Wow: VH1 did such a great job with their Rock Honors show. In past years, they've honored four bands per show, but tonight it was all about The Who. Rightfully so. They got bands that deserved to be there on the bill - The Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam and The Flaming Lips as well as Tenacious D (and also Incubus... I'd rather have heard The Raconteurs or Joan Jett or Oasis or Paul Weller), and they were all great, especially Pearl Jam.
But, of course, it was really all about The Who. It really is amazing how this band, who have been around for forty years now, has held up. So many of my favorite albums are by them: The Who Sing My Generation, Tommy, Who's Next, Live At Leeds just to name a few. I think it's cool to hear their songs on TV (it really works well on CSI) and I'm not surprised that kids are rocking out to them on Rock Band or Guitar Hero. The current band still sound great. (Kudos, by the way, to VH1 for leaving in "Tea and Theatre," a song from their last album Endless Wire, on the broadcast). I was sorry to hear that they are probably ditching the idea of recording a new album with T-Bone Burnett, but I'm glad that they are still going to be touring.
Anyway, it was a great show, if you love The Who, you should check it out. Here's hoping that they release a live document of the event. It's rare that I see something on VH1 that really makes me miss working there (I was there for three and a half really fun years), but this was one of them.
1 comment:
Saw it as well, and yes, it was fantastic. Pearl Jam, especially, just tore up (in a good way) the two tunes they covered (Love Reign o'er Me and The Real Me) -- and Vedder didn't do the warbly-voice thing that he sometimes does, which was a relief (the band was right on, but Vedder especially was TOTALLY in the groove, I thought).
As for the Who themselves, they were tight was hell (with, I believe, the touring lineup they've had since Entwistle died -- what a band), although Daltrey didn't seem like he was having his best night ever (I feel a little guilty saying that because people seem not to give him a break for not having the same voice he had in 1964), although Tea and Theater was beautiful, and I'm absolutely with you on VH1's including it: it's a moving song, and that was a moving performance, but nobody knows that song, and VH1 didn't need to put it in.
AND, after typing the above, I got a call from my friend Nina, one of the violinists who played with Pearl Jam on Love Reign o'er Me, who says that Vedder is one of the nicest people she's ever met, and also that she and her husband then went on to stand TEN FEET AWAY from the stage when the Who played (can you sense my envy? -- I've seen them twice from forty or so rows back and it was semi-religious, so I can't even imagine what ten feet is like).
...Hey, thanks for letting a complete random post on your blog -- I watched the show, and then watched it again when they repeated it (in the east, anyway), and Googled around and found your post. Take care.
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