Pete Townshend's tone...

[Rednose]

Originally Posted by Chris Innocence

how cool where the cymbals !!!!!!!

cool enough for every kid to ask for them this week and guitar center!
Growing up, I was a huge Who fan.
I wasn't disappointed, I knew every song.
I was surprised Roger Daltry sounded rather strained, but it was still entertaining for a who fan.
Also, between every song there was mad guitar clunking noises, and the end of Wont Get Fooled Again, come on guys, a-one-a-two, bam!

[Brackish]

Originally Posted by robmix

sounded like crap

Agreed!

[lematrix]

watched via Sat in germany on ESPN. The first 5 Minutes where totaly out of Sync, maybe 3 - 5 Secunds of delay. What a shame !!!
Saw it again right now on Youtube, and it sounded better and it was in Sync.

I think it was a great performance and well played. It sounded mutch more better from the energy like the Band before (Daughtry-that was dull).

but, like someone sad before. The should have done more rehearsels with the sound.

[Eddie T. Ellis]

Im glad to know I wasn't the only one that heard the vocal spots "off" from the pre-recorded track...haha ;-)

[Victory Pete]

I tuned in only to see the Who, I thought it was good considering the conditions. I wasnt suspicious of any prerecorded syncing. My link apparently was right on. That had to have been completely live. It just goes to show how great music was in the good old days.
VP

[zboy2854]

Yeesh. To me it was proof that Pete had it right when he wrote the lyrics "hope I die before I get old". It was just sad to me. Poor TV mix aside, it seemed like they hadn't rehearsed very much, as Pete and Roger were totally off with each other's phrasing a bunch of times when they were singing together, I actually caught Pete mumbling the words on some of his vocals, like he was forgetting some of the lyrics, and just overall it was a pale imitation of what the Who used to be like when they performed live.

Even my wife, who saw the Who during their first farewell tour in 1983, and their second "farewell" tour in 1989 said it made her sad watching what was left of them last night. And I had to agree. Depressing. The music is great and will live on forever. But they need to stop performing as the Who and as Paul McCartney once wrote, let it be.

[My Tiny Circus]

Originally Posted by GearBit

OK.
At what point does the who stop being the who?

Ladies and gentlemen!
Rick, Greg, Skyler and Thaddeus!
The WHO!!!!!!

It's still The Who because the other two are dead and therefore unlikely to start a competing band.

When some members die it is a reminder of the bravery and pluck of the remainder.

When some members retire (Queen, Stones - What is it about bass players ?) it is a reminder of the frailty of the remainder.

[zboy2854]

Here's the Who I prefer to remember:

[syntax]

I'm calling BS on all this "I'm an engineer in the know" chatter.

The Who should be commended for grunting out that performance and being real about it. Any honest account of the vocal performance has to recognize A) the Daltery still has great rock pipes, and B) that he's done an artful job of working around the points where his range is restricted. I'm willing to concede that the big scream on "Won't Get Fooled Again" could have been a sample, but there was a ton of vocal ad-libbing and real substantive performer interaction in that performance. Those "backing tracks" getting out of sync sound to me like humans getting out of sync. I think this is an error of mistaking human imperfection for technical imperfection (a postmodern problem of perception).

One element that I think was particularly commendable is that they even kept in the harmonica jam at the end of "Baba O'Riley"-- how much was that unlike the kind of stuff that goes on during these kinds of showcase performances?


-s

[zboy2854]

Originally Posted by syntax

I'm calling BS on all this "I'm an engineer in the know" chatter.

The Who should be commended for grunting out that performance and being real about it. Any honest account of the vocal performance has to recognize A) the Daltery still has great rock pipes, and B) that he's done an artful job of working around the points where his range is restricted. I'm willing to concede that the big scream on "Won't Get Fooled Again" could have been a sample, but there was a ton of vocal ad-libbing and real substantive performer interaction in that performance. Those "backing tracks" getting out of sync sound to me like humans getting out of sync. I think this is an error of mistaking human imperfection for technical imperfection (a postmodern problem of perception).

One element that I think was particularly commendable is that they even kept in the harmonica jam at the end of "Baba O'Riley"-- how much was that unlike the kind of stuff that goes on during these kinds of showcase performances?


-s

I think that right there is probably the saddest commentary of all on the state of music today, when sloppiness and simply playing and singing "for real", no matter how shoddily, is considered some sort of achievement now in contrast to how sterile and canned most modern performers' performances are today. If that's how far we've fallen, that simply playing and singing for real is all that's needed to impress regardless of how sloppy it may be, then that's pretty sad indeed.

Sorry, but just go watch some footage of the Who's performances during their heyday and see how tight and energetic and amazing they were, then compare it to last night's imitation of what the Who once was, and you'll see that it's not much to be excited about.

[syntax]

Yes, this is how far we've fallen, which is why I commend the remaining two geezers in the Who for not dying before they got old and for continuing to play the rock and roll the way it is meant to be played. Who is going to claim that this remnant of the Who is better than the band circa 1969-1972? Really it's not a contest, but this older version of the Daltrey/PT duo does have a certain feisty charm.

[JCRockit]

COMON gimme a break. They did a GREAT job. The energy was there. Daltry shocked me he could still sing at all. True Pete Townshend needed wardrobe help lol . He looked like he just rolled in off a 5 day bender on the Bowery and he needs to lose the Carlos Santana hat but who cares( no pun intended) The major dissapointment was his tone was overdriven and murky but let me tell you I saw the Who with K Moon at MSG back in the day and they sounded worse than that and Petes tone was at least as crappy. The only difference was they got their frustrations out by wrecking all their gear which was the highlight of the show. Now if they did THAT at the Super bowl we would all be happy.

