Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The world moves on, and there would be those who see bands such as The Who as an anathema, a curse on the modern day sentiment to which the atmosphere, the standards and the times reflect a new generation’s different belief; and yet we have to surely acknowledge that in many ways the world, its path of political discourse and absurdity, has meant that we are still fighting the same battles that took shape over fifty years ago.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The question remains, just how do you ever fully capture the live gig to the point where it matches in the mind the near mythical status that it has been placed in. An impossible task, almost perfected across time, but one that is rarely 100% conjoined with reality and your own perception of the event that took place.
It perhaps is easier to enjoy a release, no matter how old, when it out of the realms of most who weren’t even born when the album was released, or when the gig took place. To look back with nostalgia is one thing, to immerse yourself in the history of the moment is to seek out what made the band in question such a force of nature.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There are always holy grails in which the music lover finds themselves hoping to one day hear, elevated from the possible and tantalising, once exotic but dubiously sourced bootleg, and for the fans of The Who, the night at the Fillmore East in the aftermath of one of the most horrendous acts of murder in American History, is one that has long been wanted and relished of all of the great British band’s captured performances.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Never knowingly disappoint your fans, give them everything you can from the very start of your career and when the final whistle starts to be blown, when perhaps the fat lady has began to clear her voice and make those irregular noises associated with the opera singer’s mad dash for stardom become apparent, give them more than they ever bargained for, give them the world.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Think of The Who and the thought of one of the greatest ever British bands should immediately spring to mind, the thought of the Rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia will occur naturally not far behind and songs delivered with overwhelming talent and power such as The Kids Are Alright, Who Are You, Pinball Wizzard and My Generation with couple themselves with images of four of the finest rock talents to ever come out of London. The mix is explosive, it has any fan of the band reaching for an album to get their fix, their daily dose of exuberance, excess and excellence.
The Who, Echo Arena, Liverpool. December 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It’s a wonder at times that the River Mersey doesn’t grumble at the thought of another band making its way to the Echo Arena and producing a cacophony of sound that seeps through every pore of the audience’s being. The dynamic ebb and flow, the underlying fury that drives the water down to the Liverpool-Manchester Canal and hits the rocky shoreline of Ireland with a brutal but much loved smack takes second place to the sheer resonance produced when rock legends such as Peter Gabriel, Status Quo and The Who come to Liverpool within a week of each other.
So I married a cheese plant…well given the alternatives, I think we have both been happy enough, although I am well aware that I was not the poor cheese plant’s first choice of possible life partners.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 10/10
Towards the end of The Who’s impressive, even epic set, there was a small message that blinked into existence for just the briefest of seconds which uttered the instruction, “Keep rocking, Liverpool’, in truth this is a city that doesn’t need telling twice but as instructions go it was up there with the best of them.
Originally published by L.S. Media. November 22nd 2010.
There are some live albums that stand the test of time and capture the band or artist at their very best, one such album is The Who’s Live at Leeds. Originally recorded in the bands heyday of 1970, the album is a snap shot of one of the finest rock bands to come out of Britain, punchy, insightful to the point of brilliance, the album has constantly been adorned with being one of the defining moments of Rock history.