albert Hall
Performance 
Production
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The Who - Live at The Royal Albert Hall
Performance |
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I hadn't listened to The Who in quite a long time. I've always enjoyed and admired their music, but they were never one of my favorite bands. Sure, I own the requisite Who's Next, Tommy, Quadrophenia, and Live At Leeds albums, but I am far from a Who authority, and I have never seen them live. I picked up Live At The Royal Albert Hall thinking it was going to be an over-slick, uninspired performance by a legendary band who was well past their prime. After all, it was a charity benefit concert featuring numerous guest musicians, and this format has often been a formula for disaster. This excellent DVD has greatly exceeded my expectations. Performed in 2000, as a benefit for the Teenager Cancer Trust, Live At the Royal Albert Hall shows The Who in rejuvenated form, playing with the energy and enthusiasm that should put younger bands to shame. From the opening chords of the first song, "I Can't Explain", I was impressed with how raw and energized their sound was. Townsend rocks much harder on some of the older 60's songs, which makes them sound fresh and electrifying. I had actually forgotten how great of a guitarist Pete Townsend is. This concert has forced me right back into his fan club. The Who still perform with an energy that is unmatched in the business. Townsend was jumping around the stage non-stop, still doing his patented, finger-smashing windmills on his guitar, only slowing down long enough to turn in an impressive solo acoustic performance of "Drowned" and "Heart To Hang Onto" towards the middle of the concert. The setlist was outstanding - basically a greatest hits performance. A few lesser known gems from Townshend's Lifehouse project were also thrown in. They livened up the arrangements of a few of their classics and made them even better. "Magic Bus", in particular, turned into a bluesy, soulful, power-chord drenched jam that featured Daltry blowing some harp, and the audience helping out with the chorus. This was one of the show's highlights. The concert really kicked into gear in the second half starting with a rousing performance of "You Better You Bet". One of the things that make The Who a great band is the fact that they have two very contrasting lead vocalists in Daltry and Townshend. "You Better You Bet" is Townshend's song, and he sang it like he was thirty again. His unique voice has not lost a step. Daltry, the more powerful vocalist of the two, still sounds excellent as well. His slightly diminished range is made up for by his energy and commitment to the performance. Nobody whips that microphone cord around as impressively as Daltry does. Now that I think about it, does anybody else? All we are missing now is Keith Moon kicking the drum kit over. Speaking of the late Keith Moon, The Who have definitely found their best replacement yet on the drums in Zak Starkey. The son of Ringo Star, Starkey was obviously born with a drumstick in his hand - at least he plays that way. His style is so reminiscent of Moon's playing that he appears to be channeling him at times. He really makes them sound like The Who of old at times - the times that you want them to. He and Entwhistle played off each other like they had been jamming together for twenty years. John (Rabbit) Bundrick's keyboard playing was outstanding as usual. He has been with the band for over twenty years. I always knew that John Entwistle was one of the best bassists in rock and roll, but he definitely cemented his place in my top five list with his performance at this concert. Midway through an incredible, rockin' version of "5:15", Entwistle proceeded to tear through one of the most impressive bass solos I have ever witnessed. The guy has the fastest fingers I have ever seen, but his strength and precision are incredible. His fingerwork was captured perfectly by a combination of multi-angle close-ups and a mini-camera attached to the end of his bass. I can only imagine how awesome it must have been to see him in his prime. This was Entwistle's last concert recording with The Who before he died last year, and he certainly left us with a memorable performance. Non of the guest performers invited to this concert really added anything significant. Some of them did however bring the show down. Bryan Adams' frog-in-his throat singing on the beautiful "Behind Blue Eyes" was, as Simon Cowell would say, "absolutely dreadful". Why didn't they just get Lemmy from Motorhead, for Christ's sake. Adams might have been OK for a song like "My Generation", but not a song that requires "pretty" vocals like "Behind Blue Eyes". Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, after all he did have all those monster hit ballads. Paul Weller's duet with Townshend on "So Sad About Us" just wasn't that good, and Noel Gallagher didn't add much to "Won't Get Fooled Again". This performance would have been awesome with, or without him. Eddie Vedder did a decent job on "I'm One", but I really could have done without all of the guests. But, since it was a charity event, I admired them for helping out, and begrudgingly sat through their performances. This is one of the better produced concert DVDs that I have seen. The video had no significant flaws and the spectacular, colorful, light show was presented brilliantly. Although the camera angle changes were a little too quick at times (isn't this the perennial problem!) the concert was filmed exceptionally well. There were plenty of excellent full stage shots, using craned cameras from above and behind the stage, as well as from way out over the crowd. Close-ups were used very affectively to capture most of the significant solos by Townshend, Entwistle, and Starkey. The audio was also first rate. The DTS and Dolby 5.1 mixes were approximately equal in sound quality and both were very loud. The Who must have wanted to uphold their ranking as the loudest band in the world. Townshend's guitar was isolated primarily to the right-front channel and was very clear and powerful. I would have liked to have had the bass mixed a little bit higher, but it sounded excellent overall. The rear channels were used for overall ambient effects, mostly crowd noise and some vocal and drum echo. I have not had the opportunity to see the Live At The Isle Of Wight or The Kids Are Alright DVDs yet, so I cannot compare this concert to those much older performances. The Who are no longer in their twenties like they were in those videos, but they certainly played like they were not ready for the retirement roles yet. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - September 2004 |
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Running Time: 144 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - September 2001 |