The Who - Tour Reviews

Rachel Fuller
Cigarettes & Housework
Sunrise (with Pete Townshend)

Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward (She And Him)
You Really Got A Hold On Me
I Put A Spell On You
Blue Red & Grey (with Pete Townshend)

Jakob Dylan
Evil Is Alive And Well
6th Avenue Heartache (with Mike Campbell)
One Headlight (with Pete Townshend)
The Kids Are Alright (with Pete Townshend)

Mark Everett ("E" from The Eels)
Girl From The North Country
Let My Love Open The Door (with Pete Townshend & Ben Gibbard)

INTERMISSION

Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie)
Brand New Colony
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Title and Registration
She Thinks I Still Care (George Jones) (with Zooey Deschanel)
Mary Anne With The Shaky Hands (with Pete Townshend)

Pete Townshend
The Acid Queen
Drowned
Won't Get Fooled Again
I'm One (with everybody)

It's a little after 6:00 AM here at the Millenium Biltmore Hotel. As I
sit by the pool and reflect on last night's ITA Jam, the first
thoughts that come to mind are "Fucking Privileged!" And anyone that
was in attendance at the Troubadour for the show was indeed that. It
was as always, a collection of very talented musicians collaborating
in a very relaxed intimate atmosphere. Rachel Fuller, Goddess of ITA,
once again pulled off the impossible. She delivered Pete to the fans
in a way no one has ever done before.

Let's make no mistake, Rachel is herself an ultra talented musician,
songwriter, and performer, and as an adoring male fan, I'll add she is
mesmerizingly beautiful. If you have any doubts about all that, check
out her recent Kew project. She locked herself in a room for a week,
and produced a stunning piece of work. And last night Rachel's mighty
collection of talents was present. She looked beautiful, she sounded
beautiful, she played beautifully, and she presented, to us the fans,
Pete Fucking Townshend in all his glory! After the miracle of the 2006
ITA shows, I counted my blessings, attending three shows, and a
Rachel/Pete performance at Barnes and Fucking Noble! I counted them
and filed them in the area of the brain reserved for those once in a
lifetime opportunities. When it was announced that again in my
lifetime, there was going to be yet another opportunity to be part of
Rachel and Pete's magic show, I was ecstatic. I was prepared to do
anything, including showing up in an ITA thong, to be part of another
piece of live music history.

I truly believe that when Rachel heard of my threats to show up in an
ITA thong, she immediately made a limited number of tickets available
to the public, in hopes to avoid a Thongcatastrophe! (-: Through the
power of the Relay, I was indeed able to acquire a pair of the
precious tickets, and help out the Music Cares charity in the process.
Relayers, Bob Steve "Q-Tip" and My Wife Trrish, were indeed
instrumental in the process of getting me the ticket alert, while I
was on the road catching the east coast leg of "that other band."
Arriving to the gig by city bus, exiting directly in front of the IAD
(Intelligent, Alienated, and Dysfunctional) family, already queued up
since 3:00 that afternoon, (Bob, Eddie, and Duke "scooter boy" as Pete
himself named him last night.) was an amazing experience in itself. I
knew the magic was in the air, and everything was good to go. The
typical line worries were of course present in full force as we
jostled back and forth between the line and the front door of the
Troubadour, wondering when we were getting in, and how many
non-deserving VIP types were getting in before us. Oh yes the D in IAD
is there for a reason.

During one of these visits, I saw Rachel appear in the doorway, she
looked my way and called out, "ozzie, how are you?" Well that was it;
my night was made, as I'm a psycho fan in my dysfunctional desire to
be part of the show. I answered that I was "very excited!" Rachel came
over and expressed appreciatively, "you have an ITA shirt on" and
pointed to one of my all time favorite photos of her, "there I am!"
Yes, the left side of the my ITA oxford dress shirt, designed and
created specifically for this show, was a shrine to Rachel, the right
side was one to ITA, including Mikey, Simon, and that other guy. We
had a wonderful chat, and posed for a photo, that my new friend Gloria
graciously took. Rachel mentioned her newest project, a musical that
she will most likely be bringing to New York next spring. Then she had
to leave, to prepare the magic show.

