The Who Live at Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN

Tis the morning after...I thought I'd write a review...have divided it into three sections: pre-show, the show and post-show.


Pre-Show:
After jaokman announced that he thought he had seen the "In the Attic" trailer-van, I headed down to Conseco at around 3:30pm - no such luck. But I stood in the 27F cold, Leeds LP and blue sharpie in hand and waited (an hour later I found myself singing Two thousand years...have I waited!)

Anyway, a solitary guy named John walked up - said he'd driven from Missouri to catch this gig...told me about the Who at the Fillmore East and three other occasions he had seen them...told me about Shea Stadium and the Beatles...we spoke for a long, long time and he kept me entertained in the cold...(I was born in the post-Moon era...this was my first Who show ever!).
I stood out till about 5:45pm, with no luck. Then, I headed back home to pick up my wife and I had also promised to get John something to eat. Returned by 6:20pm and what would you know - I had missed one limo: it had come in around 6pm and the security guy was told "it was the big guy", by which I assumed they meant Pete...I stuck out there, waiting for the second limo, which duly showed up around 7pm...I waved, danced, displayed my LP and sharpie, but the limo just dipped into the ramp to the loading dock. The security guy shrugged and I walked in to Conseco for the show...

The Show!
My seats were overlooking Pete, to his side - the best thing about the seats was (they were the closest I could get) that we were right above the entryway to the artists' dressing room, so they would all walk under, and look up at us and smile/wave on their way out...I just kept screaming "Thank you, Thank YOU!"

This being my first show and all, I must say it was incredible! I thought they sounded on the top of their game and performed very professionally - Roger's voice was spot on. I thought Endless wire and T&T at the end sounded better than they did on the album, but that may have just been the thrill of seeing them live...

The highlight of the night was Baba - at the end of Baba, there was a magical intensity in the fieldhouse as everyone kept clapping and would not stop till Pete broke it up. That was a moving experience - there is something about the intensity of a Who audience and the band that I have not seen at any of the other shows i have been to...I chose not to get distracted by having to take pictures and soaked in the show...hence no pics of the show itself, sorry! From where I was at, the band was in my line of view, not the screens, so I didn't get distracted at all...and since Pete and Roger stand a good 10 feet in front of the rest of the band, my eyes were trained on them all night long.

As far as the acoustics of the venue - I thought they were a bit lacking, especially when the opening act, The Tragically Hip played: I was worried the Who would sound like that too, but such was not the case. I think the Hip had 3 guitars competing with the vocals. Nonetheless, the bass was lost in the mix all night - Pino sounded muddy, even when he did the little Generation solo...the drums sounded awesome though, as did Simon's backing vocals...I read somewhere else that he was "superfluous"...I don't believe that for a moment...He polishes the sound and plays a very significant role in my opinion...the three-part harmonies on BWE were gorgeous. Zak was incredible as ever - saw him with Oasis, but he really blew me away last night.

PW was opened with the Tenacious D remark and Pete doing a mock flurry of strumming, before he got into the PW chords...T&T at the end was moving - I think Roger changed a lyric: instead of "One of us failed...", he said "All of us failed...". I think it was a super way to end the show...just the two of them and a guitar - don't you just love the fact that they can enthrall with as little as they need or as much as they can manage...

Another highlight was Roger smashing the tambourine to pieces---literally!!! Yay!!!

Post-Show:
I headed out and stood at the loading dock again...and met kubachek and burtonanderson...nice guys. Didn't go to the pub with them though, hope you two had a fun time. We waited there and 20 minutes later a limo pulled out: it was led by a cop car and an ambulance...no way were they stopping for 5 fans. Five minutes later another limo pulled out and was gone...I did see someone waving to us in both cars.

Summary:
So I didn't get my Leeds LP signed. But that's fine...I returned home without the slightest feeling of disappointment. Well ok, maybe just a little. The show was the best I have seen - the energy these two guys bring, inspirational. For now, that is what I will hang onto fondly...not many people can bring so much joy so quickly to so many...


TheWhoTour.com forum members burton and yoursdhruly outside Conseco waiting (in vain) for P&R (photo taken by kubacheck)

Finally, an old post (on one of my discontinued blogs) from Pete Townshend! In many ways, this surpasses a signature on an LP...

Check out Pete's blog: he is writing his memoirs!!! Wonderful stuff by a wonderful artist...what more could a fan ask for?
http://www.petetownshendwhohe.blogspot.com/

Indianapolis Salsa!

We've finished two months at Indy's IntoSalsa and it's been a great experience thus far. Month 3 begins in March (Advanced Beginner). The key difference in the way Salsa is taught here and was in Pune are the fact that the folks at IntoSalsa (indeed most Salsa schools here, it seems) do not focus on the technique early on at all, which makes it more fun for the beginner who is not constantly being asked to watch the angle of his/her feet. Also, a key stylistic difference is the Salsa here is less spread out - smaller steps, in compact patterns are emphasized over the more showy ballroomish Salsa we see back home in Pune. It is still Salsa though - quick, quick, slow! (or 1-2-3...5-6-7)

Interestingly, I noticed that there are at least three different Salsa organizations in Indy: IntoSalsa, IndySalsa and SalsaIndy...not very creative name-wise, but the websites of all three are very well done and worth a visit if you're into this sort of thing. We're yet to hit a dance floor outside of our class studio and will be doing that early next month!

