Customer Reviews

The Who Concert File (Talking) (Talking S.)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you get an opportunity to see The Who (now on tour - summer/fall 2000) please do so. Other than Bruce Springsteen, they are without peer on stage.This book does a fine job of detailing Who gigs from the early 1960's (as the Detours)to the 1996-1997 Quadrophenia tour. The authors recap the songs, the stage "happenings" (smashed guitars, onstage feuds, etc.)and other "Odds & Sods". It's kind of like a baseball box score for Who fans! If you're already a Who fan (or are an aspiring one) this is THE book for you!

First thing you should know is that while this is a thick book, it is also small; around 6" x 5", which is quaint, and not a flaw in anyway, just a surprise. There are lots of great pictures, reviews, accounts, and set lists provided.

The flaw, to my mind though, is that there are no references about circulating RECORDINGS of these shows. Most of the hardcore fans who would buy this book probably collect tapes, bootlegs, and cdrs. Most of the time a setlist or stage comments are provided for a show it's because a recording exists. I would have loved it if the authors could have aknowledged this with brief comments like, "A clear, but distant audience recording exists for the first 80 minutes of the concert" or "A mixed soundboard recording of this show has been bootlegged and rereleased many times." There are websites with this kind of information and other highly collected bands, such as Led Zeppelin, have entire books devoted to the collection of unreleased material.

If you're a fan you're guaranteed to enjoy this book regardless, so get it!

The Who from '69-'76 were considered the greatest live rock band. That reputation has placed them in an all-time status. As long as the Who had Keith Moon and John Entwistle, they had the best rhythm section in rock music. The book documents every Who concert through the spring of '97. This book contains everything significant, it's a great read with excellent concert photos. The most interesting read is how the Who blew Led Zeppelin off the stage at the Merriweather Post Pavillion on May 25, 1969. My favorite live Zep period yet the Who had the upper hand.

I really enjoyed this book. Especially the great photos included.
I bought my copy in London, so it was nice to travel parts of London and see a few places where they actually played! But it's really only for die hard fans of the band (like myself, I guess). Also interesting are the set lists to the shows they played.
I'm no good at writing reviews, but I'll highly recommend this one. It's worth the price. A thanks to Irish Jack and Joe McMichael for making it.

And of course The Who. The greatest band in the world.

The beauty of this book is that it captures all the whimsical aggression of the live Who. The detailed tour itineraries and concert set lists provide a level of detail that is scholarly in its approach.

This book is a "must have" for any Who fan. Packed with photos, this book does a great job of documenting the wheres and whens of The Who. Covering shows and studio time, this book really brings it all into perspective. Every Who fan should have a copy!

This new book by 'Irish' Jack Lyons (who was the inspiration for "Quadrophenia") and Joe McMichael is as much a breakthrough book for The Who as Mark Lewisohn's "The Beatles' Recording Sessions" was for the Beatles. What I mean is that Lewisohn's book was the first to strip from the Beatles the legends and the anecdotes and present what really happened and when. This book does the same for the Who. The level of detail is simply incredible. Things which were hard to pin down to months are now given dates and venues. You can open the book and follow the history exactly as it happened. Anyone caught up in the obsession known as Who fandom owe McMichael and Lyons a debt of gratitude. Here's where you'll find the answers to everything you wanted to know about the Who.

FOR ANY WHO FAN THIS IS A GREAT BOOK. IT DETAILS AS MANY OF THE GIGS THAT THE BAND PLAYED FROM THE DAYS WHEN THEY WERE THE DETOURS, THROUGH TO THE HIGH NUMBERS AND THEN AS THE WHO. SOME OF THE ENTERIES ARE SHORT, BUT THIS IS CANT BE HELPED AS NOT MUCH INFOMATION IS AVAILABLE FOR SOME OF THE EARLY GIGS. wHAT DID SURPRISE ME WAS THE NUMBER OF GIGS THE BAND PLAYED DURING THIER CAREER. THIS IS A MUST FOR ALL WHO FANS AND IT WILL BRING BACK SOME GREAT MEMORIERS OF GIGS THAT WE HAVE BEEN TOO.

This fine volume of 208 pages of text and photographs of the worlds greatest live rock band. This tale of legends begins in Acton and Shepherd's Bush in 1962, and concludes in Spring 1997 at the massive Wembley Arena, for a Quadrophenia show.

The Who started making records in 1965 and the band has made a few nice ones over the past 46 years that have found an audience of several hundred zillion fans, but the really lucky folks are the ones who have witnessed the greatest live show of them all, The Who on stage. "Irish" Jack Lyons and Joe McDonald have produced this great volume that explains just what went down on stage and off over the course of 2,000 live shows that included the talents of Pete Townshend,Keith Moon, John Entwistle and Roger Daltrey, who were joined on stage by Kenney Jones, Rabbit, Tim Gorman, Simon Phillips, Abbie Hoffman, a few horn sections, a few backup singers and a boatload of concert guests that were invited (and sometimes not!) to the show.

The concerts of The Who are well known as the greatest live shows ever staged by a rock act and there is a wealth of details to be found here of what went on at these legendary concerts. The Marguee Club in Soho, London in 1965, Monterey Pop in 1967, Australia in 1968, Woodstock in 1969, Leeds and Hull in 1970, San Francisco in 1971 (my first show!) The Cow Palace in 1973, Winterland in 1976, Cincinnati in 1979, Toronto in 1982, Live Aid in London 1985, Radio City Music Hall in 1989, Hyde Park in London 1996, and a couple of thousand more.

This book should be a part of a proper Who library (with thirty or more great Who books that can be located with a bit of searching) This book gives fact over fiction concerning the live shows of The Who and it is great.

FIVE STARS!!!

Seem to be reading and listening a lot to the Who, and this book was an impulse buy.

For the fan, this is a way to walk through history with the band, from the earliest beginnings as the Detours, and even before with Daltrey's founding of the group, and Townshend and Entwistle's affiliation with others.

A lot of stories, memorabilia, set lists, and very interesting stuff.