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Vh1 Rock Honors: The Who
Pauley Pavilion
UCLA Campus
Los Angeles, California
07/12/09 By Jeb
Wright
The
third annual VH1 Rock Honors took place in the City of the
Angels, honoring one of Rock’s truly great bands, The Who. Rock
Honors has built a reputation as the best yearly event dedicated
to classic rock and tonight they raised the bar to a new level.
Rock Honors III changed the format from honoring four bands, as
they have done over the past two years, to only one band.
Honoring The Who were some of today’s hottest rock bands and
movie stars. From The Foo Fighters to Incubus to The Flaming
Lips to Pearl Jam the night was a true musical extravaganza.
Introducing the acts were Jack Black and his band Tenacious D,
Sean Penn, Adam Sandler, David Duchovny and Rainn Wilson.
While
on the Red Carpet, Chris Kilmore from the band Incubus told
Classic Rock Revisited that he was honored to be asked to play
at the event, "We are all big fans of the band. As far as me
personally, I used to listen to them with my dad growing up."
When asked how The Who influenced him as a musician, Kilmore
admitted, "I’m a deejay and I think a lot of the sounds they
have in their music are a sampler’s dream. For me, it is the
organ sound in ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again.’ That is my classic Who
moment. If someone asked me what song I wanted to hear by the
Who I would say ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again.’ Instead of flinging
microphones and smashing up their instruments, Kilmore
sheepishly confided, "I am just going to try and not embarrass
myself."
Strutting down the Red Carpet next was Billy Duffey, guitarist
for The Cult. We cornered Billy and asked him about his favorite
Who album. "Back in the day, my favorite album by the Who was
Who’s Next. Later on I got into Quadrophenia.” Duffey
and The Cult recently played a series of shows with The Who. He
recalled the tour and shared what he liked about Pete Townshend
but didn’t like about The Who, "We did some shows with The Who
last summer. It was an honor. Townshend still is amazing. He is
kind of trippy to watch; I was transfixed by him. We did all of
the shows in Europe. We hope to do some more. They don’t pay
very well though."
Before
chatting with drumming legend Chris Slade [Tom Jones, Manfred
Mann, The Firm, Michael Schenker Group and AC/DC] we ran into
Rainn Wilson from the hit television show The Office as he was
ending an on camera interview. I asked Rainn what his character
on the office, Dwight Schrute, would think of The Who. He
answered candidly, "He would worship The Who." As we laughed
Slade approached me and I asked him when he first met The Who.
Slade smiled and recalled the day, over forty years earlier,
with complete clarity, "The first tour I did with them was in
1965. I was playing drums with Tom Jones. Keith borrowed my
drums because his hadn’t showed up. He said, ‘Mate, I need to
borrow your drums.’ I said, ‘I don’t know. How heavy do you
play?’ He said, ‘Oh, not very heavy.’ It is a true story, I
still have the drums. It was a brand new kit and he broke them."
When
asked if bands looked up to The Who when they first started out
Slade laughed and said, "We looked sideways at The Who; nobody
ever looked up to anybody at that point. You were all on the
same level. We used to argue about who was going on last. You
look back now at the genius that was going on. Back then I was
18 years old and nobody realized what was going on. You would
just say, ‘The Who is a rock band’ and that was it."
As the
Red Carpet area was starting to slow down, many journalists were
beginning to go into the venue and prepare to watch the show. I
looked up and saw Roger Daltrey and motioned for him to come my
way. Roger obliged and we spent a few minutes discussing the
event. The Who have long been considered one of Rock’s Elite and
they have had every honor thrown their way, including being
inducted into The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. I asked Roger how he
felt about the constant praise the band receives, "It is kind of
weird but I can’t say that you get bored with it."
Daltrey, in addition to The Who, is also involved in The Rock N
Roll Fantasy Camp and his own solo career. When asked why he
takes time from his busy schedule to do the Fantasy Camp he
admitted, "That is something I like because it reminds of where
I came from in the first place. I really do it just for the
fun." Daltrey went on to say a solo album may be in the works.
As far as a new album from The Who, however, that is up to his
band mate Townshend. "I am working on ideas for something I am
doing on my own. You never know what Pete is writing. It might
be a book and it might be a Who album. His writing is amazing."
Before leaving to prepare for the show Daltrey answered the
question many had been wondering. How would John Entwistle and
Keith Moon feel if they were given the chance to participate in
tonight’s honors? Daltrey looked me in the eye, paused and said
in earnest, "They are here in spirit and they will be here in
the music."
With
that, we gathered our equipment and headed into the Pauley
Pavilion. The capacity crowd waited anxiously for the evening to
begin. The huge stage had two side areas where the people
introducing the band would stand and each side stage was flanked
with giant big screens atop of them. The sound system was state
of the art and from the looks of the lighting crew we could tell
we were in for an amazing light show. X Files Star David
Duchovny , who before the show told me that his favorite Who
album was Who’s Next, took center stage and began the
evenings’ festivities.
The
big screens each played the documentary footage that will be
shown on VH1’s airing of the show. Once the first segment
concluded, The Foo Fighters took the stage and opened the show
with a surprising Who selection, "Young Man Blues." The Who
faithful got into the heavy rock version of the album cut. Next,
Dave Grohl introduced Gaz Coombes from the band Supergrass for a
version of "Bargain." During the song, Coombes screwed up and
came in early on a verse. He quickly realized what he had done
and shut up. The band covered him well and they had a laugh
about it after the song was over.
After
more documentary, Rainn Wilson from The Office appeared
on stage right dressed as Elton John from the movie Tommy.
