Football Fugue: The Who At The Super Bowl

Given the fact that The Who are my favorite/second favorite musical act (depending on the day), you might be surprised to discover that I haven’t written one word about their appearance at Super Bowl XLIV, which just ended. I’m surprised too, because you’d think that I’d be in heaven with this news: football and The Who. What’s not to love?!

Well, I’m not a fan of football, for one. Never have been, never will be. Alright, so I watched some football when I was in marching band, and I also jumped on the bandwagon when there was a slight glimmer of hope of the Philadelphia Eagles making the playoffs a few years back, but other than that, I don’t understand the game whatsoever. My dad once tried to explain it to me, but as much as he tried, I just couldn’t grasp the concept of what, say, a down was. Frankly, I feel like I’m better off not knowing; all it is is a bunch of overpaid athletes chasing a football around a field, pausing every 10 seconds to reset, adjust their crotches, and pat each other on the butt. When one of them scores a touchdown, he does an absurd dance, and some cheerleaders bounce around to pump up the already inebriated crowd, the majority of whom seem more intent on consuming as much cheap beer as possible and scrawling letters on their chests or painting up their faces, frostbite be damned!

Ahem. Slightly cynical and non-music related rant, I admit, but nevertheless… the last time I actively tuned in to a Super Bowl performance was in 2006, when the Rolling Stones embarrassed themselves with a cringe-inducing and lackluster performance – and I like the Rolling Stones! I did happen to catch some of Tom Petty’s performance in ’08, and then Bruce Springsteen’s Townshend-inspired slide across the stage last year, but as far as complete performances go, the Stones were the last one. And I broke that self-imposed and completely meritless boycott tonight.

Why? Because it’s The Who, that’s why. Yes, we all know that some ill-informed people in Florida are up in arms because of Pete Townshend’s 2003 conviction and arrest, but they’re unaware that he was acquitted of all charges when nothing was found on his computers. Or that he’s donated countless amounts of dollars to children’s charities over the years. Perhaps they’re just angry because when The Who were last there in 2007, they played a mere 30 seconds of ‘I Can’t Explain’ before Roger Daltrey had to walk off stage, his throat ravaged with laryngitis. Hey Florida – they played two make-up shows less than two weeks later! Get over it already!

So what of the show? Well, I tuned in a bit early and accidentally watched some of the game. But once The Who came on, I was sitting there like an expectant child, joyously amused and mentally pumping my fists like I was seeing them live. I knew what they were going to play, and I thought it was an interesting twist. So imagine my surprise when they opened with… ‘Pinball Wizard’?!?! What the hell kind of an opening song is that? Okay, no problem, as long as they perform it fi— ooh, Daltrey’s struggling. Having a bit of trouble. This doesn’t bode well.

But it got better. ‘Baba O’Riley’ followed, and it was actually pretty good. I uncurled my toes, and was taken in by the performance. Daltrey’s voice improved vastly, and Townshend was on fire, bouncing across the stage with a grin bigger than his guitar. Sure, they’re old, but what else can you expect? ‘Baba O’Riley’ became ‘Who Are You’ (which, if I was in charge of the set list, would have been the opener), and I was eagerly awaiting Daltrey to slip in a “Who the fuck are you?” Alas, he didn’t, and as the abbreviated song came to a close, they merged needlessly into ‘See Me, Feel Me’. Now, I think this would have been a great song to perform on its own, but it was a mere 30 seconds, before the inevitable ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ kicked up. This was the longest performance of the night, with five of the original eight and a half minutes played. As the song reached its conclusion and Zak Starkey began the drum solo, I cringed and retreated as I thought of the primal scream that was coming up. Daltrey could hit it in 1971, but when I saw the Concert For New York City thirty years later, it sounded like a cat being drowned. However, he pulled it off, and while it lacked the power of the original, well, of course it would! It’s been nearly forty years since the song was recorded.

My main complaints, though, were the set list and the sound. Regarding the former, it felt like the songs never really gelled; I know that 12 minutes is a short time to come up with a decent set list, especially considering The Who’s most famous songs are all over five minutes, but if they had done, say, abbreviated versions of ‘Who Are You’, ‘Baba O’Riley’, ‘See Me, Feel Me’, and ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ – each performance lasting three or four minutes – that might have worked too. Or why not throw ‘Join Together’ in there somewhere? Anyway. Regarding the latter, I watched the show on a 13″ TV that’s at least 10 years old, so the sound was mixed way terribly; Daltrey’s voice sounded old and ragged, Townshend sounded like he didn’t care, and all I could hear of Zak Starkey was the cymbals. As far as I knew, there weren’t any other band members. (For the record, Pino Palladino is their bassist, replacing the long-deceased and irreplaceable John Entwistle; Simon Townshend, Pete’s brother, helps out on backing vocals and additional guitar; and John “Rabbit” Bundrick is their longtime keyboardist. Apart from a few seconds’ screentime of the first two, you would have gotten the impression that The Who was a trio of Daltrey, Townshend, and Starkey, performing to backing tapes.) But when I watched it on YouTube, which has probably been long-deleted by now, the mix was decent, Daltrey’s voice sounded good, Townshend was having a great time, and Starkey’s drum set was mixed more naturally.

Overall? A great performance, but not a stellar performance like at the Concert For New York City. Ah well. I still love them, and if it inspires Townshend to finish his musical, Floss, then even better. Or at the very least, if they do some more performances this year, that’s just as good.