I checked back a few times to see if another fag would bring her to
the door once more, but she appeared no more. Until the house lights
went down that is, and on the stage, and she appeared in her black
"party dress" accented in the most gorgeous way with brilliant blue
glitter designs. As I stated earlier, through the Relay, I got the
tickets, and thorough the same Relay of the "Online at 3:00 Three" I
was up front and sitting on the corner of the stage. (Not in any
correct order of appearance) What took place there at the Troubadour
was other worldly in its content. Pete and Rachel doing Sunrise
brought me back immediately to 06, and was very appreciative of the
journey. Pete and Zoey Deschanel (one of my "girlfriends, as trrish
leaned over to explained to me when I didn't immediately recognize
her; as I love all the Deschanel girls!) doing Blue Red and Grey, was
sensory overload, as she is so beautiful, and has the vocal power of a
nuclear generator, which she displayed in her She and Him set with M
Ward.

To see, and hear her there with Pete, doing BR&G was magnificent.
Jacob Dylan, who delayed my meeting Pete at my first ITA M&G in LA
during the 06 shows until 2:00 AM, was there to perform, as opposed to
just being part of the privileged audience, as he was at the Hotel
Cafe show. He did a great solo set, and then brought Mike Campbell
from Tom Petty &the HBs, out to do a number, and then Pete joined
Jacob on a version of The Kids Are Alright, and how can you properly
describe that duet, FB! of course. Next , Mary Ann with the Shaky
Hand, well now you are moving in to another area that defies
explanation, but I'll try, FUCKING BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!! again and
again. Never in a zillion years did I ever expect to hear Pete do that
song. He performed it with Ben Gibbard, who has a most beautiful
voice, and rivaled the women in the most "attractive performer"
category.

Then there was Rachel and Pete's newly adopted son E from Eels, or as
he is now known, ET! He did Let My Love Open the Door with Pete & Ben
Gibbard, and was another dizzying display of the beauty and magic when
you put these people on the stage with Pete. As for Pete's solo set,
that included an emotional packed version of Won't Get Fooled Again,
and as Relayer Bob pointed out, our first version of the song heard
since the election, absolutely beauty in its rawest form. Pete added
at the end, "Maybe this time we won't." Pete also did The Acid Queen
and Drowned to round out his amazing solo set. Add to all that, the
wonderful banter, the numerous starts and stops due to Pete "Fucking
up," (as the joke went)and what was delivered at the Troubadour last
night rests squarely on the "Oh My Fucking god" mantle of historic
live performances. As is the ITA Jam custom, Rachel rounded up the
whole gang and brought everyone back onto the stage for the closing
number, I'm One. It wasn't an even tanned look on my face, but a solid
grin from ear to ear, and tree to tree! Thank you Rachel, for a gift
that truly is precious, and priceless! Thank you Pete for a lifetime
of giving, that keeps on going, even on your "night off!" Thank you to
Zoey, ET, Jacob, Ben, and Mike, for being part of the MAGIC!! Thanks
for the crew at the Troubadour, they did a great job! I Can't wait for
the Best Buy ITA package coming to a BB near you in March.

Oh well, it's time to start getting ready to go see that other band.
Love,
ozzie

What a great nite. After a somewhat stressful wait while those of us who had been in line for many hours watched Best Buy VIPs be admitted into the club, they finally allowed the paying customers in over an hour late. Fortunately those folks propped up the bar, and we were able to secure great spots for the show! Although we were admitted late, the show started promptly at 9:30 as scheduled with Rachel stepping out to give a brief intro to what ITA is all about, how it started, and has progressed into. She then performed Cigarettes and Housework, and a duet with Pete on Sunrise. She announced the first guest, which was She and Him, an up and coming act indie/Americana act that is gaining momentum. As hinted at by the name they are a guy and gal, she sings, he plays guitar. They did a new song, a couple of covers, and Blue Red and Grey with Pete. Jacob Dylan was the next special guest, who was joined for a song by Mike Campbell of Mudcrutch, and some other band. It was at this point in the show I realized all the camaraderie and mutual respect all the artists had for each other. It was a very warm, friendly and casual atmosphere. Quite an experience to be a part of! Mike retired from the stage, and Jacob was then joined by Pete for a great version of a big Wallflowers song, as well as TKAA. This was followed by Rachel jokingly introducing her and Pete's newly adopted son E from Eels, who after doing a wonderful rendition of Girl From The North Country apologized to Jacob for covering one of his Dads songs and hoped it hadn't made him uncomfortable! E was joined by Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie (Yay Bonzo!) and Pete for Let My Love Open the Door, which wrapped up the 1st set.