[JCRockit]

[QUOTE] I thought the choice of the who was uninspired,QUOTE]

Who would you suggest plays at the Superbowl then? It's an iconic event so they go for legendary acts. My only beef is that they should steer it towards AMERICANA acts. Has Melloncamp played? How about the Allman Bros ? Beach boys maybe ?

[sahiaman]

The who rocked it out. Even if they needed the help of laser and lights.

[eddieb]

I thought it was cool, how can anyone sound good in those conditons. Drums were definitely the star of the show.

I think Pino is the best player around today and I think he just does what he is told in that type of situation.

[Jim Williams]

Yes, Pete's guitar tone sucked. It's been that way since 2001 when he "elected" to use those dark and dirty Fender Vibro nut amps. The chords have no bell like quality like his early work with the SG special and Hiwatt amps, those Fender amps sound mushy now.

He uses that strat as it has piezo pickups and a blend system so he can do the acoustic intros without a guitar swap.

His playing is very much improved over those days though. If you want an example of earlier Townsend guitar tones, there are older concerts running on cable now.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[brill bedroom]

Originally Posted by psalad

I would suggest someone new, or at least someone who is still doing new music.

Peter Gabriel? That would be great.

Lyle Lovett? Fantastic!

Elvis Costello would be a better choice.

Green Day? Imogen Heap? Los Lobos? Neil Young?

Ozomatli would be FANTASTIC.

Hell, not a fan, but I'd even prefer John Mayer Trio over The Who... anyone who is still being creative.

It's really not that hard to find someone, IMHO, who is still relevant and would be a good choice.

Looking over my list... how great would Ozomatli have been??? So what they are not a name everyone knows... they would rock the frickken house.

I'm not sure you should be on the entertainment committee for the dance. The entire point is to keep people from flipping during half time so they don't miss the commercials.

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by lematrix

watched via Sat in germany on ESPN. The first 5 Minutes where totaly out of Sync, maybe 3 - 5 Secunds of delay. What a shame !!!
Saw it again right now on Youtube, and it sounded better and it was in Sync.

I think it was a great performance and well played. It sounded mutch more better from the energy like the Band before (Daughtry-that was dull).

but, like someone sad before. The should have done more rehearsels with the sound.

Looks like that NSTC to PAL conversion didn't go over so well in the EU. Too bad, looked and sounded great here in the Estados Unitos.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[Chrislpp]

Originally Posted by AllAboutTone

best half time show....THE WHO

Great Tone for a live show... Don't tell me you want the Jonas Brothers ?

OMG THE JONAS BROTHERS I LUV DEM SO MUYCH!!!!




I could barely hear townsend but he had a better tone than me, was more energetic than me at the time (it was like 2am where I was) and he's a hell of a lot older than me.

[JCRockit]

Originally Posted by psalad

I would suggest someone new, or at least someone who is still doing new music.

Peter Gabriel? That would be great.

Lyle Lovett? Fantastic!

Elvis Costello would be a better choice.

Green Day? Imogen Heap? Los Lobos? Neil Young?

Ozomatli would be FANTASTIC.

Hell, not a fan, but I'd even prefer John Mayer Trio over The Who... anyone who is still being creative.

It's really not that hard to find someone, IMHO, who is still relevant and would be a good choice.

Looking over my list... how great would Ozomatli have been??? So what they are not a name everyone knows... they would rock the frickken house.

Um well the #1 grossing band last year was called U2, Bono claims they were designed to be a new version of The Who, so, I'd say that puts the Who into the "still relevant" category. Lyle Lovett ? Elvis Costello ? over The Who ? nada Why not some great R&B AMERICAN artists how bout Stevie Wonder? Aretha? comon the list is endless. KEEP IT AMERICAN... John Mayer ? people would be falling asleep in their beer nuts

[Jim Williams]

I vote for Stevie Wonder next year. Maybe he'll take me with him!

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[travisbrown]

Originally Posted by bebopxx

Do you honestly think any mainstream pop songs written today in 2010, will be iconic landmarks of music and still played 40 years from now? Seriously I kinda doubt it!

They probably didn't think so back then either.

You never know what will stick. It was just pop music back then too.

[BradD]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

I vote for Stevie Wonder next year. Maybe he'll take me with him!

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

I was trying to think of people last night who could put on a good halftime show in the future and he was the first person who came to mind.

I thought it was a decent show, but they definitely showed their age. I thought Townsend's vocal harmonies were too loud and mostly out of time. On my TV, I thought Townsend's guitar was very loud in the mix.

[sahiaman]

Probably the real reason that the Who played is because 3 of CBS's CSI shows have the who as the theme track of the shows. Who's got the superbowl next year? If it's NBC, then it will probably be a Universal artist and if it's ABC, they would have a Disney artist.

It's like when Metallica had the Icon show on Mtv, every artist was from their management including Avril.

[travisbrown]

Originally Posted by sahiaman

Probably the real reason that the Who played is because 3 of CBS's CSI shows have the who as the theme track of the shows. Who's got the superbowl next year? If it's NBC, then it will probably be a Universal artist and if it's ABC, they would have a Disney artist.

I was thinking that if it wasn't for CSI, then no way The Who would be playing Superbowl with half the band dead and nothing notable or new in the last 30 years. 95% of North America would only recognize those three songs from their repertoire, and of those, 95% think that two of the songs are actually the same.