The WHO-DLUMS

12th Sep 2007.

Members

JOHN  Vocals 

PETE   Lead Guitar & Backing Vox. 

IAN     Bass & Backing Vox

BOB    Drums

 

 whodalums 1.JPG (151746 bytes)

This is a fairly recently formed tribute band to The Who, and by their own admission this was their third gig together. There are not many Who tribute bands about in this area, so it was with a little trepidation that I took my normal seat for the warm up. Visually, they set up a back-drop screen of excerpts from The Who’s material in the form of Quadrophenia and Live Performances, which could be off-putting.

Sound check-wise, I spotted the use of backing track material, later to be used on ‘Baba O’Reilly’ and ‘Who are you?’.

Whether it was a combination of England playing Russia or some misconception that the act was down as the Smoking Spitfires or the oncoming Rhythm and Blues Festival or a combination of all three, or even perhaps people were catching up on lost Soap episodes, the fact of the matter was – there were very few people in. It is a tall order to ask any act to perform at the top of their ability and enthusiasm, but I’m happy to say that The Who-dlums did.

Set 1 

It did, however, take a bit of time. I felt that, where the early numbers were played, such as ‘Can’t Explain’ ‘I Can See For Miles’, ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’, the harmonies between John and Pete just weren’t there. The backing rhythms were decent enough, as was the guitar work, it just seemed to lack energy. The 60’s feel was very much in evidence with ‘So Sad about Us’ and ‘Pictures of Lily’, even though the harmonies, for which The Who were well known for during this period, were still short of the mark but getting closer. A very good version of ‘Happy Jack’ followed, with Bob’s drums dominating the driving rhythm of the song. They stated that ‘I’m a Boy’, which followed was the first time they performed it live, Pete did the initial vocals with John joining in. For a majority of the song it was fine but with the ‘Oooh’ bit - ‘Oooh No!’ – needs a bit of work. The whole band worked well togetherwith ‘The Kid’s are Alright’ again producing that 60’s feel, and as we progressed towards excerpts from Live at Leeds and Tommy with ‘Naked Eye’, ‘Pinball Wizard’, ‘See Me, Feel Me’ i.e later numbers, it was clear to me that John’s vocal qualities were much better suited to this area of The Who’s material. There was good use of build up of tempo and volume on ‘See Me’, and some very good bouncing back vocals between Pete and John. Overall a good quality set. ‘Who Are You?’ with the combination of a backing track produced to me the closest sound to The Who yet…..very, very good and an excellent finish to the first set leaving you wanting more of the same.

Set 2. 

Apart from initial technical difficulties, the second set blasted off with the well-known intro. to ‘Baba O’Reilly’. Now I thought the guitar wasn’t quite right on this one and I’d have to be fair to state that there was some struggle with the high vocal notes, and I would have loved to have seen a ‘live’ violin being played, but then again it is my favourite Who song, so I retain the right to be picky, but the overall effect was pretty good. There followed a series of very well played and performed songs, starting with ‘Behind Blue Eyes’, ‘The Seeker’, ‘Bargain’, ‘You Better, You Better, You Bet’ and ‘Squeeze Box’. Throughout all songs, the band were very tight and together. I liked the use of the Bass in the bridge in ‘Bargain’, and, despite some reference to posh Darlington accents, audience participation time (despite the few – a lot of noise!!).

‘Summertime Blues’ I have to admit we could have done without, because, let’s face it, this is a cover of a cover, and I was confused about which version was being played. (‘Won’t get fooled again’ and ‘I’m Free’ were begging to played here).

Bob, on his two sticks, introduced our journey on ‘The Magic Bus’, where there was very good use of the lack of drums with an exaggerating bass line, supplanted by excellent vocals. ‘The Real Me’ followed, and not a track I am fully au fait with, or heard live before, but again well performed. The last song I heard before I had to go was 5:15, which provided us with a good intro. and spot on harmonies with ‘inside/out’. Going down the alleyway I could hear strains of ’Substitute’.

 

This is a group in it’s early development and there are times where they hit the mark in re-producing The Who sound, both in early mode and post-Tommy era, those hits need to be more consistent. Overall, this was a great night’s entertainment, albeit witnessed by the few.

 

Gazinho