Sleeping on it didn't help.
I still don't know how I feel about The Who's performance during the Super Bowl halftime show last night in Miami.
I didn't hate it. Based on a glance at Twitter and Facebook, many of my friends did. I didn't.
Then again, it was probably impossible for me to have hated it, because I spent so many hours in my early teens listening to "Live at Leeds," watching "The Kids Are Alright" and devouring every book and magazine article I could find about The Who.
Like many red-blooded boys of the time, I fell for the power, the bombast and the testosterone of the music, and while many of my peers used those traits as a gateway to heavy metal, I was seduced by Pete Townshend's honest, angst-filled lyrics and sought out songwriters capable of more than "Cum on Feel the Noize."
One of the first concerts I attended was The Who's "farewell tour" show at the Milwaukee Arena on Dec. 7, 1982. I still have the T-shirt from that night in my closet. It was worn once -- the day after the show -- and retired immediately afterward.
After attending that show -- and watching the actual "final" show from Toronto weeks later on HBO -- I figured that The Who had gone out on top.
After last night, I'm not sure I can say that.
The laser light show was cool and, again, the music wasn't horrible. Roger Daltrey's voice isn't what it was and Townshend apparently has forgotten how to button his shirts. Infrequent touring and the "smashing" of a couple songs into a medley probably didn't help tighten the performance.
I thought that recent halftime stars Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band did a pretty solid job letting the uninitiated know what their bands were about.
The Who didn't accomplish that.
If your only previous association with the band was hearing the "CSI" intro, you probably weren't impressed. You might even have taken to the Twitterverse to ask for "fresher" acts in the future.
I still consider myself a Who fan, but I don't think I'll be rewinding the Super Bowl performance on the DVR.
I'll prefer to remember them this way:
Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
