Saturday, September 30, 2006 at John Labatt Centre, London, Ontario
Yesterday, as I've already said, I finished reading my English book, and started to type up my chapter notes. Now, chapter notes are not the funnest thing in the world, as with all homework. And, when I'm on the computer, I'm always tempted to check my email, go on the internet, work on my website… And luckily, that's what I did yesterday.
There are a few sites that I visit most every day. One of these is Long Live Rock, a Who website. I noticed that on that night, September 30, 2006, The Who were playing in my fair country, in London, Ontario.
"Wow…" I think. "I wonder how far away that is?" I open up Google Earth to calculate just how far away I am from my heroes. "Two hours… wow…. that's like… really close… wow…"
I go downstairs and tell my parents "hey, The Who are playing in London! We should go! Ha ha!" and then return to my homework.
Shortly after, one of my parents yells at me to come downstairs. "Oh crap… they sound angry… what did I do wrong…?"
And then they say "hey, do you wanna go see The Who?"
Do I wanna go see The Who? (Do I have my Air Miles card…?)
DO ***I*** WANNA GO SEE ***THE WHO***?!??!?!?!?!
UH… YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"But of course", I think, "they're only joking". I've got homework to do. Bye, see ya in a week, when I'm done.
But no. They're serious!? SERIOUS?!?!?
It's 5:30. As I previously discovered, it takes 2 hours to get there. And the concert starts at 7:30.
Uh…. HOLY CRAAAP!!!
So I run upstairs and run around trying to find an outfit and go insane trying to get ready.
I come back downstairs and ask "are we going?", because I didn't know if they had the tickets yet. "SHHHHHH!" my dad tells me. When my brother leaves, he says we aren't telling him. We'll say we're just going for a drive.
What a wonderful prank. MWHAHA.
So after I run around some more, deciding whether or not to wear my Who jacket, or my Who shirt, or my Tommy shirt, or my Keith shirt… I come downstairs again. "Didja get the tickets?" Yes, I learn, we got the tickets. But they're not good. "We're just going to listen" dad says. Well, that's good enough for me!
So we all get in the car. "We're just going for a drive," dad tell my brother, "but we might stop at a fair". MWHAHA.
As we start driving down the street, it hits me. *I* am going to see *The Who*. Pete! Roger! I'm going to see them! Twice, no less! But tonight! I'm going to be in the same room. I'm going to hear their new songs. YESSSSSS!
I can hardly contain my excitement, but I know I must, for my brother must not know where we are going. Funnily enough, he happened to be wearing his Tommy shirt that day. MWHAHA.
"Mom…" I say, while we're in the car, "my mouth keeps making funny faces!" She smiles at me knowingly. My brother, oblivious, makes fun of me for being a weirdo. Oh, if only you knew…
It was a LONG drive. But we got there. On time, no less, even after going the wrong way once.
When my brother realizes that we're at the John Labatt Centre, he knows where we are and why we're here. This is no crappy fair (just another tricky day…)! THIS IS THE 'OO!
He was a little mad. "Don't ever do that again!" he kept reminding us. I thought it was a pretty good joke. But he was upset. But you can't really be that upset if you're going to see The Who, so he pretty much had to forgive us.
We go get our tickets and then find our seats. We're up on the top level, the crappy seats. But, what's this? The music… is getting louder?
We go through the curtains. We look straight ahead. And there's the opening band.
Not all the way across the arena, oh no. They are RIGHT THERE. We are BESIDE THE FREAKING STAGE.
HOOOOLY CRAP!
I mean, I can see their expressions! I can see the strings on the guitar! I can see their noses!
Well, you would be able to see Pete's nose regardless of where you sat.
Ba dum csssssh.
Sorry, Pete. I love you.
Okay, this picture doesn't show how close we were. This looks far away. But we were *really* really close. It was awesome.
Now, I thought the opening band was supposed to be Casbah Club, Pete's brother Simon's band, but apparently not. I don't know who (WHO!) these guys were, but they were okay. But I have no idea what they were playing. Because I was FREAKING OUT.
No WAY. I am NOT this close. For the cheap seats? NO WAY.
"Thank you!" they say, and then they're off.
There was a 30-60 minute intermission. I don't know how long it was.
But, inevitably, the lights go down. The crowd goes wild. I don't remember exactly what happened, but before you knew it, there they were. Pino, Simon, Zak, Rabbit… ROGER! PETE!
Okay. Probably the first feeling I had when I saw Roger was disappointment.
He was wearing a t-shirt.
Not a button up shirt.
Because those seem to have a mysterious way of unbuttoning themselves. :)
Apparently though, looking at some photos from other concerts this tour, that's what he wears at almost every show.
But Roger, if you're reading this (oh dear god), I (and many many many other people) would appreciate it if you would switch back to those lovely lovely button up shirts. Because ummm… well, it's the latest fashion, doncha know? Yeah! And umm…. you don't want to be "uncool" now do you? And those t-shirts are probably really bad for you health. That's it! Right! Thanks Roger. :)
Anyway, Roger's got his uncool t-shirt, and Pete's wearing a little black and white stripey hat.
And clothes too! GEESH. Come on. Like he'd go up there naked. He's not one of those green cold chilly vegetables.
See? We were really close! Ha ha!
