Cain's Ballroom
February 24, 1996
The show was execellent (2/24/96) at Cains Ballroom in Tulsa! I did not get a set list (because I was too busy watching the show to be a secretary), but the songs played were consistant with the previously submitted ones from other shows. The show started with "Heaven and Hell", and ended the same two song encore most if not all the other shows have ended with. "My Size" was not performed, so one wonders if the song has been dropped for the rest of the tour.
The thing that impressed me the most is just how good John Entwistle really is! I mean, I entered the show with expectations of massive bass playing power and I was still very impressed! The man has speed and power that is absolutely amazing! I think I had greater appreciation for the show because I am John Entwistle fan at least as much as a Who fan (and anyone who has listed to Smash Your Head Against the Wall should be), and because I have played bass for five years. However, everyone seemed to enjoy the show and they should.
The whole band played well and worked with each other. Townsend played well and sang well, especially on the the Daltry vocal songs. He also sang a lot of the other songs, and between him and everyone else singing in the group, I'd guess John sings only about a quarter of the time. But that's fine by me, because everyone is a good vocalist.
The earlier reports of terribly ran sound and John having an especially poor voice were not true for this show. John sounded fine and the though the sound could have been better, it wasn't as bad as others have reported and I've heard far worse. The mentions of the show being very loud are very true, as my ears are still ringing 12 hours later! I have seen my share of shows (including The Who in '89) and I have never had them ring this long. The vocals were also a bit quiet in the mix.
Show high points are, hell, the whole show! An extra special treat is the additional riff in "Boris the Spider". It's not a favorite Entwistle tune, but it was excellent live. Although the tunes on "The Rock" are not all-time favorites either (Too much of a Mid 80's sound, too much synth sound!), they were most enjoyable live. Heaven and Hell was, well, hellatiously heavenly!
I strongly recommend this show to anyone who cares enough about The Ox to be reading this. I would strongly, strongly reccommend the show to anyone who plays bass guitar. I learned more from this show than any I'd ever seen before.
The best part of the whole show, though, was the opening band Jonis Butterfly. Just joking! They performed well but offered nothing terribly special. Take the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, a pinch of Alice in Chains, a half cup of Faith No More, then add a less than masculane, overly self-promoting lead singer who annoys his bandmates as well as you. This gives you what some refer to as Jonis Butterfly.
The previous reports of a radio interviews came true again on KMOD in Tulsa, and of meeting with fans after the show (I think, security had everyone lined up to meet him afterwards right before I left, but I left before I could see him come out). He also did an appearence at Blockbuster music in town, sighing pictures, "The Rock", and old albums and bass guitars people brought in. I caught him there, so I didn't hang around after the show.
Although "The Rock" is definately not my favorite John Entwistle recording, buying it is still cool. There are only 5000 of them and they are all individually numbered (for example, I believe mine in #4095), and only available where John is (or in other words, If you don't get it now you probably never will). Mine was signed by the whole band at the appearence, and although John was not especailly talkative, he seemed happy to see that people showed up to see him.
My advice to the everyone reading. 1. Get Tickets. 2. Keep your ears tuned to the main Rock station in the town of performance on the day of the show so that you might catch where he will be signing. 3. Go there! At least shake the man's hand! 4. Catch the show. When you wake up the morning after the show, your ears will be ringing and you will have been the better for the whole experience.
Enjoy the show! It is impossible not to.
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Brock A. Frazier
bfrazier@clandjop.com
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