My Tattoo

As featured on Joe Giorgianni's site, here is a picture of my tattoo of Pete Townshend about to smash his guitar; inspired by a set of stickers handed out at the Shepherd's Bush concert promoting The Who Direct Web Site.

If anybody has got a tattoo of the Who or is thinking of having one done, post a comment and tell me what you're getting!

Wembley Arena 15/11/2000

Four months spent in the US, the Who returned to the UK to play 11 shows. I attended the Wednesday 15th November show at Wembley Arena. This for me was my birthday present. (Five days later, age 16) It was my father again who redialled Wembley Box office at 9 am constantly and luckily managed to get threw and purchased tickets at the side fairly close to the stage nearest to Pete. A couple of hours later, tickets were sold out.

We drove to the venue and missed the support act Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros. I wasn’t too fussed at the time but have lived to regret it – a few years later Joe Strummer died.

The seats had a good view and Wembley is renowned for having a good sound system, but for atmosphere this concert was the worst. The majority of the audience I believe were either seeing the Who for the first time or hadn’t seen them in years; nobody stood up and were rather quiet compared to Shepherds Bush. They also would get up to buy watered-down beer when the boys played unknown tracks like “I Don’t Even Know Myself” and retrieve to their seats and be irritating shouting “Magic Bus!” every five minutes.

That entire aside, the concert was great. Here is the set list:

I Can’t Explain (8/10 Always a good opener)
Substitute (9/10)
Anyway Anyhow Anywhere (10/10)
The Relay (10/10 Love this track. Should have been on an album)
My Wife (8/10)
Baba O'Riley (9/10 Always the crowd favourite)
I Don’t Even Know Myself (9/10 fantastic, though I was at times distracted by members of the audience getting up to buy beer!)
Bargain (10/10 I’ll always enjoy this song, one of my favourites)
Drowned (9/10 Enjoyed it but my dad had to tell off the “beer” guys in front of us as they were chatting during the performance. If you want to talk and drink alcohol, go to the pub!)
Behind Blue Eyes (9/10)
Pinball Wizard (9/10)
The Real Me (10/10 Love it, wished they played this on the current tour)
You Better You Bet (9/10 Nice and poppy)
Who Are You (10/10 Great stuff)
5:15 (10/10 John’s bass solo astounded the audience)
Won't Get Fooled Again (10/10)
Lets See Action (9/10 Good to hear this)
The Kids are Alright (8/10)
Mary Anne with the Shaky Hands (9/10 Another rare treat)
My Generation (10/10)

After the show I wanted more. If I was the age I was now with a full time job – I would have attended the next night and the Royal Albert Hall show. I was desperate to go to the Teenage Cancer Trust gig, but having no money, still at school and parents not concerned about going; I couldn’t. Roll on 2002.

The video is on the night of the 16th. I was meant to buy the 15th, but brought the wrong video!

The Who - My Generation/You Are Forgiven
Uploaded by Natters515

Downloads

In this section every month I'll have on offer a selection of my You Tube videos as files to download via my "YouSendIt" account. Once you've clicked on the link it goes to another page where you have the option to download the file. It's limited to 100 downloads or 7 days.

I presume due to the files being fairly large YouSendIt require you to have an account before downloading them. It's easy to set up and is free:

http://www.yousendit.com/

Give Blood From White City

Click Here To Download

From the movie "White City".

Relay from Russell Harty Plus

Click Here To Download

Performing Relay for the Russell Harty show in 1973. Sang live but to a background tape.

Secondhand Love from White City

Click Here To Download

From the movie "White City".

Video Section UPDATED

I've updated my Video Section, having added more videos to You Tube. Enjoy!

Videos

Concert Programmes

Here's some scanned pictures of all the Who (or related) concert programmes I've collected so far. Unfortunately, my scanner wasn't big enough for certain ones so some aren't the full cover.

Lifehouse: Pete Townshend











Nice little programme with an article about the Lifehouse project from the beginning and a brief history on Pete Townshend's career.