WKLU 101.9 Studio, Castleton, IN

Adi and I went to the studio to record my ultimate Top Ten! The show airs Friday, Dec 08, 2006 at 6pm EST and streams live on the station website: www.wklu.net

Roger Waters Live in Noblesville, IN

Okay. So the whole rock'n'roll experience is supposed to be wowing. Once you've seen some big names though, you start to put the next show you see in perspective and this is precisely what happened to me. After seeing Paul McCartney at Denver in 2002, this was my first year of getting back to watching rock concerts live, which was kicked off with Oasis in March this year, then Tom Petty over the summer and now, Roger "Creative Genius of Pink Floyd" Waters. The thing I hate most about watching bands at Verizon Wireless Center is the fact that you need to spend about 8 hours in all, to watch them play, given the horrific traffic conditions pre- and post-concert. But that is not Roger's fault. And there was nothing that anyone could fault Roger Waters and his impressive band with. Hats off, this was an incredible show - way, way better than Tom Petty in all respects. Oasis's choice of venue - the Murat and the fact that we were in the 12th row, still make that show the best overall concert experience I have had, but in terms of production of the show and the performance by the band, this has to be the best concert I have ever seen. The most amazing thing was, that I was blown away even before Roger Waters started Dark Side of the Moon. The first 45 minutes of the show are still the most memorable (I am writing this a month after the show)...Roger's incredible "Leaving Beirut" and the use of cartoons on the backdrop to ensure we got lyrics like "America, America...Don't let ...the Christian right, f**k it all up for you and the rest of the world". Roger playing the acoustic guitar on Mother, the flying pig - it flew!!! Incredible. And all this was before the heartbeats of DSOTM. The band closed things with a few of Wall, but really, the best part had been and gone.

All in all, I admire rockers aged beyond their prime (or have they?) that still want to hit the road...be it the ageless Paul, the ubiquitous Stones, Pink Floyd in all their forms or more recently, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey as "the Who". I wonder also, what will the concert scene be 10 years from now, when most of these rock legends are in their 70s. Who will bear the flag of rock'n'roll? I never did care much for U2 and Dave Matthews are great, but have overdone things in my opinion. Pearl Jam is, in my mind, the most ideally placed to take this responsibility on, in the US anyway. Oasis do a fine job in the UK. But I can't name any other band at the top of my head of the caliber and crowd-engaging capacity of Tom Petty or Roger Waters (...or dare I say, the Who). I find it hard to visualize the Killers playing "Somebody told me" to 25,000 people at Verizon Wireless Center in 2030. But I have been wrong before...only occasionally of course.

As for me, I think I am done with my share of live concerts. The excitement is not there - mostly because I end up watching shows from a distance where the musicians are smaller than my thumbnail. Additionally, more often that not, the material is not new, there is not much to look forward to and the comfort of watching DVDs at home outweighs the 8 hour drive/wait for a concert...Nonetheless, for the powerful memories rock concerts etch and the magic they sometimes create, they remain an undeniable part of the experience that is rock'n'roll.

















Set list:

In The Flesh
Mother
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Have A Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Southampton Rock
The Fletcher Memorial Home
Perfect Sense (pt 1)
Perfect Sense (pt 2)
Leaving Beirut
Sheep (flying pig!)

15 min break

Speak To Me
Breathe
On The Run
Time
The Great Gig In The Sky
Money
Us And Them
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse

Encore
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Another Brick In The Wall (pt 2)
Vera
Bring The Boys Back Home
Comfortably Numb

Savannah, GA

Is this the best beach in the US or what? Well the warmest water I have ever been in outside of the bathroom. Fantastic day, fantastic weather, fantastic people to be around. And we still want to seek God.

Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta, GA

From the Georgia Aquarium website:
Georgia Aquarium opened on November 23rd as the World’s Largest Aquarium. With 8 million gallons of fresh and marine water, and more than 100,000 animals representing 500 species from around the globe, you’re sure to see things you’ve never seen before!

Photo taken by Ashish Ainapure

Indianapolis Zoo, IN

Indianapolis Zoo

17 Mile "Scenic" Drive, Monterey, CA

Experience Index: 1.5/5

Very overrated location. Sure, it is next to the ocean, but so are thousands of miles of coastline. $8.75 to get in here too, which I got the feeling were being spent, in some indirectly convoluted way, to justify keeping off real estate hunters from this area. Indeed, there are several mansions along the drive, punctuating the 18 odd "scenic" locations along the drive. Sample some of them: "Joe", where some Chinese guy used to live alone at land's end and sell trinkets to tourists in the 1800s or the so-called "Ghost Tree"...Eventually, I went from sight to sight finding nothing worth capturing on camera. Save this "Lone Cypress Tree" - just one little tree sitting by itself at the edge of the land. This is also the "Pebble Beach" logo & is copyrighted!

All in all, in my opinion, if you're not a Golf fanatic (the 17 mile drive runs through the Pebble Beach golf course), avoid Monterey & stick to the wonder that is San Francisco!

Pier 39, San Francisco, CA

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL