The Who - The Vegas Job
Performance 
Production
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The Who - The Vegas Job
Performance |
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On October 29th, 1999, The Who headlined an extraordinary concert event at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, which featured several other huge acts including Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, KISS, Faith Hill, and The Dixie Chicks. This now infamous event was the brainchild of a new Internet technology company, Pixelon.com, who reportedly paid 16-million dollars, renting out the entire MGM Grand, to promote their supposedly revolutionary new Internet technology, which they claimed would broadcast TV-like quality images of this concert to millions of computers worldwide. The technology turned out to be bogus, and the only ones who ended up witnessing the concert, were the lucky 15-thousand, or so, people in attendance that night. You may have already seen the terrible KISS Live In Las Vegas DVD memento of that event, which featured a whopping four songs from their performance. Now we have The Who's headlining performance captured in its entirety on DVD, which is being pitched as the first time in 20 years that they have performed as a stripped down five piece band - just Daltry, Townshend, Entwistle, Zak Starkey on drums, and John Bundrick on keyboards, instead of the usual horn section, backup singers and extra guitarist they had been performing with. Although it is great to have a document of this historic concert, it is certainly not one of the better Who performances to be captured on film. The show kicks off with a psychedelic video montage of old Who tour posters and band photos which is being played on the huge screen that is serving as the stage backdrop. The band takes the stage, looking as if they didn't particularly want to be there, and lead off with their 1965 single "I Can't Explain", and then follow it up with their 1966 single "Substitute". I was beginning to wonder if the setlist was going to feature all of their single releases in order. Neither of these performances elicited much energy and passion out of the boys, but thankfully, by the third song, "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", again going back to the 1965 singles vault, Townshend appears to be getting over his jetlag, and the song really rocks. After the song, Daltry greets the crowd for the first time with "It's been a bloody long time since we played that one...Good Evening!" The light show was very intense and colorful, which often created serious problems for the cameras. At times, the picture would get completely washed out in bright, white light, as if the camera was pointed directly into a spotlight. I have never seen this happen quite as often as with this film, which is surprising considering how much money and effort was put into the whole event. When it was being filmed correctly, the light show looked phenomenal. "Pinball Wizard " proceeded to really heat things up, with Townshend strumming so hard he broke a string half way through the song, and had to grab a replacement Strat from his guitar tech. The Who are one of the greatest rock and roll bands in history, and they leave no doubt as to why, by laying down killer back to back performances of "See Me, Feel Me" and "Baba O'Riley". Sure, there have been better performances of these classics on most of their earlier live videos, and even on the following year's Live At The Royal Albert Hall DVD, but even on a bad day, this is some pretty amazing music. As cries of "Ox" and "Boris" fill the air, John Entwistle takes over the show momentarily with his comical Who's Next ditty, "My Wife". Although not much of a singer, this song showcases why Entwistle was regarded as one of the greatest rock bassists in the world. You'll get no argument from me. He absolutely hammers this fact home on the next song, "5:15", when he rips off his famous bass solo from that great song. Again, it did not compare to the otherworldly bass solo he performed at the Royal Albert Hall show, which many consider one of the greatest live rock bass solos of all time. From there, they continue on with more greatest hits, which are highlighted by an extended blues-jam version of "Magic Bus", before closing out the set with the all-conquering "Won't Get Fooled Again". "Magic Bus" was loose and fun, featuring a killer harmonica solo from Daltry, and was one of the few performances to ignite any real passion and spontaneity out of the band all night. The encore takes you all the way back to 1965 again, beginning with "The Kids Are Alright", and then ending things with their powerful, punk-prototype anthem "My Generation", both taken from the band's superb debut album My Generation. "My Generation" was especially rocking this night, thanks to some fiery guitar work by Townshend near the end of the song, but unfortunately it was too little, too late. As a whole, the performance left me a little disappointed. Other than the problems with the spotlights completely washing out the picture, the video was generally sharp and clear, and showcased the intense and colorful light show well. The performance was filmed well, and gave you the feeling of being at the show. A good variety of camera angles provided all of the essential close-ups of each musician during key solos, and also provide some nice sweeping shots of the entire stage show, as well as around the arena. Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo audio tracks were both offered, and neither sounded particularly great. There may have been a mastering problem with this disk, since the music being played during the menus was loud and thunderous, but the main feature had to be really cranked to extract a decent sound. The bass guitar and bass drums sounded especially weak. Speaking of weak, the extra features only included short, and not very enlightening, interviews with Roger Daltry and John Entwistle. Townshend was nowhere to be found. Also included is a senseless fan interview segment, were an annoying concert MC strolls through the crowd, just before the start of the show, and gets a bunch of drunken fan's perspectives on The Who, including a woman who takes to the arena floor with the MC to re-enact the first time she heard The Who - while giving birth to her son 19-months previous. How classy. If you've just got to have everything that The Who put out on video, then this is certainly worth the price of the DVD. But if you want something much better, from the same period, then check out Live At The Royal Albert Hall instead. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - February 2007 |
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Running Time: 88 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - November 2006 |