Wembley wizards

I met Paul Whitehouse today- he was at the theatre when Stu and myself arrived for our guitar tech-ing session. I thought it best not to say too much as I remember reading an interview with him where he said that most if not all of his comedy characters are based on people he meets and I'm not so sure that the world really needs a 'guitar maintenance man' character... actually I met him once before, in W.H. Smith's at Heathrow Airport of all places, we were both buying magazines to while away a flight delay- I've always been rather relived that 'speccy bloke in airport queue' didn't subsequently appear in The Fast Show'...

On to weightier things- saw 2 suitably brilliant Who shows at Wembley Arena this week (I'm not sure quite how poorly they'd have to play for me to say that they were bad but there you go). The band sounded absolutely mighty with Zak Starkey continuing to astound especially on 'The Real Me' (great to see that back in the set) and Townshend's playing as was inspirational as ever. Some mild (by P.T.'s standards) guitar violence too- a Strat went flying during 'Fragments' on the first night, and the second night's 'Won't Get Fooled Again' finished with him dropping the guitar and then walking over it. Really. Guitar tech Alan Rogan's face as he picked it up was almost worth the price of admission... oh and the 'Wire and Glass' mini-opera was fabulous on both nights, not least due to the extraordinary animations shown to accompany it on the screen behind them. They still give me more goosebump moments than any other band- wonderful, wondrous stuff.

Last week I saw The Stooges, this week I saw The Who. It doesn't get much better than that as far as I'm concerned. And- I'm probably going to sound really pretentious here but who cares- as Daltery sang these lines from 'Mirror Door'-

'Music makes me, makes me strong,
Strong vibrations make me long,
Long for a place where I belong,
You will find me in this song'

-I felt a shiver down my spine as maybe, just maybe, I saw the answers to at least some of my questions from last week...