The Almighty Who

In this auto-tuned and over-processed millennial music scene, it's rare that I get to blog about one of my favorite bands (who all had their hay-day during the latter half of the twentieth century). However, the tough and marvelous band The Who came back, in a big way, during the most watched television broadcast of the year: the Superbowl.

Well, it wasn't the original Who in their entirety. That would be impossible, as the venerable Keith Moon (check out the fish in his drums, "party on," Mr. Moon) left us in 1978. But with us in 2010, we still have Roger Daltrey, vocalist, and Pete Townshend, lead guitarist. They performed a medley of their most famous songs, including "Pinball Wizard," "Who Are You," (which existed long before CSI, in case you weren't aware) and "Baba O'Reilly."

Daltrey and Towshend, in spite of obviously getting on in years, sounded as raw, angsty and fantastic as ever. Townshend has kept up the time-honored and fan-adored tradition of his power-stance (which Jack Black passed on to the next generation of great guitarists in The School of Rock). He can back his continued commanding presence up with his incredible and one-of-a-kind guitar playing. Daltrey hasn't lost any of his vocal prowess, and was fortunately able to project over the mass of football fans who were singing along.

The special effects were also incredible. The lights illuminating the stage on which The Who played was perfect for a flashy event like the Superbowl, and complimented the performance (that obviously rocked the thousands of people in attendance) nicely.

This will be no surprise coming from a musical oldhead like me, but it's my sincere hope that adolescents will continue to discover this wonderful and ironically named band, and that the music of The Who will lead "my generation" out of the "teenage wasteland" for years to come.