Photo gallery

By David Menconi

GREENSBORO – Five songs into The Who’s Friday night show at Greensboro Coliseum, Pete Townshend finally came out from behind his shades on “The Punk and the Godfather.” Looking every bit his 67 years, Townshend played the song’s anthemic riff while singing in front of video screens showing his younger, beautiful self.

I have to be careful not to preach
I can’t pretend that I can teach
And yet I’ve lived your future out
By pounding stages like a clown…

Friday’s show was part of The Who’s “Quadrophenia” tour, centered on the classic 1973 Who album played in its entirety. Both the album and 1979 film version are essentially an adolescent suicide note, steeped in the melodramatic narcissism of doomed youth.

But watching its 17 songs performed by a band of old fellows who have lost some mates along the way was sadly poignant. As the video screens showed what a long strange trip it’s been for all of us with a running historical montage, the performance transformed “Quadrophenia” into a meditation on aging and mortality.

First, however, came a spectacular opening-act bonus that recalled the old days when The Who billed itself as “Maximum R&B.” Vintage Trouble brought that to life, a dynamite young quartet playing rocked-up soul that was equal parts Sharon Jones and MC5. They got a half-hour and it wasn’t nearly enough.

Alas, the headline set got off to an unpromising start with a few too many early rough edges. Frontman Roger Daltrey missed some notes, and there was an awkward interlude where Townshend got testy with the stage crew over a click track that wasn’t supposed to be going.

But once they got rolling, it was quite nice, thanks in part to an excellent supporting cast: drummer Zak Starkey (Ringo’s son), bassist Pino Palladino and Towhsnend’s younger brother Simon on guitar and vocals.

As for who Starkey and Palladino replaced, Keith Moon (dead since 1978) and John Entwhistle (2002), they did not go unacknowledged. During “5:15,” Palladino quit playing as the video screens showed an amazing Entwhistle bass solo. And a film of Moon stood in for his theatrical vocal cameo on “Bellboy.”

Townshend’s wind-up guitar windmills and Daltrey’s microphone twirls got some of the best crowd responses of the night. And as shaky as things had been at the start, both men were fully engaged and in control by the end. “I’m One” was lovely, and Daltrey hit the closing “Love, Reign O’ev Me” top dead center.

With “Quadrophenia” done, it was time for dessert, which was basically the set they played at the 2010 Super Bowl. “Baba O’Riley” led to “Pinball Wizard,” then “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Who Are You” on up to the inevitable “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” After 40 years of radio saturation, you’d think “Fooled” would be completely used up. But it’s still kicking, and iconic enough that its mere sonic presence is enough to imply all its grandeur. Even better, Daltrey nailed the feral shriek at the end (still the Mount Everest of rock ’n’ roll screams).

Afterward, the rest of the band left the stage to just Townshend and Daltrey. And they closed on a surprising note with “Tea and Theatre,” a quiet little lullaby from the last Who album (2006’s “Endless Wire”). It was kind of the perfect way to say goodbye:

The story is done, it’s getting colder now
A thousand songs still smolder now
We played them as one, we’re older now
All of us sad, all of us free
Before we walk from this stage
Two of us
Will you have some tea?

I guess you could say the old men are all right. But the song is over.

Photo gallery

RALEIGH – Jim James, psychedelic-shaman frontman of the Kentucky rock band My Morning Jacket, has this...thing he does with his voice that’s rather remarkable. It’s a special effect that’s hard to describe, because phrases like “high lonesome wail” seem inadequate. And it’s not even something as simple as projection. It’s almost the opposite of that, in fact.

When James really lets loose, it feels as if he somehow opens up a hole in the universe and lets it pour through his voice, producing a howl that seems to emanate from the coldest, furthest reaches of deep space. To his credit, James doesn’t overdo this effect. But when he breaks it out, it’s amazing.

Sunday night found My Morning Jacket playing the final date of its tour at the Downtown Raleigh Amphitheater. Between the headliner and opening act Band of Horses, it was a generous dose of American roots rock from the beard-and-gimmie-cap division. The hairy part of that description especially goes for James. You heard him fine; but between his thick beard and mane of hair, it was almost impossible to get a good look at his face.

Following an agreeable hour from Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket came onstage accompanied by waves of trippy ambient sound effects and kicked off with “Rollin’ Back,” a song that has evolved a great deal since the 2003 studio version. It’s still as spacy as ever, but with lots more of a hard-rock pulse.