From The Bush To The World











Best programme I've seen so far. As well as a nice collection of photos it has written articles on the bands history and shows various different Single record covers from around the World.

Teenage Cancer Trust 05/02/2002 - 09/02/2002











Quite a large programme (in length) giving details on all the bands that were appearing

Teenage Cancer Trust 2004












A better presented programme giving details on all the bands that were appearing

Isle of Wight Festival 2004











Nicely presented with articles on all bands playing at the festival

The Who 2006 Convention












Fantastic programme on the convention.

2006 European Tour












Great collection of pictures but only one article by Pete Townshend

T In The Park 2006












Small sized detailed programme about the festival and the line-ups.

Roundhouse 2006

Given out free at the venue with details of all the groups that performed for the Electric Proms.

Royal Albert Hall 2007

This programme was given out free. Details of all the bands that featured at the Albert Hall.

Pete Townshend – Live At Sadlers Wells 25.02.2000

After the success of the Lifehouse radio play and subsequent six CD box set, Pete announces 2 shows at London’s Sadlers Wells theatre. Having enjoyed the Shepherd’s Bush gig so much, I decided I couldn’t get enough of Pete and the Who.

Purchased two tickets from Ticket Web again, choosing seats on the upper tier section front row; fantastic view!

The theatre is more renowned for showing ballet; you realised this by seeing the advertisements on the board outside. Once inside the layout and acoustics were impressive – they could definitely present more established acts here.

Settled into our seats, the show starts. 5 minutes in, it felt like a classical concert – I couldn’t foresee the rest of the show. This was the line-up of his band:

John Bundrick - Backing Vocal, Keyboards
Chyna - Vocals
Peter Hope-Evans - Harmonica
Jody Linscott - Percussion
Chucho Merchan - Bass
Billy Nicholls -Vocals
Phil Palmer -Vocals
Cleveland Watkiss - Vocals

Plus the London Chamber Orchestra

Teenage Wasteland begins and the Solo performance commences. Though not as strident or aggressive as a Who show, it was a great concert. Pete described in detail about the story of Lifehouse and the eventual release of the box set. (I brought at the venue)

Fantastic night. It would be a nine month wait till my next Who concert.

Here’s the Set List:

One Note – Prologue (7/10 Classical)
Purcell: Fantasia Upon One Note (7/10 Classical)
Teenage Wasteland (9/10 Nice contrast to the Baba O’Reily version)
Time Is Passing (9/10 prefer the Who’s version but great nonetheless)
Love Ain't For Keeping (10/10 the backing vocalists sang this song, very nice)
Going Mobile (9/10)
Greyhound Girl (10/10 One of my favourite PT solo songs)
Mary (10/10 I don’t understand why the Who never recorded this)
I Don't Know Myself (9/10)
Bargain (9/10 a slower pace to the Who’s version, which I prefer)
Pure And Easy (10/10 Should have been on Who’s Next)
Let's See Action (10/10 Extended bridge. There was a 20 minute break after this song)
Hinterland Rag (6/10)
Baba O'Riley (9/10 Love it though I’m listening to Teenage Wasteland more these days, possibly as I’ve heard it at every concert)
Behind Blue Eyes (9/10 slightly different version)
Sister Disco (9/10)
Getting In Tune (10/10)
Relay (8/10 Like the Who’s version better)
Who Are You (9/10)
Join Together (10/10)
Won't Get Fooled Again (10/10)
Song Is Over (10/10 One of my favourites from Who’s Next)
Can You Help The One You Really Love (7/10 He’s wrote better since then, i.e. Wire & Glass)

Videos

You Tube is a website that enables people to broadcast videos saved from their PC’s - so that others can view them, add their comments and rate them. Once the videos are uploaded they are viewed as a flash file, meaning the video is loaded quickly and you don’t have to download to view it.

Below are videos I've ripped myself from DVD boots or old VHS. I'm adding videos constantly, so keep checking the site:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Natters515

Some of these will also feature in my Download section.

