Long Live Rock
So, tonight The Who is playing at a local watering hole. O.k., they're playing the Pepsi Center (which I understand isn't 'The Pepsi Center', but rather 'Pepsi Center' - whatever). I assume they are playing to a sold out crowd as Craigslist was packed with people looking for tickets. I nearly went but for some reason, at this stage of my life and, more likely, this stage of Pete and Roger's career, I just couldn't do it.
I saw The Who at Folsom Field in 1989. I was 19, and while many of the people in the crowd were commenting on the band being old, The Who wasn't terribly old to me. I'd only 'discovered' them in those last four or five years. I remember watching Tommy on VHS at a friend's house - followed by taking turns falling backward into a swimming pool and acting out the smash-the-mirror scene when Daltrey (Tommy) finally regains his senses and, for whatever psychedic reason, splashes about in a pool. It was probably symbolism of a Baptism/rebirth now that I think of it, but before I had a driver's license, it was just a cool thing to do.
Soon after I was buying cassette tapes and driving around rocking out to Won't Get Fooled Again, Love Reign O'er Me, Join Together, Baba O'Reilly... man, those were some good times. Throwing on the denim jacket, leaving school to get lunch at the 39-cent Hamburger Stand and washing it down with 3.2% beer in the park near school. It would have been straight out of 'Dazed and Confused' if the scene had been in the 70s instead of the 80s. Regardless, The Who provided the soundtrack for those rough and tumble years.
A year after graduation, The Who came to town and played Folsom Field in Boulder. We sat out for tickets; playing frisbee in the parking lot enbalmed in the excited spirit in the air (part of the concert-going experience Ticketbastard has managed to destroy, but don't get me started).
It's over 15 years later, and I don't recall a whole lot from the actual concert. I remember an older guy commenting that he 'loved the smell of fresh cut grass' as the sun lowered and the band began. I remember a giant pinball rolled into the audience during Pinball Wizard. I remember waiting in anticipation to see if Pete Townsend would do the arm-windmill on his guitar (he'd been quoted earlier in the week that he wouldn't because it just wasn't worth the pain and hearing loss he'd incurred throughout the years). But clearly I remember the guys I saw the show with and the youthful whimsy of spending more money that we should on tickets and t-shirts. While it's been more than 10 years since I've seen those guys, I thought of them a lot today - wondering if they were going to the show - wondering if they recall those years as fondly as I do.
And that is why I'm not at the concert right now. The memories are perfect, if a bit spotty. And, as far as my memory serves, The Who is perfect.
While I sit and listen to The Who channel on Sirius Satellite Radio, two of the original guys to proclaim the easiest lyric to mock are going at it in front of another generation. "I hope I die before I get old" was written before anyone could conceptualize being old and 'rocking'. In my mind I know Pete's doing the arm-windmill tonight just like he did in '89. Well, maybe not just like he did, but fuck it, he's doing it!
I saw The Who at Folsom Field in 1989. I was 19, and while many of the people in the crowd were commenting on the band being old, The Who wasn't terribly old to me. I'd only 'discovered' them in those last four or five years. I remember watching Tommy on VHS at a friend's house - followed by taking turns falling backward into a swimming pool and acting out the smash-the-mirror scene when Daltrey (Tommy) finally regains his senses and, for whatever psychedic reason, splashes about in a pool. It was probably symbolism of a Baptism/rebirth now that I think of it, but before I had a driver's license, it was just a cool thing to do.
Soon after I was buying cassette tapes and driving around rocking out to Won't Get Fooled Again, Love Reign O'er Me, Join Together, Baba O'Reilly... man, those were some good times. Throwing on the denim jacket, leaving school to get lunch at the 39-cent Hamburger Stand and washing it down with 3.2% beer in the park near school. It would have been straight out of 'Dazed and Confused' if the scene had been in the 70s instead of the 80s. Regardless, The Who provided the soundtrack for those rough and tumble years.
A year after graduation, The Who came to town and played Folsom Field in Boulder. We sat out for tickets; playing frisbee in the parking lot enbalmed in the excited spirit in the air (part of the concert-going experience Ticketbastard has managed to destroy, but don't get me started).
It's over 15 years later, and I don't recall a whole lot from the actual concert. I remember an older guy commenting that he 'loved the smell of fresh cut grass' as the sun lowered and the band began. I remember a giant pinball rolled into the audience during Pinball Wizard. I remember waiting in anticipation to see if Pete Townsend would do the arm-windmill on his guitar (he'd been quoted earlier in the week that he wouldn't because it just wasn't worth the pain and hearing loss he'd incurred throughout the years). But clearly I remember the guys I saw the show with and the youthful whimsy of spending more money that we should on tickets and t-shirts. While it's been more than 10 years since I've seen those guys, I thought of them a lot today - wondering if they were going to the show - wondering if they recall those years as fondly as I do.
And that is why I'm not at the concert right now. The memories are perfect, if a bit spotty. And, as far as my memory serves, The Who is perfect.
While I sit and listen to The Who channel on Sirius Satellite Radio, two of the original guys to proclaim the easiest lyric to mock are going at it in front of another generation. "I hope I die before I get old" was written before anyone could conceptualize being old and 'rocking'. In my mind I know Pete's doing the arm-windmill tonight just like he did in '89. Well, maybe not just like he did, but fuck it, he's doing it!
posted by Pino at 7:58 PM
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