Back on the magic bus

June 17, 2006 6:35 AM

36 years later, the remaining members of The Who will return to reprise their seminal concert recording Live at Leeds. The original record was compiled from one concert, in the Leeds University Refectory, and that's where they'll be playing tonight.
posted by handee (30 comments total)

...ahh, hubris.
posted by horsemuth at 6:42 AM on June 17, 2006

Is it inevitable that if you live long enough, you become an imitation, or even a parody of yourself?
posted by LarryC at 6:58 AM on June 17, 2006

I've always been a Who/Pete Townshend fan, but how many original members can you lose before it's just not The Who anymore?
posted by tommasz at 7:06 AM on June 17, 2006

Most of me fears that this will show how badly time has ravaged them.

Part of me -- a very small part -- fears that it'll be better than the first one, and I won't be there.

But mostly, I'm sad -- you don't go back. Live at Leeds was a miracle. Miracles don't happen often.
posted by eriko at 7:13 AM on June 17, 2006

how many original members can you lose before it's just not The Who anymore?

one ... and that was a long time ago
posted by pyramid termite at 7:45 AM on June 17, 2006

Isn't anyone else psyched about this 11-minute mini-rock-opera Townshend's written? I'm thinking of 'A Quick One While He's Away' - which has its definitive version, if memory serves, on the Leeds album - and I don't doubt Townshend's songwriting abilities remain sharp. (I hope this isn't hopelessly lame but I thought the Paul Simon/Brian Eno album was kind of neat too, if that provides much needed perspective.)

The new album's more interesting than the rehash show, I suspect.
posted by waxbanks at 7:50 AM on June 17, 2006

I was under the impression that the Who's recurring farewell tours post-"It's Hard" were mostly about raising money for Entwistle, who in turn, apparently was snorting it up his nose. Townshend and Daltrey don't need it, which implies to my mind that any further work as the Who is likely to be a labor of love or mere nostalgia, neither of which is much of a crime. I'll cut them some slack this time out....

tommasz, are you familiar with the The Ship of Theseus?
posted by kimota at 8:12 AM on June 17, 2006

Live at Leeds was a miracle.

I don't think it was. It was a fairly typical set of that era. I recall seeing them a few times during that era and thinking each time that they were even better than they were on that album.

Miracles don't happen often.

When you're hot, they can happen every night. When you're a bunch of past it has beens though, it really would be a miracle if they could get a real audience (as opposed to a bunch of middle aged nostalgia seekers) enthusiastic about them.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:17 AM on June 17, 2006

I saw The Who's farewell tour. In 1982.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:22 AM on June 17, 2006

Whether the performance was miracle or typical, the record certainly holds up as a sonic document of pretty immense proportions. For anyone interested, I highly recommend the deluxe edition of the record; this one contains more songs on the first CD (including an awesome cover of "Fortune Teller"), and a second CD with a full performance of "Tommy" (in some ways my favourite live version of this). In other words, it's that night's whole performance as opposed to just the initial six songs on offer on the original LP.

As for The Who today, my take on that is that I'm not surprised Roger Daltrey & Pete Townsend are still performing, and it doesn't really offend me. Equally however, I'm not interested in seeing it happen, and that fact really shouldn't surprise or offend them.
posted by stinkycheese at 9:14 AM on June 17, 2006

Presumably this won't be an all ages show.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:44 AM on June 17, 2006

When I first heard Live at Leeds, I was convinced that The Who were the greatest rock and roll band of all time and nothing since has swayed me from that opinion.

That being said, The Who have been in farewell tour mode far longer than their actual productive career at this point. It is past the point of comical now.

I'm thinking of 'A Quick One While He's Away' - which has its definitive version, if memory serves, on the Leeds album

My definitive version would be on The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus special where The Who absolutely blew the Stones off the stage with A Quick One. Some say the schooling by Pete and the boys was the reason the Stones withheld the release of the TV special.
posted by Arch_Stanton at 10:45 AM on June 17, 2006

"Live at Leeds" includes what is easily the stupidest song ever recorded: "Young Man Blues." A sample of the lyrics:

You know in the old days
When a young man was a strong man
All the people they'd step back
When a young man walked by
...young man ain't got nothin' in the world these days
I said nothing

I mean, even as a young man, I thought that was stupid, knowing, deep in my pants, that as a young man, I had unlimited libido, unlimited access to young women, unlimited energy to dance and sing the night away, and a whole life to look forward to -- and that all these were things that even the richest of rich old men couldn't buy for all their money. And for Roger Daltrey to sing that -- even as a character -- was so dumb it was embarassing.

"Live at Leeds" was the Who's last gasp, and not all that bad. "Leeds" signaled the exhaustion of Pete Townsend's powerful-but-limited talent as a songwriter. After that, he tried to stretch the skimpy remains of his talent over the too-large scaffolding of rock operas and bloviating FM arena rock. They should have broken up after "Magic Bus."
posted by Faze at 11:55 AM on June 17, 2006

They should have broken up after "Magic Bus.

