Customer Reviews

The Who At Kilburn: 1977 [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are a Who fan, or want to make a Who fan cry for joy, get this DVD. It's a must-have for any Who freak, second only to "The Kids Are Alright" documentary.

Disc 1 is the complete Kilburn 1977 show and disc 2 is the complete London Coliseum 1969 show. I have a huge bootleg collection and would rate both shows as two of the top five Who shows ever (to say nothing of their historic importance).

The 1977 Kilburn show is "take 1" of the 1978 Shepperton show (see "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" on "The Kids Are Alright"). Both shows were private affairs filmed for the documentary, but except for Moon's shirt, they are almost indistinguishable. If you loved Townshend's and Moon's antics in those clips, this DVD is for you! FYI, this is the show that gave us "My Wife" on "The Kids Are Alright" soundtrack album.

Even better, guitar-wise, is the London 1969 concert. This is the show that gave us "Young Man Blues" on "The Kids Are Alright". This may be Townshend's best performance ever, but I don't want to start that fight here. Finally, why did they break up the London show and move the Tommy section to the Extras menu? Why not keep the entire show intact as the Lord intended it? It's all on the same disc anyway... I'll tell you why: because otherwise this DVD would be so perfect it would pull the rest of the universe into it and then we'd be totally screwed.

Hey Zebba 9, what film were YOU watching?? The opener Can't Explain is kind of a warmup, after which Townshend is absolutely ferocious on guitar. And as animated & glassy-eyedly immersed as at any time in his career--this is definitely the Pete that would've kicked Abbey Hoffman off the stage again had he showed up. This performance demonstrates everything that makes the Who great~ these guys hadn't performed in a year, and they find spaces that hearken back to Leeds & Isle of Wight. Moon may look a little bloated, but he's in tremendous form musically. They all are, individually and as the collective organism that was the 'Orrible 'Oo.

Perhaps I'm making too much of it, but this performance is a revelation, in my opinion. At a time when they're supposed to have been a spent force, they reclaim and amply display their power here; they turn in a vintage performance for the lucky audience. There is a moment during Who Are You (which gave me chills when they went into it~ WHO KNEW?) where the communication breaks down (honestly, I think Pete aborts too early)....but they recover in spades with Won't Get Fooled Again (watch the roadies banging their heads) and the only reason for the breakdown in the first place was the willingness & confidence to take the chance and journey into open-ended territory.....just like they were doing in '70 during My Generation. Great My Generation here, too, by the way.

I agree about the camera angles, but not to the point of it being relevant to the basic thrill of this film. (Maybe they could release a you-control-the-angles version someday, like you can do for Baba O'Riley & Won't Get Fooled Again on the Kids Are Alright dvd).

I'd recommend this to any Who fan without another thought. I only wonder how this stayed hidden for so long.

We Who fans finally get to see the infamous Kilburn 1977 gig here. I've seen the Kilburn footage (minus "Dreaming from the Waist"), and it's really good. It's wonderful to see a pre-LP version of "Who Are You" at this show, that bumps and grinds much more than the studio version would almost a year later. Drummer Keith Moon is in fiery form here - much more than he was at Shepperton Studios (for "The Kids Are Alright" movie) some five months later. I think Pete Townshend and John Entwistle might have sounded a little better at Shepperton, but Moon is in better form here on the Kilburn disc. He hits the drums harder, faster and is more precise. Don't get me wrong - I will take any Who footage, especially with Moon and The Ox. Be sure and watch what happens, at the tail end of "My Wife," when someone touches Townshend's guitar picks on Townshend's amp head. YIkes. Don't mess with the Godfather of punk rock, for sure. The camera stays on Townshend, who lets it be known to the guy - and the entire audience - that it's uncool to mess with The Who's stage equipment.
The ragged nature of the band here, most of the time, actually works for them during the Kilburn set. There's an edge to the quartet's efforts, and although there are flubs - Moon comes in too early during the intro of "Won't Get Fooled Again," and Townshend doesn't get all of his mojo on guitar until about 10 minutes into the show. Townshend is wilder here, jumping across the stage, bouncing, hitting his head on his Les Paul and becoming a human cyclone, wrapping himself up in his own guitar cord, than he was at Shepperton. Like the Shepperton footage, the Kilburn set is a keeper.
Hopefully, the London Coliseum set will be equally as impressive ...

First up, salute to some of the other reviewers here at Amazon, a few of the featured (as I write this) reviews do a pretty good job of covering this artifact of rock concert history that has finally made it's way to Blu-ray disc. As noted, the concert performace is coarse in spots since the band hadn't peformed together in a years time. There are glitches during the performance that quite obviously irritate the band members and remind viewers that what they are seeing was filmed live and includes all of the warts.

