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The Who at halfltime

#61
Howlin' Hanson said:
I'm pretty certain it wasn't a lip-synch.
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+1 to no lip-synching. If they were going to lip-synch, they would have come up with a MUCH better backup track.

Pete's guitar was either way high in the mix, or it disappeared completely. Pilot error, not the sound guy. I think the old boy missed with a few windmills, and just plain muffed it a few times.

Great light show, very cool to see Zak and Pino do their thing.

About what I expected from Roger and Pete. Nothing lasts forever. But the music endures.

And I agree, they should have blown something up or destroyed a guitar.
 
#62
I agree no to lip-sync, I do think Pino should have been up in the mix more I had watched in on my home theater and he was not even there the Ox bass lines are what made the Who’s songs special without them just sad vocals were very dry with no delay or reverb way to up front for Roger, his voice is not what it used to be no doubt. I think the sound guy really could have done a better job. Musically tight I thought. And in the sound mans defense it had to be a major undertaking to get any band to sound good in an outdoor stadium of that size just my thoughts.
 
#65
Yeah, they were sloppy in spots and vocally they struggled but overall a pretty good performance. Pete Townshend suffers from partial deafness and tinnitus from all his years of playing loudly. Pete Townshend is 64 years old (soon to be 65) and Roger Daltry will be 66 years old on March 1st; so, I give them lots of credit for doing what they do. I enjoyed it much more than the Springsteen Band playing to tracks last year and way better than The Rolling Stones a few years ago.

They had an interview and performance on NFL Network today on the links below where they stated that they would be doing the 3 songs that are used for the 3 CSI shows since tthe Superbowl was also on CBS.

The band lineup scheduled for the Superbowl is:

Roger Daltrey – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica
Pete Townshend – lead guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals
Simon Townshend (Pete's son) – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Pino Palladino – bass
Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr's son) – drums, percussion
John "Rabbit" Bundrick – keyboards, backing vocals

Interview
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-super-bowl/09000d5d81634565/The-Who-talk-to-Rich

Performance
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-super-bowl/09000d5d816341ed/The-Who-perform
 
#67
I've never been a fan of the Who's songs. They always seemed to plod on way too long. The truncated versions were enjoyable, I liked they way they just played the good parts.

I liked it ok. I agree, they were better than Springsteen and the Stones (WAY better than the Stones).
 
#68
Biggest thing I noticed was how far back Zak and Pino play on the beat compared to Moon and Ox. They are both great players and play very well together but the feel just wasn't the same. It felt like Zak was close to dragging at times. I just kept wanting to say, "come on guys, PICK IT UP".

Not one of Daltrey's better performances... he should probably call it a day. Townsend's guitar work was OK (if uneven), but his voice is even more far-gone than Daltry's.

I thought the mix was OK but I was hearing it through a pretty high-end home theater system too. On regular TV speakers it would not have translated. Pino had good tone but not what I'm used to hearing on those tunes.

Bottom line... a capable (not outstanding) performance that could have used more energy. The light show was cool though.
 
#69
Exploiter8 said:
I haven't been a member of TB for long, but it seems to be an outlet more for ragging and venting, not constructive criticism, so here goes...It was what I expected. Hasn't anyone heard The Who post Moon or Entwistle? Roger and Pete sound LOADS better than Robert and Jimmy who only very rarely play together anymore, and THEIR bassist is still alive!
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Welcome to TB. Sadly, you may find that a certain percentage of TB members come across like a bunch of complaining, nitpicking old ladies. But certainly, everyone is entitled to their opinions.

I enjoyed the halftime show. It goes without saying that I'm biased, considering I named my first born after Entwistle. Was it one of the Who's finest performances? Of course not. The Who's finest performances happened 30+ years ago. However, Pete and Roger are living legends, and I'm just thankful that we still have the occasional opportunity to see them do their thing while they're still around.
 
#70
You know, I am a huge fan of what the Who used to be. Back in the day, they pretty much defined anti-establishment, irreverant teenage angst. In this way, they opened the door to so many acts that followed. Their music still makes me think of them as young men, smashing their instruments and basically being bad boys.

But that kind of thing doesn't age very well does it?

They lost so much when Keith Moon died, but I understand why they kept going. It was only 1978 after all. But when the Ox died, it was time to hang it up for good IMO.
 
#71
I just got home from shoveling my parents' car out. While I was over there, my mom (age 79) and I discussed the Who's show (Dad slept through most of it). She has some interest in this kind of thing, having raised 4 sons, 3 of whom are musicians. She wanted to know what I thought of it, and why that one man kept waving his arm around like that. She thought it was weird.

I said I thought they did pretty good for guys their age, whose younger selves had set the bar pretty high back in the day. I mentioned the passing away of their original drummer and bassist, and how the replacement guys have clearly not been asked to be clones of the originals, but have no doubt been encouraged to be themselves, and play as they see fit.

Re: armwaving, I explained that it's called windmilling, and that it's a signature move for Townshend, that he's done his whole career. I told her the story about Pete impaling his hand on his whammy bar while windmilling. I told her that the Who were always about loud agressive rock, and only did a few ballads over the course of their career.

And then she said the cutest thing:
"I think I like the Grateful Dead better than the Who."


:D Love you, Mom! You would've made a great hippie chick!
 
#72
Sounded to me like they were "air guitaring" to a back up track, but decided to sing it live... Personally the reverse would have been preferred. I give them props for getting the gig, but when your can't hit the notes anymore and it sounds as tragic as it was...maybe thats your cue that your done rehashing old "classics"... Most everyone I know had pretty much the same reaction...

And yes those symbols were bad ass!
 
#73
Did anybody else catch the one Steve Winwood song that was aired on TV in the pregame show? He did Higher Love but it appeared there were some audio problems on stage as if they could not hear themselves properly.

Also, since you can bet on just about any statistic for the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, I understand that people could place bets on how many windmills Pete Townshend would do during their performance. It was discussed on a sports segment I watched about the different types of betting going on.
 
#74
I saw Steve Linwood's spot. As he started up there was nothing in the mix but vocals and conga; eventually it came together but the vocals weren't very well sung.

I also saw Queen Latifah yank one of her in-ears out as she started her performance of America the Beautiful.

I can't imagine Roger & Pete lip syncing a show after 5 decades of live performances. Wouldn't you play it live?
 
#75
Speaking of in-ears... I wasn't seeing any for The Who. I did see some big-azz wedges in front of Roger. And Pete's deaf so he probably plays by sensing the vibrations or by sight anymore. I thought at least Zak would be wearing earbuds to sync with the keyboard sequences unless those were being played live as well.

Kinda surprising anymore to NOT see IEMs used at any big venue like this.
 
#78
Armacielli said:
Roger can still sing pretty well. Pete sounds a bit rough. It was no original line-up, but i liked the show. My biggest gripe is Pete Townshend has been smashing guitars without remorse for about half a century, but when he's in front of possibly the biggest audience he's ever has, he lays it down gently? What gives?
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Townshend hasn't smashed a guitar since the early 70's...with the exception of a few smashes for charity...
 

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