Classic-rock overtones were definitely the order of the day, especially on the songs from My Morning Jacket’s most recent effort “Circuital” – an album whose overall vibe is reminiscent of The Who circa “Quadrophenia.” Over the course of two-plus hours, the band variously evoked Pink Floyd (with lasers throbbing at seizure-inducing paces), the Grateful Dead and that fictional band from the ’70s-rock movie “Almost Famous.”

Jerry Garcia, the late Grateful Dead icon, would have loved this bunch. Completing the Dead-friendly feeling, there were a few “twirlers” dancing about in the crowd, acting out My Morning Jacket’s extended jams. For all the instrumental fireworks, however, almost every song proceeded at a deliberatepace. The occasional jam that accelerated to anything faster than mid-tempo was rare enough to be startling.

With the songs flowing into each other seamlessly, there was no between-song chatter to speak of. Underrated as a guitarist, James got in some pretty good licks on his Flying V guitar and the entire band played quite well. But James’ voice was still the main draw, especially when he’d hit that high, spooky place and evoke choirs of unearthly angels.

It even worked at quieter volumes, like the acoustic encore version of “Wonderful (The Way I Feel)” with Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell out for a vocal cameo. The rest of Band of Horses also joined the headliner onstage during the encore for a rousing cover of George Harrison’s “Isn’t It a Pity.”

But it wasn’t.

Looks like this is the year for British classic-rock icons to come around doing single-album shows in America. Roger Waters brought Pink Floyd's "The Wall" to Raleigh earlier this month, While Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson will play "Thick as a Brick" at DPAC in September. Meanwhile, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey are taking The Who's "Quadrophenia" on the road. The tour will not, alas, be coming to the Triangle, but it will be at Greensboro Coliseum on Nov. 9. The show will feature 1973's "Quadrophenia" album in its entirety, plus some of the other greatest hits.

Tickets are $39.50-$129.50, and of course there are various pre-sales. Check details for that here.

Eons ago, when I was a kid, I remember spending a lot of time with a record called "Music: How It's Made and Played." It was an orchestral-music primer, introducing all the different instruments and the way they blended together, and it had that Disney knack for making the subject both accessible and mysterious. When all those instruments cranked up together, it sounded like the spookiest soundtrack ever.

Somehow, The Polyphonic Spree conjures up that same feeling. The group played Cat's Cradle Saturday night, their first Triangle show in some years, delivering another lovely dose of rapture. It's odd to think of a 15-piece band as "stripped down"; nevertheless, this was indeed the leanest version of the Spree that I've ever seen. Flautist Audrey Easley was missing, and this configuration also didn't have harp or theremin.

But Tim Delaughter, the Walt Disney of symphonic indie-rock spectacle, was still out front, channeling his and your inner child. There was also a xylophone, a three-piece horn section and a killer cello player. And even though they didn't do the one that always make me mist up, they did "Soldier Girl," "When the Fool Becomes a King" and a drop-dead perfect medley of "See Me Feel Me/Listening to You"-"Pinball Wizard" (if ever a band was meant to cover The Who, it's Polyphonic Spree).

There was laughter, a lot of jumping up and down, smiling -- plus confetti. Lots and lots of confetti. A joyous 90 minutes of bittersweet whimsy that left me feeling 8 years old again, and that's always a good thing.

So why weren’t you there?

(Photo: Patty Chase)

I'm getting ready to save you an hour of your life: "My Generation" is a terrible show and you shouldn't waste your time watching it.

This pitiful new drama is built on the premise that in the year 2000, a documentary film crew followed nine stereotypes, er, I mean, students through their senior year of high school, and then revisits them 10 years later to see how their lives have turned out.

They are all -- the jock, the overachiever, the beauty queen, the punk, the wallflower, the nerd, the brain, the rich kid, and the rock star -- contrived and annoying.

In my line of work, one constantly hears a great deal of high-falutin' yammering about artistic integrity, What It All Means and so forth -- much of which, quite frankly, is ridiculous. So it was truly refreshing to chat with Roger Daltrey, a man who has most decidedly been to the mountaintop and yet seems to harbor no illusions whatsoever about the cosmic meaning of it all. The interview is in Friday's paper, or right here; and it has where/when details about his Durham performance next week.

Well, it's not The Who (and it's not even the next best thing to The Who, for that matter) but it's still pretty cool in my book: Roger Daltrey will play the Durham Performing Arts Center on Oct. 28 as part of his first solo tour since 1985. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m.

Pete Townshend has never been shy about selling his songs for commercials, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Really, though -- "My Generation"? In some freaky (well, cheesy) remix?

Seriously?...

Celebrate the first of Rocktober the way anybody with any sense at all does -- with the dulcet tones of The Who.