I may have waited too long to write this unfortunately as my memory isn’t the best. What I can say this was the best show I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been to hundreds and hundreds of shows.
When this show was first announced I bought tickets for both me and Alyssa. They were relatively cheap, especially when compared to tickets of the same caliber (looking at you Rolling Stones and Pearl Jam). Alyssa wasn’t much looking forward to the show since it’s only 2 of the original members but I told her they were legends and we needed to see them.
In typical fashion we went down a bit early and grabbed a drink at the central saloon. We walked up to TMobile Park (what used to be Safeco Field) and went to our seats. I actually didn’t drink too much. Not sure there was an exact reason but I just wasn’t feeling it. Some of my friends made it out to the show but were in different sections so I actually didn’t get to see them.
Liam Gallagher was first and was underwhelming to me. I found the show to be very boring. I’m not sure he moved at all. He just stood with his arms behind his back, leaned forward, and singing into the microphone. His new songs were nothing special, and the only highlights for me at least were Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova.
Champagne Supernova sounded weird or different. It made me wonder if he had to sing it different due legal issues with Noah. Regardless it was cool to see these Oasis songs live…songs I’ve partied to and have been part of my life since I was in high school. But to be honest it just felt like a money grab, with no emotions and nothing exciting to make me ever want to see it again. That being said his voice did sound good, so there’s that.
After that the main event, The Who came out and just blew everyones minds. Pete Townshend was extremely funny and him and Roger Daltrey seemed to get along famously. They started the set out with a shortened run through of the album Tommy which was amazing.
Completely unknown and unexpected for both me and Alyssa was the fact they were using a complete orchestra. This may have contributed to it being the best show I’ve ever seen. The sheer emotion conveyed by the orchestra, in combination with the complexity of the songs was just something I’ve never seen before. When you combine that with Pete’s excellent guitar playing, and Roger’s absolutely emotionally charged voice, it gave sheer goosebumps to both me and Alyssa.
After Tommy they ran through some other songs and went to a band-only portion. The band only portion was good, but I definitely missed the orchestra, that being said, transitioning to a band only part was good for the concert as a whole because it mixed it up and really highlighted their performance as well as the performance of the orchestra as a whole.
After 4 or 5 songs they then brought the orchestra back on and also a surprise guest…Eddie Vedder! This may have been the single greatest moment I’ve been able to catch live. Tough to narrow it down, but this is definitely top 3.
Eddie seemed happier than I’ve ever seen him, and put on one hell of a performance on the song “The Punk and The Godfather”. Luckily I was able to capture this on video which I’m posting below. Sorry for the shitty quality in advance!
After that Eddie went off stage and they played Love Reign O’er Me. This song also hit me harder than any song I’ve seen live. When you add the orchestra and brass to the emotion in Roger’s voice, as well as the screaming guitar, I literally had tears in my eyes and full on goosebumps. There was a member of the audience in front of me standing up and just losing it, grabbing his head and waving his arms like a crazy person. I’ve never seen someone so affected by a song in my life. I looked over and Alyssa was crying. This was truly something to always remember.
They ended the show with Baba O’ Reilly and brought out an amazing violinist who just shredded all over the place. After the show was over (and it was a long one! maybe 3 hours?) Alyssa and I proceeded to buy shirts and posters. We were absolutely blown away and it made The Who possibly my favorite band of all time. I would absolutely see them again, and I just wish I could have seen them back in the day with Keith Moon and John Entwistle. If you get the chance you absolutely need to see The Who while they’re still around. Video I took below!