Pete Townshend - Give Blood from White City



The Who - Relay on the Russell Harty Plus Show 1973



The Who - Magic Bus Part 1 Voorburg 1973

The Who At Shepherds Bush Empire 22 December 1999

First ever Who gig – I couldn’t have been more excited. Although it was a mix of excitement and fear; will they be any good? Can they still cut it as a live band?

I first discovered them in 1998 after listening to My Generation The Best Of and watching The Kids Are Alright movie on VH1. For the whole year I was mesmerised. In-fact 1998 was a good time to discover them; in 1999 they announced they were performing at the Chicago House of Blues as a five piece!

Awestruck by the Who’s past, could the present be as inspiring? As soon as the tickets went on sale at 9:00 am I brought them off Ticketweb – I couldn’t wait!

After queuing for ages around the outside of the venue, me and my dad went straight for the stage: second row on Pete’s side! Whilst waiting for the band to come on we got talking to two guys who paid £80 each for tickets. I swear I’ve seen them at other concerts since then. (If my memory serves me correctly, they were from Wales)

As the boys came on and Pete struck the first chords of I Can’t Explain – I was in Who heaven. I’ve never enjoyed a gig as much as this one. I have seen better performances (Listening back to the show I realise that Roger’s voice wasn’t his best and the band was pretty loose) but it will remain special to me. (And so far the most varied Set List)

Here's my review of each individual song (Well, the ones I can remember anyway)

I Can't Explain (9/10 Hang on, has Pete got a hole in his trousers? Isn't he suppose to be a millionaire? Who Cares!)
Substitute (9/10)
Anyway Anyhow Anywhere (10/10 I've always enjoyed this live, never heard a bad version)
Pinball Wizard (9/10)
My Wife (9/10)
Baba O'Riley (10/10)
Pure And Easy (7/10 Great to hear this though Roger did sing out of tune occasionally)
Getting In Tune (8/10)
Behind Blue Eyes (9/10)
You Better You Bet (9/10)
Happy Jack (7/10 You could tell it was a spur of the moment thing)
Magic Bus (9/10)
Boris The Spider (8/10)
Who Are You (9/10)
After The Fire (8/10 Nice song, doubt they'll play it again)
5:15 (8/10 This was the first time my attention was focused on the bass guitar! Roger also had problems in his ear phones)
Won't Get Fooled Again (10/10 Fantastic, one of my favourite Who songs)
The Kids Are Alright (8/10 I think this was when they started to extend the song, correct me if I'm wrong. Was good though I prefer the shorter version)
Naked Eye (9/10 Thrilled to hear a rarity)
My Generation (10/10 The crowd goes mad!)

The Who - Anyway Anyhow Anywhere 1999
Uploaded by Natters515

The Who At T In The Park

From reading other people’s views on the gig, it seems a bit negative. I personally thought it was brilliant, and out of the nine times I’ve seen them since 1999, this was one of the best. This may be due to me being in the 2nd row, (Something not achieved since Shepherds Bush Empire) but they were really up for this one.

Got to the main stage when Hard Fi were on, where there was a bizarre queuing system to get near the stage. I suppose it was for safety reasons.

Artic Monkeys
Don’t understand the hype of this band. The same could be said for a lot of British bands. (I.e. Dirty Pretty Things, Baby Shambles, Razorlight) The style and the songs, all sound the same. Situated towards the left of the stage, the amplification from the bass drum was far too loud, hardly hearing the vocals or the guitars.

Strokes

The sound was a bit better, but bass drum still too loud. They were ok, but their songs don’t exactly get me excited.

The Who

After The Strokes finished, I was hoping all the young people in front would leave so that a front row place was accomplished. Not many of them moved.
The lads came on to a great reception. Live 8 and CSI have done wonders to revitalise their career – and no problems with the sound.
Same set list as Hyde Park but without Bargain, Drowned and The Kids Are Alright.
Pete was really up for this one, and the boys gave a blistering set. I couldn’t see any problems with Roger’s voice – I guess being so near the front you don’t notice these things. I thought the scream in Won’t Get Fooled Again was the best he’d done in ages.
Favourites: Seeker, AAA, Mike Post and Tommy set.
Not much more I can say. The festival all round was excellent. Really hope they do more UK dates soon. Maybe after the US tour?

