The Who at The Superbowl - The Verdict

I wasn't quite sure about The 'orrible 'Oo playing the half time show. It wasn't the commercial "sell out" aspect - Pete's been at that longer than most. It was whether they could out-perform some of the quality performances of the past few years, especially Petty, Macca and The Boss.

I was also a bit concerned about the possibility that The Who's set may be purely geared to promote the CSI franchise, which we saw heavily featured during the commercial breaks in the first half of the game. Of course, I wouldn't really have minded too much if all we got were the three CSI title tunes - Who Are You, Baba O Riley and Wont Get Fooled Again, but I really was hoping for something more. So when the amazing lightshow began to the strum of Pinball Wizard's classic intro, I started to relax. Pinball Wizard, Baba O Riley, Who Are You, See Me Feel Me and Won't Get Fooled Again made up a very nice 12 minute slice of 'oO, See Me Feel Me being the surprise for me.

Here's one reason that I thought they handled the half time show well versus some of the past performers - the medley. To my mind, rock medleys don't often work. For a hiphop act, it's an easy concept but it isn't something that feels natural for most rock bands. If it's a covers band (like The Stoats or Patchwork Orange for instance), that's fine, but a classic band performing medleys of their own songs just doesn't feel right. Right?

But The Who are different. They have always been able to handle the medley format brilliantly. The Superbowl show reminded me of their performance of "A Quick One" on the Rolling Stones' 1968 Rock and Roll Circus - 5 or 6 short songs sandwiched together into one mini opera. That's why it worked - unlike Petty or the Boss, The Who virtually originated the rock medley concept and have recorded and played medleys many times over their careers. Even their last studio album, "Wire and Glass", contains a mini-opera concept that they pared down and played live on the 2006 tour.

So in short, I believe that The Who triumphed through their ability to manage the situation, rather than allowing the size of the event manage them (as I think happened to Aerosmith in 2001). It is a fact that Roger had a couple of less than stellar moments here and there, and Pete seemed to have a little amp trouble. But these kind of gremlins make The Who what it is, and separated the band's performance from the overly-choreographed Stones show of 2006 and the contrived 2001 Aerosmith "and friends" appearance. The Who is still a real band and they don't always hit every note or chord perfectly. And this isn't a bad thing. They are not wrapped in cotton wool by their management or by a label head or A&R guy. They are the real deal, and I hope, a huge inspiration to young bands all over the Globe. After 46 years, they still play, look and perform with an attitude, and as they proved yesterday, they are still capable of winning over the crowd, whether in a West London church hall, or at Miami's Sun Life Stadium.

And then there were those cymbals! I'm off to spray paint mine now!.....

Long Live Rock
Long Live The Who