Once again The Who wheel out one of the richest back catalogues in rock history in the name of charity. As with their earlier Albert Hall show in November 2000, the Teenage Cancer Trust are the beneficiaries of their efforts.
This is the second of two Who shows as part of a week's concerts that have also included appearances by Marti Pellow, Oasis, Paul Weller, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. It's also a chance for the band to get their live chops back together in readiness for American and British tours later this year.
With no fanfare, the three original members plus long-serving accomplices Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr) on drums and John 'Rabbit' Bundrick on keyboards saunter onstage and blast into 'I Can't Explain'. Roger Daltrey twirls his microphone, Pete Townshend skits back and forth, digging into his guitar and occasionally unleashing a windmill that draws appreciative roars, while John Entwistle remains as stoic and poker faced as ever, letting his fingers do the talking with his amazing bass runs.
The run of classic singles continues with 'Substitute' and 'Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere', followed by some choice cuts from 'Tommy', including 'Amazing Journey', a fiery 'Sparks' that sees Daltrey destroy two tambourines with his enthusiastic playing, the inevitable 'Pinball Wizard' and 'I'm Free'. However, despite having all this legendary material at their disposable, things aren't quite going according to plan.
Townshend is in a belligerent mood, eyeing the front row at his feet with disdain and seemingly unable to coax the notes he wants out of his guitar during solos, while various cues are missed elsewhere, giving the show a somewhat under rehearsed feel in places. Even the usually awesome climax of 'Behind Blue Eyes' seems muted.
Townshend's solo acoustic spot has him reminding the "c**ts" in the front that he does know the opening verses to 'Quadrophenia' track 'Drowned', even though he forgot them the previous night. The "c**ts" lap up his rebuke but, seriously meant or not, he comes across sounding as a man frustrated with the demands of reliving this history again.
Luckily, a fine version of 'Baba O'Riley' gets things back on track, and a pulverising version of '5.15', which sees Townshend finally manage to channel his frustration through his guitar to glorious effect, is only derailed by an overlong and sloppy bass solo from Entwistle.
By the encore the show has finally started to grip. Daltrey straps on an acoustic guitar for 'The Kids Are Alright' and they revisit two staples of their 70s live set - Eddie Cochran's 'Summertime Blues' and Mose Allison's 'Young Man Blues'. If you close your eyes during the latter, it could be the Moon-era band up there, Townshend and Starkey in absolute synchronicity while still managing to both solo. Open your eyes again and you discover Townshend has fallen into the pit at the front of the stage. Which kind of sums up what kind of night it's been.
'My Generation' sends the faithful home happy but this was a good, not great, performance. Even on off nights like this, The Who still have the power to amaze the uninitiated and blow many bands half their age off the stage. But on off nights like this, they become just another great rock band playing great songs. Unfortunately for them, the weight of their history
demands that they deliver more.