What's also included is all of the energy of a Who concert. Pete Townshend's windmill guitar strumming, Keith Moon's frenetic drum playing (including flinging the drum sticks around and losing them time and again...) -- side note: if someone wanted to put together a drinking game for play while watching this film they'd probably want to include Townshend's windmill strumming and Moon's losing the drumsticks as the requirements to take another swig. It wouldn't take long at all to find the participants in such a drinking game pretty well inebriated ;-) -- and of course Roger Daltrey's strong lead vocals. All of which make bassist John Entwistle's performance seem a bit, well, stiff. No one could blame the guy really, as the rest of his band mate's certainly seemed to have the stage pretty well covered, especially with Townshend's jumping/hopping around the stage repeatedly.

The Who At Kilburn is a fascinating film largely because it even exists on film. It was filmed on 35mm film which is rather unusual for concert footage. Thankfully though that medium works well for providing a master for encoding to high def media, and thanks to that the product that viewers get on Blu-ray is, at least at this point technologically, as good as can be achieved on optical disc media.

Note that the Blu-ray disc is NOT RATED. If it were rated, it would probably have been given an R rating for the utterances of the f-bomb at several points throughout the course of the show.

Most definitely worth viewing, and an item that serious Who fans should add to their collection.

A very interesting release---the 1977 Kilburn show that supposedly wasn't good enough to be used in the Kids Are Alright---now gets released in full. Was it good enough? Well, it was filmed so Jeff Stein would have some performances of Who's Next era songs non-existant on film: Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Foolded Again. The Kids Are Alright versions---filmed at Shepperton--of those two songs are a little better, especially WGFA. So Jeff made the right decision then to forget the Kilburn show. 30 years later, Who cares? Let's see everything that's still in the vault.

The fascination of this particular show is it's Keith's last proper concert appearance. Sadly, Keith is a shadow of his former self. He's only about 30 when this was filmed but looks 10 years older than he did on the 1975 tour--the last great Who performances.

The Kilburn show was the band's only performance of 1977 and it shows. They are all rusty. But a few times: Shakin' All Over, My Wife, Pinball Wizard, the old magic resurfaces. Townsend is clearly not happy, which results in a passionate performance. Daltrey forgets some lyrics but is generally in good form. The Ox is his normal, solid self. Always the best bass player on the planet.

The show is very well filmed. The sound is not as good as the film quality: Townsend is recorded well but Entwistle's bass is frustratingly low in the mix. It's hard to tell how Moon is recorded: he was not playing up to his normal standards and sometimes he's trying to hit all his drums at once, and not really hitting any of them at all. Other times he can still pull off a great fill or roll.

The London Coliseum show from 1969 is a quality addition and makes this package a great value. It's only stage lit--not lit for filming proper--but it's the Who at their performance peak. The sound is a bit muddy but still, any peak Who is a joy.

If you love the Who, you have to have this package. All Moon era film is a treasure. If you are a novice Who fan, this is not the first Who DVD to buy. The Kids Are Alright is the place to start.

Sometimes it is hard to be objective about a band that meant so much to me as a teenager. But, I have seen this band in concert and the Kilburn show is a disappointent musically. The band appears off, Townsend is trying too hard, and appears that he is agitated like he is on cocaine. Moon looks sick. Townsend even says the performance is poor, comparing it to feces, and recommending they stop filming. I agree with Townsend. No wonder it didn't get released sooner. This is an example of a professional band "going through the motions" for the cameras on a not very inspiring night.

However, the REAL gem on this disk is the performance at the London Coliseum of Tommy in 1969. Just compare how much more relaxed Townsend is here, and his guitar play reflects it. Too bad the sound quality isn't better as it sounds like it is coming from a tin can, but the MUSIC...Wow. What a gift to be present at that show.

Contrary to much "transcendent" speculation, the Kilburn show is just alright. The Who were not that tight, and although this was what made them interesting sometimes, this show ain't that happening. Okay in spots, but just average, as unfortunately, they had become for most of the '70's as a live unit. Arguably though the DVD could have been titled The Coliseum Show and that would be a different matter altogether. The boys are firing on all cylinders at this show. Just masters of the stage at this point. Oddly enough though, the main featured section of The Coliseum show has some songs from "Tommy", and then when you go to the extras section of the disc, the entire performance of "Tommy" (19 songs) is available??? One possible explanation may be that the relatively one hour performance on the disc may have been considered for a theatrical release at one point and was therefore not going to include all of the "Tommy" material??? Not clear. Also the booklet does not list the songs, and the material on each disc. You have to go to each disc and gather that information from there. Poor lighting and all, The Coliseum show gets a 5, and Kilburn gets a 3.

