Released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2015, The Who Live at Shea Stadium 1982 contains the complete performance from October 13th, the second of two nights at the now defunct NYC venue. Even without ancillary content on that package, the double CD proffers a comprehensive cross-section of the iconic British group’s work throughout its career. And oddly enough, given the Who’s stunning theatricality on stage, the audio-only document is more revelatory than its counterpart.
At its high points, such as the culls from Quadrophenia like “Love Reign O’er Me,” the performance seethes with the passion that’s always earmarked the band’s best. But the depth of feeling here is no doubt borne of the very frustration and ambivalence that compelled the quartet to embark on this so-called farewell tour (in a bitterly ironic twist, sponsored by a beer company).
Contradictory as it sounds, the source of emphatic vigor that permeates material early (“Substitute,” “I Can’t Explain”), middle (“Young Man Blues, “Summertime Blues”) and late (“The Quiet One,” Eminence Front”) most likely lies in the band’s disappointment with its two albums for Warner Brothers (both of which have received scant attention in reissue form) plus internal friction exacerbated by the 1979 tragedy in Cincinnati.
Lead vocalist Roger Daltrey’s voice becomes stronger as the roughly two-hour single set progresses. His voice rings out on “Baba O’Riley” and, at the rousing rendition of “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” also off 1971’s Who’s Next, both he and guitarist/chief composer Pete Townshend sound elevated by the material.
At the same time, bassist John Entwistle’s bass playing emits unrelenting firepower throughout. And, perhaps surprisingly, it interlocks with and corresponds to the intensity of Kenney Jones’ drumming: while the former member of the (Small) Faces doesn’t play with the furious abandon of the late Keith Moon, he is indefatigable here in both keeping and embellishing the beat(s).
The same might be said of the group at large on Live At Shea Stadium. True to life as “Behind Blues Eyes” sounds, the Who had no newer material to truly inspire them. Entwistle’s “Dangerous” appears early in the two-hour-plus set, and although it benefits from the layers of synthesizers played by keyboardist Tim Gorman–who also enhances with his piano late in the show–its prosaic lyrics lack the wit and whimsy of The Ox’s past contributions to the Who repertoire of (“Boris the Spider,” “Heaven and Hell,” “My Wife”).
The rendition of the title tune from It’s Hard, the album released that same autumn as this tour sounds forced until Townshend takes a solo. The titular leader of the group also exhibits some level of engagement with “Sister Disco,” but notably muffs the lyrics in a tangible display of the ennui he describes in the song. Still, this cull from the last studio effort with Moon, Who Are You, marks the first improvisation of sorts and supports his admiration for Booker T & The MG’s guitarist, the ever-pithy Steve Cropper.
Mastered by Jon Astley–who’s performed such duties on virtually all the band’s archival releases–the audio quality on Live at Shea Stadium 1982 is bass-heavy and hard, but still punchy. No doubt akin to the sound in a sweet spot within the open-air venue, some background vocals are a bit far down in the mix by longtime Who sound guru Bob Pridden, along with Richard Whittaker (who also oversaw the general sonic restoration).
Such niceties aside, the excerpts from Tommy alone –“Pinball Wizard” and “See Me Feel Me”–remind us what truly great songs Peter Townshend composed at the apex of his writing prowess. Reaffirming that very notion is the addition of semi-obscure but scintillating selections “Long Live Rock” and “Naked Eye” (both of which are highlights of the self-curated anthology Odds & Sods).
Rightful and affectionate homage to the Beatles (who played the very first rock and roll show at this venue) also arrives in the form of the Fab Four’s early original “I Saw Her Standing There” plus their raucous cover of the Isley Brothers’ “Twist and Shout.” Both are sung with a wry vengeance by Entwistle and while an excerpt from The Who Sell Out, “Tattoo,” is otherwise the only display of genuine humor here, its inclusion in such proximity with the native Liverpudlians’ songs, reveals more than a little self-awareness on the part of a band who (almost) always knew its rightful place in history..
Positioned inside a double-fold digipak with its outside graphics featuring the Who bulls-eye logo atop a stars-and-stripes color scheme, Chris Roberts’ hyperbolic essaycareful yet overly-effusive rationalizations are the antithesis of the largely self-disciplined potency of the performance he strives to describe. The reality is that on Live at Shea Stadium 1982, the Who hardly seems like a band giving up. On the contrary, the group sounds defiant in the face of adversity (some of it of their own making) and, before it’s over, becomes intent on tendering an expression of fierce pride in themselves and their work at large.