So yeah. I don't remember too much about individual songs, but they start with "I Can't Explain" and then "The Seeker". These songs are short, so that scared me. I hope the rest of the concert isn't that short. But come on, this is the Who. They're doing Tommy, they're doing their mini-opera, it can't be that short, right? Here's the set list, I believe:
SET LIST
- I Can't Explain
- The Seeker
- Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere
- Fragments
- Who Are You
- Real Good Looking Boy
- Behind Blue Eyes
- Wire and Glass
- Sound Round
- Pick Up The Peace
- Endless Wire
- We Got A Hit
- They Made My Dreams Come True
- Mirror Door
- Baba O'Riley
- Eminence Front
- Man In The Purple Dress
- Mike Post Theme
- You Better, You Bet
- My Generation / Cry If You Want
- Won't Get Fooled Again
- Pinball Wizard
- Amazing Journey
- Sparks
- See Me, Feel Me
- Listening To You
- Tea & Theatre
"Fragments" is the first new song they played, it was pretty cool. But then again, I may be biased, because I thought all their new songs were cool. Pete explained after "Fragments" that "the songs seem to be about me, but they're really about you" and then they went into "Who Are You" which is "also about you".
Before "Real Good Looking Boy", Roger talked a little about what the song was about.
And, holy crap. I just realized, that is exactly how I interpreted it. About Elvis. And I didn't know, I just guessed. Wow… nice.
He said something about Elvis "when I was 11 years old… that's a fucking scary thought".
And then, Wire and Glass! YAY! This is probably my favourite song they played, I suppose, since it's a mini-opera like "A Quick One". So that was just totally cool, and made me love the song even more. And to think, I hated it when I first heard it! But no, it grew on me, thankfully.
I think in Eminence Front Pete may have mixed up a few lines, but I wasn't sure. Or he may have just changed it around, because, after all, Pete can do no wrong. And when he changed the one line to be "their fucking heads spin", the crowd cheers. Ha ha ha. I thought it was hilarious. But when Roger interjected that interjection into "You Better You Bet", I didn't notice any cheers. Oh well.
Oh, and windmills all over the place, since I haven't mentioned that yet, and microphones flying everywhere. Oh man, every time Roger's swings that thing around I am always so worried that he won't catch it. But he just always does, man. He's just *that* good. And Pete too! When he windmills I'm like "be careful Petey! Don't hurt your hand!" But he never does. He's not Stephen Stills, ha ha.
For "Man in a Purple Dress", Roger went up to the front of the stage. I was so jealous of those people in the front row, he was like two feet away from them. Sadly, I didn't realize that the lights were purple until like halfway through the song. I know, I'm slow.
Oh, speaking of the lights. The lights were awesome. I didn't notice so much during the Who, since I wasn't looking at the lights, but during the opening band, the lights were like PERFECT with what they were playing.
Can't tell you how the video screens were, because I only looked at those a few times. But during "Sparks", I believe, they were right on, BAM!, with the music. Good job, man.
I think, some time around "Mike Post Theme", another new song, Pete said something about being superstitious, and starting in Canada and ending in Canada… but it didn't make sense, because they aren't starting or ending in Canada. Or maybe he said they were breaking tradition? Hey, then that's two historical breaking tradition concerts I've been to this year (Ringo was the other one, with no leaving before the encore)!
So, the band starts into "Mike Post Theme". And then they stop. And then they start again. And stop again. He he he he. And then they do it right. Yay!
After "My Generation", I expected them to leave. But no. They went right into "Won't Get Fooled Again".
Oh… crap.
That's supposed to be the encore. I don't want to be robbed of my encore! I thought back to CSNY, and the missing "Woodstock". Pete didn't actually hurt his hand, did he? OH NO!!! AHHHH! I WANT MY ENCORE!
After "Won't Get Fooled Again", they went off stage. The lights didn't come up, so that's a good sign. The lights going up… is like death.
I don't know how long they were gone, but I clapped almost the entire time, and I NEVER do that!
And then, they came back! Phew!
Now they start into "Pinball Wizard" and the other Tommy songs. During "Amazing Journey", Roger switched his microphone, but the other one wasn't working, but then amazingly it started working again. Wow…
At some point during the encore, I think Pete was having trouble with his amps. Some roadie or tech guy or something ran up on stage and started to fiddle about with one, but then Pete started yelling at him, he had the wrong one or something.
During "Sparks", Roger got to rest his voice and instead play tambourine, just like his hero, Davy Jones. He ended up smashing up one (YEAH! WOO! SMASH!), so he THREW it away and got another one. YEAH! SMASH! WOOOOO! SMASH YOUR GUITAR PETE! YEAH!!! Oh… right.
So yeah, by the end of the Tommy bit, I was getting pretty sad. But not the usual saddness, that I won't ever see them again, because I will, but it's going to be a long few months. Man oh man.
I heard "Tea and Theatre" for the first time yesterday morning. When I heard they were closing with it, I thought they were crazy. It's a slow song. It's not a closing song.
But you know, when they started it, it just seemed right. I hoping Roger would just say "hey, everyone, just come up on stage and we'll sit in a little circle and drink some tea". But no. Oh well. Maybe next time.
Next time. Man. There's actually going to be a next time… :)