The Who/CA,USA 6.23.1980

Mike Millard even recorded The Who live in 1980! The latest work from his Audience Master, which has been steadily released every week since the beginning of 2020, is Who. Of course, he recorded this sound source in his home Los Angeles, but it is not the LA Forum, which has become synonymous with his famous recordings. By 1980, the capacity was insufficient for big names to use the same venue, so the LA Sports Arena was used instead. In fact, Bruce Springsteen also used the same venue on his tour in the same year, and Millard recorded one of them as the masterpiece “LOS ANGELES 1980 3RD NIGHT MIKE MILLARD FIRST GENERATION MASTER”. While The Who’s popularity in the United States is increasing, the tour last year, when Kenny Jones joined, has been packed to capacity. That’s why the Cincinnati Incident occurred, but their popularity in the United States did not decline, and they went on a large-scale tour from April to July the following year. The short-term European tour that was held before that was done as a warm-up before that, and the masterpiece produced from this tour was “ZURICH 1980”. Zurich was also an audience album with great sound quality, but as expected from Mike Millard. Stable high quality that easily exceeds that. While the sound image of the performance is very well-balanced, it also has a wonderful sense of presence and freshness, which is the outstanding quality that can only be expected from Millard, which is still alive and well this time. In fact, it is not only a high-quality audience recording, but also excellent stability. Therefore, for this release, there was no need for equalization or even pitch adjustment. This time too, the high quality of the master tape is outstanding. Of the many Millard recordings, what is noteworthy is that, as mentioned at the beginning, he captured The Who’s stage, and what’s more, it is a new sound source that has never been released before. I guess there is. Of course, it is true that it is The Who from the Kenny era, which is generally overlooked, but even so, such a big mirrored sound source has been buried until now. But that’s not all; in terms of performance, it’s probably one of the best in The Who’s Kenny era. It’s so fulfilling that you might think so. In the first place, it was after experiencing the big stage of the new The Who the previous year, and it is important that Kenny’s drumming has turned a corner. It was unavoidable, but in the previous year, he sometimes couldn’t keep up with the other three. However, listening to the fullness of his playing, which has been honed through experience on tours, with Millard’s finest sound source, it is surprisingly enjoyable. It was also important that the entire band was in 1980 mode and running at full throttle after a short European tour. Until the middle of the live performance, which followed the pattern from the previous year, Kenny supported the other members with his majestic drumming, but when it came to “See Me, Feel Me,” the band became completely integrated. At first glance, this song has a too strong image of Keith, and the last time we can see the unique charm of The Who in 1980. The straightness of Kenny’s drumming, which isn’t as violent (not too violent) as him, surprisingly suits the song, and it has been reborn as a tight live version. Taking this opportunity, it is a masterpiece to run through the second half of the show with a wild and speedy performance that is different from the Keith era. “Long Live Rock”, which was performed with Pete’s lead vocals from the previous year, has evolved into a rap-like song, and it blends well with the momentum of Kenny’s drums. From here, the medley from the classic “My Generation” to “Sparks”, which is unique to this period, is a straight and hard performance that is different from the Keith era. “Twist And Shout” was the culmination of the runaway performance in the second half of the live performance. I have a strong impression that it’s a cover song that John Entwistle took lead vocals on during his last tour two years later, but here it’s really interesting that the three of them take turns taking lead vocals in the order of Roger, John, and Pete. . Above all, his performance was so powerful that it was incomparable to his last tour in 1982, when he showed signs of fatigue. Then, from the previous year, Pete started singing improvisational songs that he liked, which also served as inspiration for his creative work, and this time he sang in the pattern of “You Belong To Us.” The perfect ending to this fast-paced development with “The Real Me.” This is a shocking debut sound source in which Millard captures with perfect sound quality the state of The Who burning in LA at a time when their activities with Kenny as a new member were still positive. This is the birth of a standard that can be called “first of all in the Kenny era”. Live at Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA, USA 23rd June 1980 TRULY PERFECT SOUND Disc 1 (55:08) 1. Intro 2. Substitute 3. I Can’t Explain 4. Baba O’Riley 5. My Wife 6. Sister Disco 7. Behind Blue Eyes 8. Music Must Change 9. Drowned 10. Who Are You Disc 2 (64:34) 1. MC 2. 5:15 3. Pinball Wizard 4. See Me, Feel Me 5. Long Live Rock 6. My Generation 7. Sparks 8. Won’t Get Fooled Again 9. Summertime Blues 10. Twist and Shout 11. You Belong To Us 12. The Real Me Roger Daltrey – lead vocals, tambourine, harmonica Pete Townshend – guitar, vocals John Entwistle – bass guitar, vocals Kenney Jones – drums John “Rabbit” Bundrick – keyboards, piano, tambourine, backing vocals Dick Parry – saxophone Reg Brooks – trombone Dave Caswell – trumpet