Post by left shoe shuffle on Jul 13th, 2008 at 10:59am
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Who was celebrated at a special concert by a few bands outside of their generation.
The legendary band was honored at the Saturday taping of the third annual "VH1 Rock Honors," which will air Thursday on the cable channel. Celebrity guests such as David Duchovny, Mila Kunis, Rainn Wilson and Adam Sandler introduced The Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters, Incubus, Tenacious D and Pearl Jam, who covered songs from such Who albums as "Tommy," "The Who Sell Out" and "Quadrophenia."
Who guitarist Pete Townshend and lead singer Roger Daltry closed the special concert at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion with a performance of some of the band's greatest hits. Original drummer Keith Moon died in London in 1978. Original bassist John Entwistle died in Las Vegas in 2002. Moon and Entwistle were remembered in pre-taped retrospectives during the over two-hour show.
"I have had a life of absolute privilege and wonder," Daltry told AP Television News on the red carpet before the concert. "How could it ever be bittersweet? I miss old friends, but they are with me. When we start playing our music, John (Entwistle) and Keith (Moon) echo with us all the time, so it's kind of like they never left."
"The Office" funnyman Wilson, dressed as Elton John's character Local Lad from "Tommy," introduced The Flaming Lips, who performed a medley of songs from The Who's legendary 1969 rock opera. Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne began the "Tommy" set inside of a giant plastic bubble that which traveled over the first few rows of the audience.
"It's an honor to honor what I consider to be the greatest band of all time," actor and Tenacious D lead singer Jack Black told the crowd before acoustically performing "Squeeze Box" with musical partner Kyle Gass. "Wanna know why they were the greatest? Because they were the first ones to really rock hard."
Sean Penn introduced Pearl Jam, who were joined for "Love Reign O'er Me" with an orchestra and "The Real Me" with horn players. Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder and lead guitarist Mike McCready respectively paid homage to The Who's penchant for destroying instruments by throwing a microphone into the audience and a guitar up in the air.
"We know that we're all here tonight because The Who never did sell out, unlike certain music channels," Penn told the crowd.
The Who wowed the packed audience with such tunes as "Teenage Wasteland" (sic), "The Seeker," "My Generation," "Two Thousand Years," "Batman" and "Who Are You." Townshend stopped the band in the middle of performing "Won't Get Fooled Again" because of an issue with his speaker and later started the song over from the beginning. Daltry and Townshend closed the show with "Tea and Theatre."
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LOS ANGELES, July 13, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Incubus, The Flaming Lips, and Tenacious D took the stage to pay tribute to legendary rock band The Who and gave the audience a night to remember. The third annual "VH1 Rock Honors" honored the music and influence of revolutionary rock band, The Who. This was the first "VH1 Rock Honors" to salute just one band.
Taped in Los Angeles at Pauley Pavilion on the campus of UCLA on Saturday, July 12, "VH1 Rock Honors: The Who" will premiere Thursday, July 17 at 9PM* on VH1, VH1 Classic and MHD. The full show, including exclusive online performances by The Who will be available online at Rock.VH1.com on Thursday, July 17 at 9PM* when it premieres on air. Sneak peek performances and celebrity interviews from the event will launch online at RockVH1.com starting Tuesday, July 15.
The show saluted The Who through spoken tributes and filmed packages featuring Sting, Dave Navarro, Billy Idol, Billy Bob Thornton, Noel Gallagher, Slash, Coldplay and many others. Throughout the show, VH1 gave viewers a nostalgic look at The Who through archival footage and interviews straight from the super-group themselves.
Introduced by David Duchovny, the Foo Fighters kicked off the celebration with an electric performance of "Young Man Blues" and were joined by special guest Gaz Coombes the lead singer from Supergrass, who is currently on tour with the Foo Fighters, for the fan-favorite, "Bargain."
With pinball machine in tow, Rainn Wilson took the stage to introduce The Flaming Lips who rocked out with a medley of songs from The Who rock musical and Broadway hit, Tommy.
Continuing the hit parade, Grammy winners Incubus introduced by Mila Kunis, performed a memorable rendition of "I Can See For Miles" followed by "I Can't Explain."
Dubbing The Who "the greatest band of all time," comedy-rock duo Tenacious D, featuring Jack Black and Kyle Gass blasted onto the stage as only they know how with an acoustic version of "Squeeze Box."
Next, Sean Penn introduced Pearl Jam who turned up their amps and rocked the house performing The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me," followed with an explosive rendition of the hit, "The Real Me."
To the tune of "My Generation," Adam Sandler set the stage for the moment the crowd had been waiting for...the chance to rock out to The Who.
As The Who took the stage for the grand finale, it seemed as though time stood still, transforming the audience back generations as they performed their biggest and most influential songs including: "Baba O'Riley," "Who Are You," "Won't Get Fooled Again," and "My Generation" among others.
"VH1 Rock Honors: The Who" raised over $1 million benefiting the efforts of various charities including: The Double O Charity, Teenage Cancer Trust, The VH1 Save The Music Foundation and select VH1 Classic Rock Autism organizations.
