THE WHO + UB40 WITH ALI CAMPBELL + ISABELLA COULSTOCK – THE 1st CENTRAL COUNTY GROUND, HOVE 23.7.23
It is undeniable that The Who have always pushed boundaries. That is something that remains the case to this day. Now, along with The Rolling Stones, they are challenging popular perception of what can be expected from people in their late seventies and early eighties. It is not very long ago that the very concept of a two-and-a-half hour rock show being fronted by gentlemen aged 78 and 79 would be laughed out of court. This is the third time that I have seen The Who on their 2023 UK Tour, and I can confirm that this is something that has been occurring on a near nightly basis. However, before we wonder at the marvel that is a 2023 live Who performance, let’s have a look at their support acts.
First up is 21 year old singer-songwriter Isabella Coulstock. I first saw Isabella supporting The Who at London’s O2 Arena on 12th July, and I was struck then by her confidence playing in front of a large audience (in the case of the O2 Arena, 20,000 people) and her apparent complete lack of nerves. She has a wonderful crystalline voice, and is not afraid to encourage audience participation, especially on the song ‘Honky Tonk Beer’. A surprisingly mature song is ‘Crazy Cowboy’, a song which she wrote at the age of thirteen on the guitar that she is using today. Unfortunately Isabella only gets to play for half an hour, but Brighton residents will get the opportunity to see her again when she supports Jools Holland at Brighton Centre on 9th December. Details and tickets for that are available HERE.
Isabella Coulstock setlist:
‘Good Company’
‘Broken’
‘Borderline’
‘The Road’
‘Trouble’
‘Fast’
‘The Riverside’
‘Honkytonk Beer’
‘Crazy Cowboy’
Preceding The Who are UB40 featuring Ali Campbell. The “featuring Ali Campbell” part of the band’s name is important. There are currently two versions of UB40 on the road. The original band remains operational, comprising original members Robin Campbell, Jimmy Brown, Earl Falconer and Norman Lamont Hassan. Ali Campbell is the only original member in the version of the band we are seeing today. Ali left the original band in 2008 to go solo. He was joined soon afterwards by original members Mickey Virtue on keyboards, and percussionist and vocalist Astro. They commenced trading as UB40, which obviously brought them into conflict with the original band. Mickey Virtue left this version of the band in 2018, and Astro sadly passed away in 2021.
So, is this version of the band any good? Well, Ali Campbell’s voice remains a thing of wonder, and does not appear to have changed in forty years. Indeed, Ali himself seems to have barely changed since ‘Signing Off’ was released in 1980. Also, the musicianship on display here is top notch. Who are the people that Ali is playing with these days? I would love to be able to tell you, but none of them are introduced, nor are they named on the band’s website. Ho hum.
Brilliantly though it is played, the material chosen for tonight’s set is disappointing to say the least. Now, UB40 are no strangers to cover versions. Indeed, during their 1980s heyday they released two studio albums of cover versions: ‘Labour Of Love’ and ‘Labour Of Love II’ in 1983 and 1989 respectively. However, they have a fine back catalogue of original material, which makes it near scandalous that we only get one UB40 original tonight, the magnificent ‘One In Ten’. So no ‘Food For Thought’, ‘King’, ‘Rat In Mi Kitchen’ or ‘Sing Our Own Song’ (oh – the irony!!!). It wouldn’t be quite so bad if some of the covers chosen weren’t so utterly pointless.
The absolute joybringer is a reggae version of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’. Apparently Ali’s band recorded this “about ten years ago” as a tribute. Why? Prince was comfortably still alive then. Frankly this version would have the great man spinning in his grave. Indeed, if I believed in such things I would say that he would be justified in coming back to seek retribution. Better hide under the covers Ali. I should point out that the crowd lapped all of this up, and I can’t deny that it was entertaining. However, it was not UB40. This is essentially a cabaret act. Doubtless they will be playing a wedding, bar mitzvah or working men’s club near you very soon. The scores on the doors: 10/10 for performance; 1/10 for content.
UB40 featuring Ali Campbell setlist:
‘Here I Am (Come And Take Me)’
‘The Way You Do The Things You Do’
‘Homely Girl’
‘Cherry Oh Baby’
‘One In Ten’
‘Purple Rain’
‘Many Rivers To Cross’
‘Red Red Wine’
‘Kingston Town’
‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’
When The Who take the stage, Pete Townshend thanks UB40 and tells us that they and The Who share the same management. Well, that speaks volumes: ‘not our choice guv!’ The Who are joined by The Heart Of England Philharmonic Orchestra. In many ways the presence of the orchestra dictates the material that makes up the set. It’s inevitable that we are going to get hefty segments from both ‘Tommy’ and ‘Quadrophenia’. Well, there are certainly no complaints from me regarding that eventuality. However, in the pub before the gig I overhear one gentleman saying that his main concern was that with the presence of the orchestra the band probably wouldn’t play anything from ‘The Who Sell Out’ or ‘A Quick One While He’s Away’. To my knowledge the last time that The Who played material from either of those albums was on ‘The Kids Are Alright’ tour in 1989. So there was going to be at least one unhappy camper.
