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Zak Starkey live with The Who: |
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Nov 8 2005 - "Tommy and Quadrophenia Live"
3 DVD set released features an entire Quad performance (from 96 footage)
After another slight staging revision, Quad hit the road, this time billed as "The Who".
The other major changes involved the departure
of Phil Daniels, and Geoff Whitehorn. A live narrator was no longer part of the
presentation. Instead, a younger Jimmy was doing the narrating on the video screen,
which featured new and reworked video segments; For some, this tended to take
away some of the "theatrical" feel of event. But Pete explains:
"I think we confused things a bit by having a boy called Jimmy on the screen, a narrator called Jimmy on the stage in the shape of Phil Daniels and then Jimmy's various inner voices strutting about the stage. It got a bit confusing. We're in the process of tidying that up a bit. We're shooting a lot of film, another half-a-million dollars worth of movie." - PT to Ira Robbins, Oct '96
With
the departure of Geoff Whitehorn, the excitement level rose considerably among
fans who had been clambering for Pete to pick up the electric and wail! But he
was making no promises:
"I'm playing a bit of electric guitar. My brother Simon is still playing most of the work, but I decided I would actually get myself a rig like the one I used in '89, which certainly didn't hurt my ears, and play a few solos, basically because I felt that Geoff Whitehorn was getting a bad rap. I thought he played beautifully and elegantly, and people seemed to think in some way that he shouldn't have been there. So I just thought that I would bow to public opinion and play a bit of electric." - PT to Ira Robbins, Oct '96
The hopes of fan's who attended the first two shows of the tour were not dashed. Pete played electric almost the entire show. But beginning with Vancouver, he was making his stage entrance with an acoustic, which he would hang on to until "The Rock" and "Love Reign O'er Me". The initial reason given (by Bob Pridden to an inquisitive fan) was on account of Pete tearing his thumb nail in Tacoma. Fan's prayed for it's quick recovery. Pete would then go on to say that he was just getting too into it, and fearing what that might lead to, he decided to cut back. Simon was up to the task, though it seems from fan reports it may have taken a night or two for him to settle into the role he was now shouldering alone.
As did the NYC summer shows, this tour featured a "hits" mixed with "unplugged" encore.
"Guest vocalist Gary Glitter seemed happy to have a job, while guest vocalist Billy Idol didn't. And the backing band - five horns, two keyboards, two vocalists, Pete's brother Simon on guitar, a percussionist and especially drummer Zak Starkey - were first rate. They truly helped the Who of now sound like the Who of then." - Tom Phalen, Seattle Times
"Zak Starkey (son of Ringo) perfectly embodied the spirit of the late Keith Moon as he flailed away with wild precise abandon. During "Had Enough" and the chaotic instrumental "The Rock," you could close your eyes and imagine that it was Moon the Loon behind the drum kit. Simon Townshend also fared well on electric guitar, especially on "The Rock" and "Love Reign O'er Me," where he and brother Pete (who finally strapped on the ol' electric) combined for some spine tingling harmony lines."
"John Entwistle was stellar throughout the night. His jaw-dropping solo in "5:15" brought the house down."
"But if I had to choose one time capsule moment it would have to be the four-part harmony singing (of Daltrey, Idol, Glitter and Townshend) in Had Enough[sic]. I was completely in awe and you couldn't have wiped the smile off my face with a machine gun." -Darren Kerr, Drop-D Magazine
"-- for most of the San Jose crowd, including this 30 year Who fan, this manifestation of The Who is more than good enough: It is powerful, strong both in solo and ensemble, convincing in this theater piece, and still has its own, distinctive sound." - Philip Elwood, San Francisco Examiner.
"As unlikely as it may sound, their best hire was Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son, on drums. He mimicked the late Keith Moon perfectly, wearing all white and recreating the chaotic explosions that hold "Quadrophenia" together. His presence alone energized the surviving trio.
The other good choice was "Quadrophenia," which the band played end-to-end for two hours Friday night at Chicago's sold-out United Center. It holds up after two decades infinitely better than the impossible-to-kill Tommy" - Steve Knopper,
P.J.Proby took the place of Gary Glitter as The GodFather, as Glitter was busy with his annual Christmas concerts.
"It's an ambitious and at times pretentious saga, but what makes it great is the sheer quality of the music: not just individual songs such as The Real Me and 5:15, but the seamlessness with which they flow into each other, giving the whole enterprise a sense of continuity, building all the while to a soaring climax.
On stage it was rendered, as it had been in Hyde Park, with vitality and fidelity, with Starkey again playing as though possessed by the spirit of Keith Moon.
Townshend was on an acoustic for most of the show, while his brother Simon played rhythm and lead. Simon is clearly no slouch on the fret board, but it all sounded a bit thin until Pete finally strapped on his Stratocaster for the climax of the main piece." - David Cheal, Electronic Telegraph
Things went so well, that they took the show on the road again for a 1997 - European Tour, followed by a return to the USA summer '97.
|See
also the 1996 Hyde Park and MSG Quad details
|
|You
are at the 1996 Quad Tour details |
|See
also the 1997 Euro Quad Tour details
|
|See
also the 1997 US Quad Tour details
|
|back
to Zak's work with The Who |
|back
to Zak's Bands,Gigs,Sessions |
Other
Who related sections on Kathy's Zak Starkey Site:
Quad Hyde Park and MSG * Quad
USA '96 * Quad Europe '97 *
Quad USA '97
Who's Serious? * Daltrey
Sings Townshend * Who convention '95
Pete's Olivier Award Party * John
Entwistle's The Rock * Pete's 98 solo
gigs
* Who 1999 shows * The
Who 2000 * Tony Ashton Testimonial Show
* The Who 2001 * The
Who 2002 * The Who 2003 * The
Who 2004 *
* The Who 2005 * The
Who 2006 *The
Who 2007 *
* The
Who 2008 *The
Who 2009 *The
Who 2010 *The Who 2011*
* Kathy's Simon
Townshend Pages *
Related Links:
Last Updated: Saturday, February 4, 2006
Created: Oct 1996
Copyright © 1996 -
Kathy VanTassell
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