The Who; Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City, NJ 7/22/17

[jimmy19029]

The last time I saw The Who (and you might as well call it the Pete & Roger Band now) it was in the summer of 2002, just after the sudden death of bassist John Entwistle and there was a large HOLE in the sound left by his absence that wasn't quite adequately being covered. That plus the fact that Pete & Roger's voices were not always quite what they were in their prime left me a bit disappointed, wondering if I'd ever be tempted to see them again. But then, four years moved on and they put out an album, Endless Wire, that I really liked and featured a good portion of in their shows that year, putting a sudden end to my thoughts that they were done and just pounding it out on the nostalgia circuit now. I didn't see that tour and really regretted having missed it. But their featuring of it on VH1 Classic's Electric Proms show satisfied me somewhat and this show, plus the sudden shuffling off of this mortal coil of many of our classic rockers, left me anxious to see these guys again before it was too late!

For the past three years, the Who have been doing their anniversary WHO HITS 50 tour and since my brother, Joe, & I had missed it the last coupla years, my brother promised me that he'd treat me this year for my birthday. Once more, a buddy I'd met on a music board online thirteen years back, named Jack, informed me that he would be attending as well, giving us the opportunity to meet in person at last.

Great to see Daltrey swinging the mic and Pete doing the classic windmilling motion, both pretty much trademark motions almost solely connected with them only. And the set was a great cross section of hits and favorites. My favorites were probably "Bargain" and "You Better You Bet", while my brother was thrilled to hear "The Kids Are Alright". Cool to hear "Naked Eye" too but I thought Daltrey sounded much better singing it as a duet with Simon Townsend on his 1994 solo tour. The overall sound, which had been a HUGE point of contention with me back in 2002 was just fine tonight, with no less than THREE keyboardists (former Eagle John Corey, Lauren Gold and Who musical director Frank Simes adding back up vocals and extra synth bits). And the video screens added nice color alongside the closeups of the guys...like the silhouette of the guy running in place on "The Seeker", the photo shopped stuff along the sea cliffs during the clips of "The Kids Are Alright" movie and the pics/clips timeline that covered the era from after Keith died, through 9/11 & John's death, right up to the Trump fiasco of today. WELL DONE!

Roger, who's been plagued with a series of throat ailments in recent years, was sounding fine tonight...PERFECT SCREAMS on "Love Reign O'er Me" and "Won't Get Fooled Again"....and Pete kept kidding him about telling some "stupid joke about an elephant". I forget what the punchline to that one was.

Towards the end, Roger was giving glowing accolades to Ringo's son Zac Starkey who was "born to play with us", but humble Zac gave a sour look and was clearly uncomfortable with the praise and attention. I thought he sounded really good tonight. And new bassist Jon Button was a pleasant surprise. Was he a carbon copy of Entwistle? No. But then there was only one of those! And Pete's brother Simon is still there helping big bro' with the guitar load.

The London Souls (I believe they're from New York) were the opening band.

Before the concert, from our vantage point in the 200 level, I could see my buddy Jack down in the sixth row on the floor and we were able to meet at last in person out on the Boardwalk at the end of the show. GREAT TO FINALLY MEET YA IN PERSON JACK!!!!



Setlist

I Can't Explain
Substitute
The Seeker
Who Are You
The Kids Are Alright
I Can See for Miles
My Generation
(Dedicated to Chester Bennington of Linkin Park)
Naked Eye
Behind Blue Eyes
Bargain
Join Together
You Better You Bet
Relay
Drowned
The Rock
Love, Reign O'er Me
Eminence Front
Amazing Journey
(with "Overture" and "It's a Boy" snippets)
Sparks
Pinball Wizard
See Me, Feel Me
Baba O'Riley
Won't Get Fooled Again