He was playing a pinball machine and after quoting the song
"Pinball Wizard" introduced The Flaming Lips. Lips front man
Wayne Coyne took the stage in a giant plastic bubble and walked
through the crowd before returning to the stage for a medley of
tunes from Tommy including "Pinball Wizard" and "See Me
Feel Me." The band was the surprise of the event as they played
with passion and had great stage presence.
Next
up was Incubus, introduced by That 70's Show star Mila
Kunis. During her introduction technical difficulties
interrupted her speech and she had to do take two. The crowd was
into the performance and even seemed to enjoy the glitches that
can go into taping a live event. Incubus took on two early songs
from The Who, "I Can See For Miles" and "Can’t Explain." The
band should have been placed earlier in the show as the Flaming
Lips proved hard to follow.
Once
Incubus was finished, the capacity crowd began buzzing as
Tenacious D took the stage. Jack Black told the crowd how The
Who were the first band to rock hard and then went into an
acoustic version of "Squeeze Box" complete with PG-13 graphics
of the song’s true meaning on the video board. D’s presence and
spirited performance got the crowd excited but when Sean Penn
took center stage to introduce Pearl Jam, they went over the top
with everyone in the arena standing on their feet.
Pearl
Jam was easily the best tribute band as they played two songs
from Quadrophenia. "Love Reign O’er Me" saw Eddie Vedder
give an amazing vocal performance while "The Real Me" saw Pearl
Jam loosen up and jam out to a Who classic. At the end of "The
Real Me" a guitar was thrown in the air and came crashing down
in pieces.
After
the final documentary segment it was Adam Sandler’s turn to take
the small stage and, with acoustic guitar in hand, he performed
his own lyrics to the classic song "Magic Bus." As we laughed at
his tribute, everyone knew what was coming next. The Who took
the stage and the evening took on a new kind of magic as
Townshend and Daltrey looked out among the masses and prepared
to rock to the house.
Most
in attendance were expecting the band to play three, maybe four,
classic Who hits but the band knew they were giving something
special back to their fans and proceeded to play a nine-song set
beginning with the classic keyboard run of "Baba O’Riley."
The
hits kept coming as the band went deep into their history with
"The Seeker" followed by the anthem "Who Are You" and the
beautiful ballad "Behind Blue Eyes." The band took a break from
the classic hits and trotted out "2000 Years" from 2006's
Endless Wire album. Up next was "You Better You Bet." About
two thirds of the way through the song the power went out on the
stage. VH1 technicians swarmed the area trying to figure out
what went wrong as I felt terribly sorry for whoever was in
charge of the sound as this truly could be a CEM (Career Ending
Move). One wondered if the temperamental side of The Who might
show up at this moment but instead Daltrey, the only one on
stage with power, said into his microphone, "Shit happens." When
the power was fixed it was suggested that the band take it from
where they left off and have the song spliced together in the
editing room but Daltrey would have none of that. He shouted to
the band, "Let’s take it from the top."
"My
Generation" was played next, complete with solo improvisation
and plenty of windmill arm extensions from Pete. Not to be
outdone, even by themselves, The Who kicked into "Won’t Get
Fooled Again" and took the entire night through the roof with an
amazing version capped off by Daltrey’s famous scream near the
end. It looked as if this would be the last song of the evening
when the band began to leave the stage, leaving only Roger and
Pete gazing into the sea of humanity before them. In a surprise
move, Pete picked up his acoustic guitar and Roger got a cup of
tea and the duo performed the emotional "Tea and Theater," a
song that reflects the musicians long history together. The
crowd turned deafly silent, hanging on every word and note as
Daltrey sang:
Will
you have some tea at the theatre with me?
We did it all didn't we?
Jumped every wall instinctively
Unraveled codes ingeniously
Wired all the roads so
seamlessly
We made it work but one of us failed
That makes it so sad a great dream derailed
One of us - gone, one of us - mad
One of us - me, all of us sad
Lean
on my shoulder now, this story is done
It's getting colder now, a thousand songs
Still smoulder now, we play
them as one
We're older now, all of us sad, all of us free
Before
we walk from this stage, two of us
Will you have some tea at the theatre with me.
Townshend strummed the last chord and the two men, arms around
each others shoulders, took a final bow. Daltrey stood smiling
and looking at the crowd while Townshend set his guitar down and
exited the stage, leaving Roger, unknowingly alone. Daltrey
looked around to discover his partner had already left and shook
his head and smiled before walking off stage to join him. In the
end, Rock Honors III succeeded by bringing memories, passion and
emotion to the event. No one left who was not touched by The Who
and the incredible set they had just witnessed.
Rock
Honors is much more than a yearly two-hour special on VH1. It is
a celebration of rock music. The Who are not just entertainers
or muses, they are part of our lives. The songs they sing, the
words they speak and the legendary antics, both on and off
stage, have somehow deeply touched us. The Who are part of our
musical makeup and will forever be part of our musical soul.
Earlier in the evening, I pointed out to Pete Townshend the fact
that while he is British, his songs have shaped the musical
landscape of America for over forty years. I asked him why he,
as a foreigner, was able to reach into Americas’ soul. Before
answering, Pete reflected and then smiled. He looked me in the
eye and said, "I stole your music." While Pete may have stolen
our music, somewhere along the line The Who stole our heart.
Long
live Rock!
Classic Rock Revisited Thanks Lori Bogin
and Scott Acord
Special Thanks Goes to
Candice Ashton
VIew our Photo
Gallery! Click on the image below to make it larger!
All Photos By Classic Rock Revisited Official Photographer Sean
Turner
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