Well...not really "The WHO", but I suppose it's the next best thing. The Who's lead singer, Roger Daltrey, performed at the newly built Cedar Park Center on Tuesday, October 11. Since he was going to be performing my favorite Who album, "Tommy", in its entirety, I decided to go.
The Cedar Park Center is a pretty good venue for concerts, and the sound system there is excellent. Its maximum capacity for concerts is around 8,000 people, which is about half of the size of most concert arenas. Unfortunately, for Roger Daltrey, but fortunate for me, he didn't even sell half the amount of tickets to fill the arena. Apparently, only about 2500 to 3000 tickets were sold. Empty seats were everywhere. As a result, they moved the stage to the center of the arena, and basically turned it into a big club gig. The seat that I had originally purchased didn't exist anymore, so they relocated me to the 7th row on the floor. Not bad. With the exception of the front-row seats I once had for Simon & Garfunkel (which was a total fluke, I just happened to check for tickets on the day of the concert), this was the closest I have ever sat to any band that was playing an arena show.
The show, as expected, was filled with old-timers and hippies. I felt like, at 41 years old, I might have been the youngest one there, but I did see a few kids. There was one guy sitting in front of me who looked to be in his 70's, who covered his ears during some of the nosier segments. Eventually he got up and left. Yes, I guess sometimes you can be too old to rock.
Other than Daltrey's voice not being quite up to par on some of the Who epics (Baba O'Riley, Young Man Blues, See Me Feel Me, etc), he put on a good show for someone who is 67 years old. It's unfortunate that the turnout was so sparse, but I guess if he dragged Pete Townsend along and called themselves "The Who", it would have been packed.
Yes, i agree that Roger was doing a good show... exceptionally good for a guy who is 67 years old. It's a fact; his vocal cords are not 30, 40 or 50 anymore. With the notable exceptions of Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney (they aren't quite what they used to be either), many of Roger's contemporaries are pretty much washed out vocally. Just the same, I say more power to Roger and all the rest still doing their thing. I want to still be out in the world and being productive as they are when I reach that age too.
ReplyDeleteMany of the older acts sound pretty bad today. Have you heard Bob Dylan sing live in the last 15 years? He sounds like a frog. But, if people still want to see him, more power to him.
ReplyDeleteRoger Waters has lost it, too, which is why he is backed up by tapes when he plays live. David Gilmour, however, still sounds fantastic. His voice has barely changed at all.
It's amazing that people in their late 60's, or even early 70's in some cases, can still go out there and rock. Paul Simon just had his 70th birthday. I wonder if he feels "terribly strange to be 70." hehe
Yes, I went to see Bob in Toledo in the late nineties. Kenny Wayne Shepherd opened for him. He didn't sound so great then, but I was still happy to see the show. The tickets weren't that expensive either, if I recall.
ReplyDeleteHa ha! Good one!
I guess we all feel pretty strange sometimes when we look in the mirror and see ourselves getting older. It's said that a person is three ages: Chronological age, biological/physical age and their mental age. I know mine are out of sync; the biological is younger than the chronological by about 15 years and the mental... well some of that is still in my twenties and other aspects of it are beyond my actual years. It's the cause of some soul-searching sometimes.
Justin Bieber still sounds as good as ever. I wish I could say the same about the Jonas Brothers. Whatever happened to them? They were the next Beatles.
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