The Who play Quadrophenia The Royal Albert Hall London 30 March 2010
I’m sitting on the early train north coming home after seeing The Who perform Quadrophenia in its entirity at the Royal Albert Hall last night. I’ll try and review the show as honestly as I can below.
I suppose I didn’t want to raise my hopes too much for this one. Although I’ve seen The Who perform Quadrophenia before on the 73 tour and in Hyde Park in the 90s, I am not a massive fan of the album. Also I’ve seen The Who a few times recently where Roger has had some problems with his voice. Still I went along with an open mind last night.
In fact it couldn’t have been better. For me this was the best Who show I have seen for many many years. And it was more of a performance than a straight Who concert. The band played Qaudrophenia straight through with no other songs and no encore. And it was everything Quadrophenia should be: interesting, challenging, sad, rocking and a celebration for all of us of a great band and a great rock opera. The standard Who line-up (Roger, Pete, Rabbit on keyboards, Zak on drums, Pino on bass, Simon on second guitar) was augmented by a string section, brass section and guests. The sound was big and powerful and gave justice to the album tracks. A screen above the stage showed us the story of Jimmy with clips from the film and from the past, Brighton, mods and rockers etc. Eddie Vedder took the part of the Godfather (doesn’t he look like Jim Morrission?) and Tom from Kasabian gave a great performance as the Ace Face (great suit and cute Bellboy uniform!). Roger’s voice was pretty strong mostly; but he did seem to be suffering towards the end. Pete played great, and towards the end was really bashing away at his guitar. Some excellent acoustic guitar and vocals from Pete on the quieter songs. I was on the floor towards the left of the stage six rows back from the front. Everyone around me was up on their feet from the start and stayed like that throughout. Lots of fists in the air, everyone seemed to know every word of every song. There were obviously Who fans from all over the world there. An awesome, faultless performance. I thought the crowd wouldn’t leave the hall and I guess many were disappointed that they didn’t come back and play some classics. But you know what, for me it didn’t matter. The show was just perfect as it was. There were cameras around me; it looks like this will appear as a DVD; which would be great. Some fans on the message board have been gossipping that this could be the last Who show. Somehow I doubt it; I suspect however it could be the last time we see Quadrophenia performed in its entirity like this. Pleased I went, last night I saw glimpses of the old classic Who; the greatest rock band in the world.
set list:
I Am the Sea
The Real Me
Quadrophenia
Cut My Hair
The Punk and the Godfather” (with Eddie Vedder)
I’m One
The Dirty Jobs
Helpless Dancer
Is It in My Head?
I’ve Had Enough (with Eddie Vedder and Tom Meighan)
5:15
Sea and Sand (with Eddie Vedder and Tom Meighan)
Drowned
Bell Boy (with Tom Meighan)
Doctor Jimmy
The Rock
Love, Reign O’er Me
ticket
programme
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