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The Who Are Alrght

New month, new gig. M and I journeyed along the coast to Swansea for the inaugural concert at the Liberty Stadium, accompanied by the sun, thankfully.

Now the official first band to play the Liberty Stadium, first on were Stuart Cable (formerly of Stereophonics) new band Killing For Company. We hadn't previously heard any of their material. They were entertaining, but what we expected them to be rather than any surprises. New single Enemies out 4th June, see their website for details.



Next up and another blast from the past, The Charlatans. Wasn't that much of a fan the first time, but they were good, and they played their hits including North Country Boy. There were clearly a few Charlatans fans in the crowd who were kept very happy, but not much interaction with the crowd from the band.



Onto the main act, who certainly pleased the crowd with 2hrs 15mins of play! The Who set included: I Can't Explain, The Seeker (with 1 power cut), Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere, Baba O'Riley, Who Are You (with 3 power cuts), The Real Me, Real Good Looking Boy, You Better You Bet, The Kids Are Alright, one track from their 2006 album Endless Wire, ending with My Generation and Won't Get Fooled Again. Encore included Pinball Wizard, Sparks, another power cut and an acoustic song to end, to which I don't know the title!



Right. The power cuts - teething troubles on the part of the stadium, it seems, so we got 3 nearly finished versions of Who Are You, it wasn't finished properly so as not to jinx the set!! After that all went well until the encore. Seems to have been linked to the video screens. These were used well (when not cutting the electric!), often showing the original videos to the older songs (in the vein of the Stones). The crowd were hugely enthusiastic, so it was a shame that the show wasn't a sell-out. The Who are raising money for charity by selling CD and/or DVD recordings of the concert, see this link for information. Were they as good as the Rolling Stones? Tis a very tough question.



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