… Oh, no, wait. That was “Everything I Own.” Never mind. This song's wuss.

… Oh, no, wait. That was “Everything I Own.” Never mind. This song's wuss.

What was nice about it was this show was as close to the stripped-down, genuine Who as we are ever going to get. Six people in the band: Roger, Pete, Rabbit Bundrick (the band's longtime keyboardist), Pino Palladino on bass, Zak Starkey on drums (Ringo's boy is so good at channeling Moonie that they invited him to be their permanent drummer – but he declined) and Pete's little brother Simon on guitar.

Based on previous tours, I expected Pete to once again take the back seat musically. But no, he played lead guitar throughout the night on all the classics. With all the theatrics and his unorthodox playing, we tend to forget how amazingly innovative he is as a player. And he was giving it his all. At one point (because we were so close) we noticed his fingers were bleeding.

No, their voices aren't what they once were. Pete, in particular, seems to struggle. Roger also had his lesser moments. But give him credit. He could have gone with “Substitute,” “Kids Are Alright” and other tunes that don't require him to stretch his vocal chords. But no, we heard “Love Reign O'er Me,” “I'm Free,” and “5:15″ at full blast. Also, Roger never really took a break except when Pete sang “Eminence Front.” That was unusual. When I saw him on his solo tour about 20 years ago, he had to let guitarist Russ Ballard do a few of his own songs.

The other thing I loved was the retro look of the show. All the guitars and basses (and of course Roger's mike) had cords. The entire stage was filled with miked retro Fender amps. If you were an oldtime Detroiter, you had to love the shout out to the MC-5. Kick Out the Jams, indeed.

Damn. Now you've got me going. I think I've got to post this and try to download my cell phone photos to my too-neglected blog.

Really, it's the early 1960s summed up in two songs. Plus, they totally *swing*.

Kenny Jones was a great choice for drummer – one listen to “I'm Losing You” by the Faces should convince anyone of that.

The problem with Face Dances and It's Hard is that they are products of the 80's – every drummer was forced to work against a click track. Happened to every band in the 80's that went from an indie label to a major. I know jazz drummers that were forced into it. Even Charlie Watts couldn't escape.