Here's the full set list:

Can't Explain (9/10)
The Seeker (8/10 great though I wish they didn't cut out one of the solos)
Anyway Anyhow Anywhere (10/10 Awesome as always)
Who Are You (10/10 Quite amusing hearing Scottish people sing the chorus)
Mike Post Theme (10/10 Looking forward to hearing this on the album)
Behind Blue Eyes (9/10)
Real Good Looking Boy (8/10 See Hyde Park review)
Baba O' Riley (10/10 Always gets the crowd going)
Love Reign O'er Me (9/10 Hyde Park slightly better but only just)
My Generation (10/10 Always going to be popular)
Won't Get Fooled Again (10/10 Absolutely awesome)
Substitute (10/10 Great)
Pinball Wizard (10/10)
Amazing Journey (10/10 As Tommy is my favourite album I will always enjoy this encore)
Sparks (10/10)
See Me Feel Me (10/10)

The Who - Love Reign O'er Me T In The Park 2006
Uploaded by Natters515

The Who At Hyde Park 2006

Two years since the Isle of Wight festival, and well worth the wait. Met up with Paul (Who I've been trading with for years) and his girlfriend Zara. It was great to watch the band with someone who has as much passion for the band as I have. Paul also had a free VIP pass :)

Saw Rose Hill Drive - who were quite good though the songs didn't really grab me - and part of Ocean Colour Scene's set.We got into the VIP area with its nice toilets and lounge area. In the lounge I saw Billy Nicholls and Ross Halfin. Also met Pino and his family. Shook his hand, really nice bloke. And tall. Later on we saw the Casbah Club who are good as always on the second stage. Got back to the VIP area, who was standing there: Roger Daltrey. Couldn't believe it. I had to be pushed into getting the picture taken - thank you Zara. (Below is the image, me to the right of Roger, Zara to the left.)

When the Who started on the main stage, despite being a few feet from the front, they had large screens and a great sound system. Fantastic. I particularly liked Bargain – very powerful! I was hoping to hear the mini opera, but I can understand Pete dropping it for the bigger shows. Mike Post was great though. The Kids Are Alright was quite amusing with Pete & Roger getting the words mixed up. All in all the performance was excellent. Wished I’d gone to the earlier shows, once you see them the addiction comes in and you have to see more. Why towns so far away?!!

Here's the set list:

I Can't Explain (10/10)
The Seeker (9/10 Really enjoyed this though they cut off one of the solos)
Anyway Anyhow Anywhere (10/10 Always enjoyed live)
Who Are You (9/10 Very well known thanks to Live 8 and CSI)
Bargain (10/10 Awesome)
Behind Blue Eyes (9/10)
Real Good Looking Boy (8/10 They seem to be playing this at a slower pace, not one of my favourites live)
Drowned (9/10)
Mike Post Theme (10/10 First time I've heard this live, brilliant. I feel this version is a bit faster than the recent performances)
Baba O'Riley (9/10)
Love Reign O'er Me (10/10 One of my favourites from Quadrophenia)
The Kids Are Alright (8/10 As mentioned above Roger & Pete were getting the words mixed up)
My Generation (10/10)
Won't Get Fooled Again (9/10)
Substitute (10/10)
Pinball Wizard (9/10)
Amazing Journey (10/10)
Sparks (10/10)
See Me Feel Me (10/10)

The Who - Mike Post Theme 2006
Uploaded by IvorTheEngineDriver

Blog Dedicated To The Who

I've decided to split my Blog into three parts:

• Natters' Rants
• Natters' Music Blog
• Natters Who Blog

This one will be dedicated entirely to The Who. I'll be posting reviews of all the gigs I've been to, pictures, videos and anything else of interest. I welcome any opinions or suggestions to my posts. You also don't have to be a Blogger to add a comment.

Hope you enjoy