Ben Gibbard opened the 2nd set, and brought Zoey from She and Him back out for a George Jones cover before Pete came back out to do Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand to end Ben's mini set. And that left us with Pete. After commenting that if he made any mistakes on his own, he was going to do the songs over again till they were right, he went into Acid Queen. True to his statement, when AQ didn't go as he liked, he started it again, achieving the result he set out for. This was followed by an amazing Drowned, with furious strumming and massive foot stomping! WGFA closed the set, with a lengthy intro from Pete that covered everything from his relationship with Rog, to the current state of American politics.

Show ended with the customary group jam, and it was I'm One tonite to finish things off. Another spectacular and very special event. We are very lucky to have had these shows these last few years. Lets hope there will be more in future!

Back in July when we were here in LA for the VH-1 show, this tour, or at least part of it, was announced. Friend Mike Starcke had said that Rachel Fuller, Pete Townshend's partner, was hinting maybe at an "In The Attic" show for the same weekend as the LA shows. I've got family back east, so in some world it would make sense for me to go to some of the shows there. But, I thought that coming to LA this weekend was probably the way to go for me. No show in Denver, so I had to travel somewhere. Based on my previous experience attending the ITA at Martyrs in Chicago, I figured being in town if there was going to be in ITA was a chance worth taking.

OH MAN, WAS IT!!!!

The ITA show last night was really great. Despite the fact that my insane husband insisted we take public transportation from the airport to the hotel and then from the hotel to the Troubadour. It was an hour and 11 minutes bus ride to the Troubadour. The only thing that made it ok in the end was that the bus stopped right in front of our friends in the line - Bob, Duke, Eddie, Corkface, Shari, Drew, Horace, Sue and Kim - and they applauded when we walked right off the bus into the line. Now that was funny. I'm not opposed to buses. I used them for years when I had to stop driving because of MS. But I am a spoiled brat who wants to take a cab to get to the Rachel and Pete show. If there was a t-shirt that said "Woman Too Cool To Take Bus to Townshend Show", I would have been wearing it.

We had the usual nerve-wracking line anxiety. I hate that part. Every time I go through it, I think "Ok, I'm not going to do this anymore". We eventually were let into the Troubadour, and our fears were unfounded. We were all right smack up against the stage. The luckiest people in town that night. Thanks to Bob, Duke, Eddy and Corkface for tackling the line. We owe you some line karma, big time.

It was fun to see Rachel walk out on stage. I have come to really like her, and appreciate her, and her songs. "Cigarettes and Housework" is very familiar to me at this point, and I enjoyed it. I was really surprised that she did not do anything other 'Rachel' songs. "Sunrise" was beautiful, as always, and was coupled with the first re-do of the night, which makes it all that much more entertaining. You could see on Pete's face he was going to want to do the second half of the song again, and they did. And it went much better. Rachel was able to nail the vocals.

I had just read about "She and Him" in the New York Times or maybe the New Yorker and was surprised when they turned out to be the first guests. Very fun. Zooey is beautiful and who knew she had that voice? They were very entertaining to listen to. I suspected "Blue, Red and Grey" when I first walked in because I thought there was a mandolin on top of the piano. And yep, BR&G came next, but no mandolin. Pete and Zooey did it and it was beautiful. And very special to a lot of us, I think.

TKAA with Jakob Dylan and Pete took my breath away a little bit. Very, very nice job. Jakob has great stage presence and is engaging. "E Fuller Townshend" from Eels is funny and his music on the piano was very good. I'm partial to keyboardists :-).

My favorite guest was Ben or, The-Death-Cab-For-Cutie guy. I saw him in a video one time and he had made me laugh and I was pretty thrilled to see him live. He was good. Like Chris in "Fountains of Wayne", he's cute and has a dark, troubled side that comes out in his music. I guess I have a soft spot for that.

The best part, as always, was the Pete section. We were lucky and got our favorite "cheeky Pete". He talked about the election (as Bob pointed out, our first post-election WGFA), Roger, their magical and weird 'marriage' and was as loveable and entertaining as always. There was a time when I knew how to spell loveable but that time is gone. Then fierce and transcendent versions of "Acid Queen" and "Drowned" and "WGFA". Worth twice the price of the $250 charity ticket right there, and reminded me that yeah, it is worth all the hassle, line anxiety and freakin' bus rides.

I ran into many friends from previous Who shows. Some people from VH-1, Matt from Las Vegas. That's always one of my favorite parts. I completely love being with people who feel the same joy I do when in the presence of the Townshend magic. Of course, many of our regular posse was there - including Max and daughter Tess. We somehow lost Horace and John Ryan after the show.

I feel incredibly lucky to have been there. And I feel grateful to Rachel and Pete for doing it.

trrish