Press
The Independent - 5 star review
The Guardian - 5 star review
Scotsman - 4 star review
Express
Review by Simon Nicholl
I won't confess how many times that I've seen this show before but the last time that I saw them was their 'Quadrophenia' performance at the Royal Albert Hall just over three years ago. That show left me on a downer: it wasn't the way that I wanted to finish seeing my favourite band so you can probably imagine how thrilled and chuffed I am to say that last night's show well and truly kicked the arse of the RAH number! To be honest I'm not sure how big a debt of thanks I owe that Glasgow audience: they were irreverent and f***ng raucous, to put it mildly. And bluntly, hah-hah!
The support were a four-piece from Los Angeles called Vintage Trouble and all I'll say is do not miss them! A fusion of Wicked Pickett, Sam & Dave, J.B. and Lord knows what else...their 35 minutes whizzed by. Good work fellas...
I'll not bang on about the album itself suffice to say that the sound from the stage was absolutely marvelous, however, evidently PT didn't agree early-doors when he snarled, swore and kicked a wedge monitor and then let the poor technician be in no doubt as to how his boss felt. As one local shouted behind me, "...Go on Pete... you f**kin tell him, hah-hah-hah!". After that Townshend was caught laughing and smiling frequently: he had a ball up there, although by the time he heard the opening thumps of "Won't Get..." he definitely looked weary. Believe me, it was no wonder as 'Quad' is difficult music to play.
As the Man Of the Match, well it's a close call between Rog and Si Townshend...they both worked their knackers off to make the show as good as they could. RD's voice was loud and proud until the end although he did sound rougher for the final third, while ST played immaculate lead guitar and sang similarly. Without his contribution this show wouldn't have flown. End of.
After doing the band intros almost at the end of the show, PT dismissed them as a load of rubbish before catching his wee brother's eye and corpseing: he then looked at us and in a stage whisper said "...They're actually very good...". All good fun.
So what else? We had one stage invader who meant no harm thankfully although with the shape that Rog is in he would've have 'Dr. Jimmy'd' him regardless! There was also one big guy who had a wrestle with security at the stage edge: all he wanted to do was hand Rog a pair of sunglasses (which PT modeled) so he made sure that security treated the fellow with some decency. Good man.
At the risk of getting peoples' expectations too high, this is a band breathing fire at times. Go see.