{"id":9848,"date":"2009-06-07T12:02:55","date_gmt":"2009-06-07T11:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taggedtalk.com\/blog\/2009-06-07-on-quadrophenia-rock-classics-tribute-shows-and-aging.html"},"modified":"2009-06-07T12:02:55","modified_gmt":"2009-06-07T11:02:55","slug":"on-quadrophenia-rock-classics-tribute-shows-and-aging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/9848-on-quadrophenia-rock-classics-tribute-shows-and-aging.html","title":{"rendered":"On Quadrophenia, rock classics, tribute shows, and aging"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Who\u2019s Quadrophenia is currently on tour in the UK \u2013 but it is not performed by The Who. No, this is the Quadrophenia Rock Show<\/a>, Music Lyrics & Concept by Pete Townshed \u2013 stage adaption by Jeff Young, John O\u2019Hara and Tom Critchley.<\/p>\n

Quadrophenia is among my favourite albums \u2013 not for the daft story, but because the music and lyrics speak to me of the frustration and glory of being human, or something. But do I want to see it performed by musicians other than The Who? At one time I\u2019d have said, no way. Why settle for an imitation when you can have the real thing?<\/p>\n

The trouble is, you can\u2019t any more. Keith Moon died in 1978; John Entwistle in 2002. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend still tour and no doubt put on a good show from time to time – I saw The Who in January 2002, at which time Entwistle was still around, and enjoyed it tremendously. Still, at best with these aging bands there is always an element of \u201cit\u2019s amazing how good they are considering\u201d, and at worst it can be embarrassing. I saw Jethro Tull in Derby in 2007, and while the musicianship was generally impressive, my memory is dominated by the failings of Ian Anderson\u2019s voice, which spoilt most of the songs through no fault of his.<\/p>\n

It is also rather strange to see bands whose music is laden with the sexual tension of youth performing the same songs at a later stage of life. What is \u201cHope I die before I get old\u201d meant to mean, sung by a 65-year old Daltrey?<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that I have mixed feelings about seeing performances like these. I still go to see Bob Dylan<\/a>, who is even older, but that\u2019s partly because I see it as a pilgrimage to see one of the greats, and partly because Dylan is more able to be his age, thanks to the songs he writes and continues to write, and the fact the he\u2019s been fixin\u2019 to die since his very first album in 1962.<\/p>\n

So when I saw that the Quadrophenia show is on locally, I thought twice about it. Is it possible that tribute show of younger performers could put more energy into it than the current Who? Well, yes, it is possible. And once old rockers like The Who and The Rolling Stones hang up their touring boots for the last time, it will be this or nothing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also encouraged by knowing that Pete Townshend is involved to some degree in the show. He talks about it \u2013 or actually writes, since it\u2019s an email interview, in an illuminating piece in The Times<\/a>. He includes a comment pertinent to this post:<\/p>\n

\n

Have you ever been to see a rock musical based on a back-catalogue? <\/b><\/p>\n

I live inside one. Musicals based on back-catalogues are becoming a saturated market. How can rock musicals avoid being watered-down exercises in asset-stripping? <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Let me ask another question. When all those nostalgic for the music of their youth have moved on, will today\u2019s revered rock classics ever be performed live? In most cases, I\u2019m guessing the answer is no. In a few cases though, maybe an evening out to hear a performance of Blonde on Blonde or The Dark Side of the Moon or Quadrophenia will be accepted in the same way as we treat other music from composers long gone, who knows?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m booking to see Quadrophenia.<\/p>\n

Technorati Tags: music<\/a>,the who<\/a>,quadrophenia<\/a>,bob dylan<\/a>,pete townshend<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Who\u2019s Quadrophenia is currently on tour in the UK \u2013 but it is not performed by The Who. No, this is the Quadrophenia Rock Show, Music Lyrics & Concept by Pete Townshed \u2013 stage adaption by Jeff Young, John O\u2019Hara and Tom Critchley. Quadrophenia is among my favourite albums \u2013 not for the daft … Continue reading On Quadrophenia, rock classics, tribute shows, and aging<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1070,1073,1084],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dylan","category-general","category-the-who"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}