I wouldn't go that far but I can agree that they haven't done anything of interest since "Who Are You" and there are only two or three good songs on that. I never felt that it was talent that Townsend lacked, just ambition. Once he hit the top, he never seems very interested in doing much more than coasting.

Oh and "Young Man Blues" was written by Mose Allison in 1957 so you can't really blame The Who for that.
posted by octothorpe at 12:29 PM on June 17, 2006

Mose Allison. What a dope.
posted by Faze at 1:16 PM on June 17, 2006

For the love of god. Stop, please. It's sad to see old men continually flogging a dead horse screaming "look at me!".
posted by andywolf at 1:33 PM on June 17, 2006

andywolf -- You are so right. "I hope I die before I get old." We would have been happy if they'd simply have retired before they got old.
posted by Faze at 1:51 PM on June 17, 2006

actually, it's not an old thing, it's constantly revisiting "that time". They've given up on themselves, plenty of artists remain relevant thru the years. They should be playing state fairs along with ZZ Top or Kenny Loggins at this point.
posted by andywolf at 1:56 PM on June 17, 2006

andywolf -- I would respectfully disagree. I don't think any popular music figure remains relevant past the age of (and I'm being very liberal here) 38. I have spoken elsewhere on Metafilter about my "three albums and out" rule for popular music. I am still writing to my state legislators about this, and hope to see it enacted into law within my lifetime.
posted by Faze at 3:28 PM on June 17, 2006

Face Dances and It's Hard had a couple of OK songs, but they were more like Pete Townshend's solo stuff than The Who.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:14 PM on June 17, 2006

I don't think any popular music figure remains relevant past the age of (and I'm being very liberal here) 38.

"rough justice" - rolling stones ... that song kicks ass and that's always relevant
posted by pyramid termite at 5:20 PM on June 17, 2006

"Live at Leeds" includes what is easily the stupidest song ever recorded: "Young Man Blues."

I hate to break it to you, but the fact that you don't understand something doesn't make that thing stupid.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:21 PM on June 17, 2006

I saw "The Who" about ten years ago, when it was just Daltrey and Entwistle performing "Quadrophenia" (a crap album, "5:15" and maybe a couple other songs aside) in its entirety, with an orchestra, Zakk Starr (yes, Ringo's son) on drums and Simon Townsend on guitar. Actually, I don't think they were billed as "The Who", but the whole thing was a stinky, washed-up nostalgia spectacle, and even back then Daltrey's voice was burnt to ashes. I almost barfed when, walking out afterwards, I heard a middle-aged woman exclaim "THAT WAS THE BEST WHO CONCERT I'VE EVER SEEN!" Sad, sad, sad.

However, it was still - barely - worth it to see Entwistle do "My Wife". I did my best to forget the rest of the concert.

Having said that, it's interesting how it's mainly rock acts that get trashed for sticking to the old hits. No-one complains if they go to see, say, Willie Nelson or B.B. King, and they don't play any/much new material. In country and blues, this sort of thing is considered a sort of carrying on of the tradition, whereas in rock it's considered a pathetic sacrilege. Guess rock really is a young man's game.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:35 PM on June 17, 2006

Oh, and for my money, Live At Leeds is the best Who album, hands down. When I was a high-schooler, Who's Next was the shit, but now most of it sounds kind of overblown.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:37 PM on June 17, 2006

i really prefer live at the isle of wright to live at leeds ... the version of amazing journey on that is just awesome
posted by pyramid termite at 9:39 PM on June 17, 2006

Isle of Wight is mightily bitchin', too.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:10 AM on June 18, 2006

They should play what they want to, when they want to, for as long as they want to. If it's good, buy it. If it's lame and you can't see that, you're the one who retired -- retired your ears, retired your mind -- and that's not their problem.

Faze: if you've got to have a rule at all, make it a no-album rule. There's no need to put out a batch of songs on one physical thing, and no excuse for "rock operas" and "concept albums" and the like bundled into one package. Bands should release one song at a time. Make every song a downloadable single. No filler. Instead of stopping to record, keep touring with your studio and recording when you aren't playing out. Record with your warmup acts or with whoever happens to be in town the nights you're there. Rerecord and rerelease songs as you go. Surrender to the pirates: give all of your recordings away and make your money on great concerts. Financially, recordings are just ads for concerts. In lieu of charging for recordings, raise ticket prices. Play arena shows to make mass money off the poorer folk. On the same tour, play tiny places for prices determined by auction, with no upper limit to ticket prices. It's a job: do it until you don't need the money (early retirement) or until people stop paying for your services (laid off) or until you just don't like doing it anymore (and then it's back to driving truck, Elvis).
posted by pracowity at 4:03 AM on June 18, 2006

This is the musical combo that wrote all those CSI theme songs, right?
posted by hal9k at 4:05 PM on June 18, 2006

I saw the Who a few years back and Duck Dunn sat in on bass!
posted by stevil at 10:32 AM on June 19, 2006

Ah, Daltrey's mortgage is due again, I see.

Well, whatever, at least someone's paying them to play, unlike 99% of the rest of musicians.
posted by zoogleplex at 1:01 PM on June 19, 2006