The Who-per Bowl...

As I am a very untypical American male who , for the most part, does not give a squat about sports, I skipped viewing the Super Bowl. I did, though, have to cruise over to YouTube the day after to see the halftime show with The Who. Some impressions:

As a fellow 'old fart', it's always kind of a kick for me to see musical survivors of that ancient, insane decade of the 1960's--yea, Pete and Roger are old dudes, but it happens to all of us who get the chance to survive this relentless hammering called 'life'. Some folks posted disparaging comments on Facebook about the performance---come on, it wasn't about musical perfection...it was obviously a stroll down memory lane (amazing that we do remember) for we Boomers and the following generations that inherited our music. The vocals were ragged and sometimes off-key---but, hey, this was 50% of the Who, with Ringo's boy thrown in for good measure :)

Interesting song choices: wisely, they mined a couple from the classic "Who's Next" LP/ "Pinball Wizard/Tommy" a given, of course/ they could have skipped "Who Are You"...I never considered that one in the same stature as other 'Who-tunes'. Thankfully, they did NOT perform "My Generation"---it would have been too disconcerting to see senior citizens vocalizing "I hope I die before I get old" (although that segment could have been sponsored by one of the slew of drug stores sprouting up across the landscape like toadstools after the rain to provide we aging Boomers with our much-needed old-age medications).

One piece that doesn't exactly fit the 'memory-lane' category: the finale, "Won't Get Fooled Again". A very appropriate song to close the performance, since that tune has been referenced in recent days to describe the bubbling discontent in American society with politics, obscene greed, etc.
"...and I'll get on my knees and pray, we don't get fooled again"---an interesting prophetic statement that seems to carry more weight in 2010 than when we first heard it in 1971.