Solid Performance
3
By Jimenides
I went to the Philadelphia show from this tour (which for some reason was never released...) so I bought this one instead, which was a few days after the show I went to. The Tommy half of the set was very solid, but it sounded almost exactly like the original, which was Roger's intention. I guess I just questions the POINT of doing that. I love the Live at Leeds rendition of Tommy because it sounds so different. It's more powerful and features some slight variations that I enjoy. Why recreate the original album note for note (or attempt to)? It seems kind of pointless to me, especially when using "inferior" musicians (not John, Keith, and Pete). The second half of the performance lacked as well, although it doesn't seem to be the musicians fault. The mix is weird, especially on the second half. The drums sound flat and are mixed way down, as are most of the guitars, with a few exceptions during solos. Other than that, all that can be heard is the bass and vocals. Also, I appreciate what Roger was trying to do choosing tracks that the who almost never (or never) perform on stage, or trying different arrangements with the regulars (see My Generation, Who Are You, and Behind Blue Eyes), but the execution is lacking too much to pull it off. I can chalk some of it up to the mix, but also, when you lack Pete to DRIVE the music, as good of a guitaritst as Frank Simes is, the music really suffers.
