February 29, 1996
From: mwest@atc-1s.HAC.COM (Mike Westbrook)
Just got back into work after taking Friday off, post-Entwistle@SanDiego. I'll augment the review previously sent in by Patrick Royer with the set list and some random comments. (Hey, Patrick, I'm not sure if we saw each other Thursday--I was wearing my Who Convention t-shirt--but I would think that we probably didn't at Oakland '89...)
The opening act was, as usual, Joni's Butterfly. Nothing personal, but they were nothing special in my opinion. Some nice moments, some snazzy guitar sounds, but the songs weren't musical/melodic enough for my tastes. The lead singer had recently shaved his head, and was feeling his bristly scalp a lot. I didn't buy their CD, but if they get some better songs, they could be worth a listen in the future.
John and the band came out around 10:30, maybe a little after, so they were earlier than I was expecting from some of the earlier reviews. This meant that I could drive back to L.A. that night, since I only had 3 Full Sail Amber Ales ("and one coke," for you Bonzo Dog Band fans).
John was dressed in clothes. This seemed to be a band uniform, because the other band members were also dressed in clothes. They were all dry and clean, too.
The band was really tight, and the show seemed to go off without a real hitch, barring one or two extremely short equipment fix-up delays, and a couple of what-was-that facial expressions by John. Godfrey Townsend was sufficiently Daltreyesque on vocals and (Pete) Townshendesque on guitar (musically, not visually) to satisfy the Who fans. I though Alan St. John was fine both on vocals and on keyboards--I'm not sure what some of those previous criticisms were about, except that maybe they were expecting the Who, which these guys aren't (duh). Steve Luongo was excellent, especially when he stretched out, but kept time more often than Keith Moon would have. (Go figure.) John was, well, John, i.e., merely superlative. (However, I don't think I was sitting in the best spot to hear the bass perfectly, since I assume it was probably turned up loud and had lots of top end...)
I wrote down the songs in the set on a napkin. Actually, I wrote them down one and a half times, because during My Wife, one of my neighbours grabbed my napkin and blew his nose in it, necessitating a rather unglamorous recopying effort. (It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it...)
John sang lead vocals on 1, 4, 8 & 10, and did a verse of E2 (I think it was). On 3 & 4 he played the 8-string bass, on the rest he used the semi-mutant red one with the "handle"--this one has red lights on the side of the neck showing where the frets are, by the way. Appropriately, Steve Luongo did a rockin' (I will *not* call it "kick-ass") drum solo on 9, and the extended bass and drum solo-slash-dialogue on Shakin' All Over was worth the $12.50 price of admission plus the $25 for the snazzy tour t-shirt. (Well, the t-shirt is nice, too.)
Regarding the volume, I thought it was fine-to-barely-too-loud. I kept my earplugs in for most of Joni's Butterfly set, but took them out for just about the entire Entwistle set so I could hear the top end better. I had no problem with ringing ears, really.
After the show, the band came out to sign autographs as usual. I didn't bring my tourbook in for the group to sign (the nice merchandising guy at the front said I could get my mangled-by-the-US-Postal-Service copy replaced at the L.A. show), so I just went by to pass on my compliments, and to complain to John about not having phoned me up when he was in Vancouver rehearsing with the All-Starr Band. I mean, he was hanging out with Ringo and all, but really... I also said hello to Steve "Have you seen our Web page?" Luongo. I met one of the Who-listers / tour sponsors (I spotted him because he was getting the group to sign the sponsor's page), but since I don't have my tourbook here right now, I'll have to embarrass myself by admitting that I've forgotten his name until I go home and look it up. (Gary? Peterson? Nice to talk to you, anyway!)
See y'all at the House of Blues on Tuesday. Drop me a line if you're going.
> Mike <
From: Ray Schweighardt (rainman@cybernex.net)
I missed the show in New Jersey (where I live), but being in California the same time as JAE I wasn't going to blow another opportunity.
This show was exceptional, certainly one of the most electrifying concerts I've ever witnessed. However my judgement is tainted - I was standing 5 feet from JAE for the entire show, so that certainly added to my enjoyment.
The set list was pretty much as has been reported, with the exception of "Under a Raging Moon" (which John mistakenly introduced as a "song by Pete").
They followed the set list for the first 5 songs or so, and then deviated to do more songs from "The Rock", apparently because the crowd was very enthusiastic. "Under a Raging Moon" was set to be the closer, but they moved it up, and then John started to taking suggestions for what to play from the other band members when they had played everything on the list (except for the encore songs). Unfortunately, only songs from "The Rock" resulted from these consultations (no "When I Was A Boy" on this night). "Long Live Rock" was moved up from the final encore spot to close the regular set. The "Live at Leeds" encore followed, and was very powerful.
Great show, period.
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