[.ca] The Who & Special Guests - Live At The Royal Albert Hall ...

From Amazon.com:
For a band that held its farewell tour in 1982, the Who sound far from finished when it comes to exploring the greater passions and sonic possibilities of its old material. Never has that been more evident than in The Who: Live at the Royal Albert Hall, a record of the group's remarkable stand at a charity gig in London late in 2000. Perennial patrons of adolescents, the Who is clearly energized by an emotional attachment to Britain's Teenage Cancer Trust (beneficiary of the fundraiser), a feeling that also sweeps through several well-chosen guests who happen to be spiritual descendants of the band. After a long opening set that includes a scorching "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere," a gorgeous update of "The Kids Are Alright," and a soulful "Bargain," the Who usher in punk violinist Nigel Kennedy to help electrify "Baba O'Riley," the Jam's founder Paul Weller for a lovely, acoustic rendition of "So Sad About Us," and Stereophonics guitarist-vocalist Kelly Jones for a nearly epiphanous "Substitute." More than just a parade of celebrities paying homage to Townshend and fellow Olympians Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle, the select visitors here challenge the Who to add new colors to old warhorses (Noel Gallagher's psychedelic tinge on "Won't Get Fooled Again") and delicate semiclassics (Eddie Vedder's sympathetic duet with Townshend on "I'm One"). By the end of a robust evening, Daltrey's voice is shot and Townshend looks ready for a shot of vitamins, but anyone who would declare the Who a bunch of worn-out grandpas is spoiling for a Mod-era stomping. This is an essential set for Who loyalists and a wonderful show for everyone else. --Tom Keogh

Additional Features:
On the special features side, typical Who thoroughness has seen to a documentary on the Cancer Trust hosted by Daltrey, a multi-angle look at a performance of "Pinball Wizard," and plenty of fly-on-the-wall footage of rehearsals. --Tom Keogh

Very Good:
On November 27, 2000, the Who closed their tour with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. In my opinion they've never played a better concert. The looseness of the group makes for a relaxed atmosphere and some really great rock and roll. There is a lot of improvisational jamming in between songs. The band acts very free onstage. For instance, when Roger sings the line, "Can I buy your magic bus" Pete screams out "No!" All in all a wonderful performance and a great DVD.

The kids are alright:
This dvd rocks and they sound great. zack starkey the son of ringo star,is great but is no keith moon. the acoustic section with Peat Townsed is awsome he does one song from quad and one for lifehouse. the late john entwistle "the ox" is one of the best bass players. Bryan Adams does Behind blue eys with them and he sounds awsome he can really sing that song. so if you like the who you will like the dvd

John to Pete: You Really Think You're Going There Without Me:
During the playing of John's song, "My Wife", the cameras capture a sequence that literally, says it all. The band has just entered an instrumental break. Pete is introduces the line, John tosses his pick to the wind and grabs up great handfuls of bass strings. From there, it's a race. At their best the Who were always like that. They played as if they were trying to run away from the each other but kept landing in the same place. They were evenly matched and "read" each other so well it usually worked. Mistakes happened, but hell, those only showed how many chances they were willing to take. Crowds loved that and it literally, cemented their reputation as the greatest live band ever. When Keith died they were still an excellent band but his part of that chemistry was lost. John (Rabbit) Bundrick was (and still is) fine with it, but Kenney Jones wasn't. It was that simple. Then Zak Starkey came along. When (yet) another tour was announced for the spring of 2000 critics were quick to label it to end up as another zip-less grab for money. Little did they know. Zak had been with the band for a few years and largely restored the vitality Keith had injected. More important, he gave Entwistle and Townshend someone they could "run" with again. When they stripped the band back down again the old fire came back. In the spring, summer and fall of 2000 they hit north America with a roar that hadn't been seen from anyone from any genre in decades. New material or no, the most explosive live band in rock was back! Live at the RAH more than illustrates this. That it's a "greatest hits" set (with an "all-star" guest list to boot) put me off for a while. Don't make the same mistake. The catalogue the Who have to offer is a great one. When it's performed this amount of passion by a band like this it never gets old. Roger can't quite hit all the high notes any longer, Pete doesn't jump a often, or as high and John's singing voice, never great, by this time was close to shot. All of this matters little. Roger has enough passion for ten singers. As well, he brings a level of intelligence and understanding to the material that's rare in the industry. And don't forget, he never takes any nights "off". What Pete lost in leaping ability he's gained in musical finesse. This man is playing the guitar the way he did thirty years ago but with all the skill that time and practice have added. Nobody plays like him. Nobody! John was a fabulous player. Ultimately this band may end up missing him even more than they missed Keith. His ability to pick up Townshend's threads and add immediately add to them was the glue which held them together. The importance of John (Rabbit) Bundrick can't be overstated. He's played with the Who since the late 1970's and it shows. It's hard to imagine keyboard player better suited to working with this outfit. He's literally all over everything Pete and John do as fast as Keith ever was. The guest stars, for the most fit in well. Eddie Vedder is a long time friend of Townshend and a fan. To watch him up there you could swear he knows their music as well as they do. Brian Adams looks a little nervous (for about ten seconds) but then cuts loose. His rendition of "Behind Blue Eyes" is classic. Nigel Kennedy comes in and plays the violin part from "Baba". He and Townshend have so much fun it has to be illegal (somehow anyway). Noel Gallagher doesn't leave the impact on "Won't Get Fooled Again" that Eddie Vedder leaves on "I'm One" but he doesn't hurt anything either. The only guest stars who fall a little short are Paul Weller and Kelly Jones. Weller and Townshend just don't mesh all that well. Kelly Jones, unfortunately, leaves you wanting Roger back on the mike to remind everyone what "Substitute" is "supposed" to sound like. The only other problem lies with the neck mounted camera used to spotlight John's bass solo. This was just a bad idea. It was supposed to give a close look. All it does is give wide angle close-ups that make Entwistle seem disembodied from the rest of the concert. It's too bad. The solo was a good one. Thankfully that camera was only used on the one segment. This is nit picking though. The performance is a great one. The camera work is superb and the sound quality is fabulous. Buy it, turn it up and enjoy a great rock band doing their thing.

Don't miss it!:
Why did I wait so long to get this fabulous concert? Highlights for me are Entwistle's incredible bass solo, Zak's energetic drumming, Daltrey's ease of great singing, Pete's accoustic guitar palying, a crowd that really loved it, a real fun version of "Magic Bus", and overall a band that really played a concert and gave it all. Thanks.

BEST OF THE WHO LIVE!!!!!:
This is one of the best Live DVD's that I have ever seen! The sound, and video editing is very good it truley is the best WHO LIVE Dvd's out there. Must have in your WHO collection!!! The package comes with 2 DVD's. The 1st DVD is the whole concert EXCELLANT, and the 2nd DVD is just extras which I find was a little boring. The extras were made up of interviews and studio clips that lasted minutes. Not worth watching a second time, but the 1st DVD (THE WHOLE CONCERT) is 5 Stars*****!!!!!!! Worth every penny! The Who Fan