Surprisingly the setlist has not been as rigid throughout the tour as one might expect. There have been songs added and lost. I must confess that when I first saw The Who with an orchestra at Wembley Stadium in 2019, I was concerned that the orchestra’s presence might round off some of The Who’s rough edges. Not a bit of it! This is not entirely due to just Townshend and Daltrey’s approach to their craft, but also that of Zak Starkey and Simon Townshend as well. It would be unfair to say that Zak Starkey plays like Keith Moon, because no-one does, or probably can. However, Zak’s playing has a similar fluidity to Keith’s. When Pete Townshend left The Who in 1983 he suggested that the band carry on with his brother Simon in his place, “because he looks like me and plays like me”. To an extent this is true. He certainly seems to have a similar temperament, which is a good thing. His playing certainly has a similar level of attack, and in sometimes playing a Gibson SG he has returned the Gibson ‘crunch’ to the band’s sound.
The ‘Tommy’ medley is wonderfully powerful. Indeed, throughout the show the power quotient is rarely diminished. During ‘Amazing Journey’ Pete slides his guitar across his mic stand: still the consummate showman. It’s interesting to watch the interplay between Zak Starkey and the musical co-ordinator / conductor Keith Levenson. It’s difficult to ascertain who’s following who. Eventually I decide that Keith is following Zak, who incidentally seems to have spent the whole tour dressed as a banana. That is to say he is wearing a very striking yellow outfit.
A thunderous ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ marks the end of the ‘Tommy’ element of the show, and is followed by a crunching ‘Who Are You’, featuring Roger Daltrey on a Fender Telecaster. The balconies of the houses and flats surrounding the ground are crammed full of people, and no wonder as three quarters of them have an uninterrupted view of the stage. Pete Townshend asks the “freeloaders” if they sell tickets for their balconies! Roger retains his Telecaster for Eminence Front, from 1982’s ‘It’s Hard’ album, for which he plays the main riff. It’s a bit of a funny song, and is possibly the most un-Who-like song in their entire back catalogue. It sounds for all the world like a Pete Townshend solo song (Pete sings lead), yet ultimately it works as a Who song too.
At this point the orchestra take a break, and Pete announces that they’re “going to play songs like we used to”. Without the orchestra the band have a little more flexibility in what they play. Indeed, in London and tonight they play ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’ and ‘I Can’t Explain’ which weren’t played when I saw them at Edinburgh Castle on 9th July. For the first of these Pete plays a Rickenbacker as he did on the original record, and replicates the feedback effects that the record featured. In announcing ‘I Can’t Explain’ Pete reckons that it was recorded before any of us were born. He is wrong. ‘My Generation’ is vicious and muscular, and concludes with a shortened version of the late 1960s / early 1970s coda, but featuring the lyrics from ‘Cry If You Want’, another (much underrated) song from the ‘It’s Hard’ album.
‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ is its usual powerhouse self, and for ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ the band are joined by violinist Katie Jacoby and cellist Audrey Q Snyder. Pete plays acoustic, sitting on a chair. The song’s performance is more decorous than hitherto, but it doesn’t lack power. I must confess when the song reaches its rockier middle section, I half expect Townshend to leap up and kick his chair away. This doesn’t happen. Twenty years ago it probably would have done.
The orchestra return for the final ‘Quadrophenia’ section of the show. ‘The Real Me’ is every bit as ball-breaking as on record, but ‘I’m One’ starts off with Pete solo on acoustic before the band and orchestra join in. ‘The Rock’ and ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ are both utterly epic, before ‘Baba O’ Riley’ brings proceedings to a close. Katie Jacoby takes centre stage for the violin solo and injects her performance with the kind of youthful vitality that Townshend and Daltrey can now only dream of. There is no encore of ‘Tea And Theatre’ tonight as we must be too close to curfew.
This has been an absolutely electrifying performance, and is probably one that will give hope to many people watching who may be approaching their seventies. My only minor quibble is that there was nothing from the most recent two Who albums, ‘Endless Wire’ and ‘WHO’. Still, maybe next time. Will there be a next time? On tonight’s evidence, I for one wouldn’t bet against it.
The Who setlist:
(With Orchestra)
‘Overture’
‘1921’
‘Amazing Journey’
‘Sparks’
‘The Acid Queen’
‘Pinball Wizard’
‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’
‘Who Are You’
‘Eminence Front’
(Band Only)
‘The Kids Are Alright’
‘You Better You Bet’
‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’
‘Substitute’
‘I Can’t Explain’
‘My Generation’ (including ‘Cry If You Want’ lyrics)
‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’
‘Behind Blue Eyes’ (with string section)
(With Orchestra)
‘The Real Me’
‘I’m One’
‘5.15’
‘The Rock’
‘Love, Reign O’er Me’ (followed by band introductions)
‘Baba O’Riley’
