Und damit ihr wisst, dass wir mit unserer Begeisterung nicht alleine dastehen, noch das Review der IOW-Show des Daily Telegraph.
Originally posted by Richard Wolfson reviews the Who at the Isle of Wight Festival
Sheer genius of the WhoClapped out, over the hill, past it, out of touch, devoid of energy, a bunch of wrinkly has-beens? Not the Who. They may be well into late middle age, but for a couple of hours on the Isle of Wight stage, the scene of their historic instrument-smashing triumph in 1970, they delivered a masterclass in mind-crushingly intense, but also wonderfully subtle power rock.
Energy: the Who delivered a masterclass in intense, power rock
It's not exactly a disadvantage to be able to draw on a back catalogue that includes classic songs such as My Generation, Who Are You and Pinball Wizard. But to deliver them with an urgent intensity, rather than as some dinosaur-rock self-parodying tribute band (a horrible trap for artists of this vintage), was something special.
Daltrey and Pete Townshend, the two surviving members after the deaths of drummer Keith Moon back in 1978, and bassist John Entwistle in 2002, have assembled a knockout band, capturing the energy of the original outfit. Daltrey, dressed in trademark paisley shirt, twirled the microphone lead nonchalantly around his head as the black-clad Townshend hovered over his guitar like a vulture, occasionally unleashing those windmill-arm power chords. Both seemed completely relaxed on stage, and, unlike more posy rock artists, their stage act is based more on what's necessary to produce the energy of the music, rather than being a desperate act of narcissistic preening.
Banter flowed freely. To cheers, Townshend mentioned that the police had counted 650,000 people attending the 1970 festival: „They're still looking for 50,000 of them, Pete,“ quipped Daltrey. „I bet you all want to go to Glastonbury to see Paul McCartney sing Mary Had a Little Lamb,“ Daltrey remarked later.
The instrumental sound the Who produce is incredible; the combination of power and space, the machine-gun perfect timing, the forays into more gentle complex harmonies. When Townshend picked up an acousticguitar for a solo song from Quadrophenia, his control of the instrument, from delicate picking to precise strumming, suggested that he could have had an alternative career as a folk-based acoustic artist. Daltrey's vocals remained accurate and controlled throughout (after two hours he declared himself „completely knackered“).
The day before, Super Furry Animals, Groove Armada and the Stereophonics had cruised through their sets pleasantly enough. On Saturday, Steve Harley invited the entire audience to sing Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me), which they did, and Jet and The Manic Street Preachers did everything you might expect from a gutsy Aussie rock band and a moodily intense Welsh pop act.
Perhaps the most exciting and violent moment of the afternoon came with the intriguing new band British Sea Power, who manage to fuse a New Order-like maturity and intensity with anarchic madness; they ended their set by attacking a nine-foot gorilla with a plastic Pelican.
But, remarkably, no other act came close to the youth, energy, clarity, and sheer genius of the Who. They just don't make them like that any more.
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