Kilburn is a good show. But as previously noted it is a little sloppy, and Pete needs to be much further up in the mix. I don't mind sloppy, hey it's rock and roll. But the boys sound a little lethargic. (Especially when compared to the 69 show.) Pete is jumping around and dancing and windmilling like a madman, but the musical energy to back up the antics is just not there for good portions of the show. Keith is fine, but he does a lot of mugging for the camera, and I think his playing at the 69 show is far superior to Kilburn. I'm sure a lot of fans will disagree, but I am just not as amped up about this show as other reviews.

The Coliseum show from 1969 is another matter. The sound mix is worse than Kilburn but the band sounds better! Pete does less dancing but much more *playing*; there is more technique and more leads -and just awesome jaw dropping moments (sparks, my generation especially fiery). He is all over the fretboard and his use of feedback and distortion masterful. Keith, for me, is far better than the Kilburn show. He does less pandering and just plays the hell out of every song. Roger is fine at both shows; but I guess I am just on old fogey - something about him in that fringed vest is Roger, and he seems looser at the Coliseum show. Ox is Ox, beyond great at both shows; was there ever a better bass player?

Tommy, as others mention, is included as bonus material (with A Quick One). I would have liked it in sequence of the show, but at least it is here. They are both great, but I will always have a special love for Tommy and watching it here shows the power and energy of a live Who show. I mean they just kill it start to finish without a breath or break.

I believe a lot of it is the history. In the late 60's and even early 70's bands like the Who, Zeppelin, Floyd were very vital. By the late 70's they had lost a lot of that vitality. They could still crank out the great studio album at times, but by and large the magic was gone. They had become bloated money machines. Not bad bands by any means; just a shadow of their former selves. By 1977, The Ramones, NY Dolls, and countless others were taking up the charge to do something refreshing, edgy. The two Who shows here demonstrate the difference in 60's rock giants who 10 years later lost an edge or two. They were too aware of who/what they were instead of just being/living it.

Any Who fan is going to buy this and it seems I am in a minority in being lukewarm over the Kilburn show. I would pay twice the price of this set for the Coliseum show alone, it is that good. Then throw in a good not great performance from 77 and you can't go wrong! Also highly recommend the isle of wight dvd...

I'm not even going to spend a minute debating the 3 and 4 star reviews that diss this release for not being "perfect."

This is the Who. THE REAL Who. At the beginning of DVD 2, there is a disclaimer about the filming of the original 1969 London Coliseum concert. You're told in advance that it's not going to be "perfect."

But it IS.

It's Towshend, windmills flying. It's Moon, arms flailing about in an impossible display of physical stamina and pure rock & roll. It's Entwistle, anchoring it all. It's Daltrey, swinging the mic and driving the band.

I'm sorry...I don't want to talk about anything other than the fact that this is the WHO, the REAL who, delivering classic sets on a 2-DVD set that is ESSENTIAL for even the most casual Who fan.

DVD 1...the Kliburn set...is Moon's second-to-last performance with the band. If you enjoyed the Shepperton tracks from "The Kids Are Alright," you will want to own this concert.

This is a perfect companion piece to The Who - The Kids Are Alright (Special Edition).

Do NOT believe any other review that attempts to convince you otherwise.

A lot of fans will look at this and wonder why Jeff Stein and the band did not include any of these songs in "The Kids Are Alright". My theory is they knew how much better the '75 and '76 shows had been and were disappointed that this performance fell short of their expectations. The band is a bit rusty; it had been over a year since they'd played live. After Pete Townshend forgets the break in "I'm Free" and ends the song too early, he comments that they're wasting film. But even with the mistakes (or maybe because of the mistakes), you can't take your eyes off this film.

Highlights for me include "My Wife", "Summertime Blues", "My Generation" and "Baba O'Riley". It's a joy to watch Keith, he looks like he's having the time of his life throughout.

I wish that the London Coliseum show on Disc 2 could be cleaned up better. But unfortunately, it is missing sections of film, and there are places where the audio is not great either. It's a shame, the band were really tight, they'd been playing live for years at this point.

So how can I give this five stars with all the errors and problems? I give it five stars because the band decided to release this "as is", and we get a front row seat seat watching a band that might just explode at any second. This is a must own for Who fans!