The Who - Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970

One of the best film documents of rock'n'roll ever, "Listening to You: The Who Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970" captures a legend of rock at the absolute height of its powers.If you're expecting a high-fidelity kind of Event Coverage that Sees All and does everything except an indepth study of John Entwistle's nose hair, you either were born too late or have gotten too spoiled by culture and technology. It's easy to forget that at the time this concert took place in 1970, Led Zeppelin didn't sell cars and the Rolling Stones didn't shill for Bill Gates. Rock was youth music, viewed with suspicion by Old People (i.e., over 30. Yes, if you're 34, old as you may feel, you were probably an embryo when this gig went off). You never heard real rock on TV, and had to hunt to find it on radio. The Square View was what prevailed in the national media: squeaky guitars, flashing discotheque lights and gyrating girls in plastic dresses and boots. Hippies figured in there somewhere. But the so-called general public, i.e., you, if you were over 30 at the time, didn't know what rock sounded like. The huge potential of the young as consumers was just being sniffed about by The Establishment.Then there's the filming. Murray Lerner's crew was, well, about as big as your immediate family. There was no Sky Cam. You had a camera here, one there, one someplace else. They pivoted when the person holding them did. OK, not that home-movie primitive, but essentially a hand operation. Rock gigs weren't mass merchandise yet, and you couldn't buy plane, hotel and concert tix on the Internet (something that makes the enormous gatherings at places like Monterey, Woodstock and the Isle even more amazing in retrospect and attests to the pangenerational power of the infant Rock). So big technology wasn't being catered to, even to the extent it existed at the time, because the big money wasn't there yet to cater to it. (I once bought a Led Zeppelin ticket from a scalper. For twenty bucks. That kind of money is what we're talking about here.) Filming the Stones or the Who was like filming a Vietnam firefight, only without the ordnance.So don't complain about how few camera angles there are, or how the same stuff keeps getting filmed. (As one who saw this lineup from the second row one night, I can tell you that Daltrey really did do the same stuff, over and over and over.) Focus instead on how everyone in this band plays lead - unlike the Stones, for example, who anchored firmly to a dynamic yet by comparison pedestrian rhythm section - yet everyone, somehow, stays right on time, even when somebody screws up! (Pay attention; it happens more than once.) Focus on the incredible energy and fluidity Townshend brings to the guitar, and the Olympic athleticism of his physical presence. Focus - and this disk does, further evidence that this crew knew its stuff - on John Entwistle's breathtaking finger runs up and down the fretboard, and on how much he holds down the sound and plays second guitar through Pete's flights of fancy and violence. Focus on Keith Moon! You can't help it; the camera loves him, and he loves it back, and he shows here why he probably didn't need to so much as lift a finger between shows to keep the weight off. Focus on Daltrey's stage presence; he was immobile compared to Mick Jagger, but knew how much to do of what when, and sang the roof off the joint. There is enough, no, wait, way more than enough, way more than an abundance, of every single thing that made The Who great to see and hear on this DVD. Yes, the modern monkeying with the picture and sound helped a lot. And what the heck is wrong with that, eh?Focus on what you can see, and be happy that you can see it. Shot in 1970? Sometimes, it's hard to believe. If someone wants to erect a monument to The Who, this film, playing in perpetuity on a Pyramid-size screen, will do. Quite nicely, thank you.

I couldn't get over LISTENING to this DVD. Not only has it been re-released in widescreen, but it's been remixed, as well, and let me tell you -- has it ever been remixed, and well!I've never thought that this performance ranked among The Who's best from this period, mainly because I think drummer Keith Moon's performance was uneven and sloppy in places. Moon, and I think some might disagree with me on this, was not normally a sloppy drummer. Listen to the Live at Leeds CD or watch the London Coliseum section of the Live at Kilburn DVD. His playing is unusually precise for someone who went through the type of physical contortions he went through. It's also very, very lyrical, and he is incredibly in tune with what's being played around him. He somehow manages to complement vocals, guitar, and bass and "tie" or "knit" them together in a way that no other drummer, at least not for that particular band at that particular time, could have. There's really not enough space here to describe just how amazing his musicianship was. The stories of his off-stage activities are entertaining, yes, but it was his playing that was even more astounding than any of the lunacy of which he was capable, and he was, in spades.From "Heaven and Hell," the mix of this concert is completely, totally crystal clear. I couldn't get over the detail in guitarist Pete Townshend's playing (which was also very sloppy in places, but hey, that's Pete). John Entwistle is not just a low rumble. His high end is brought out in the new mix, and this is important because part of Entwistle's technique involved turning up the treble control on his amplifier (as well as the volume control, and I mean REALLY high). There's a lot of "pluck" or "attack" (meaning the way Entwistle's pick hits his bass strings) that was not evident on the previous versions of this DVD.The band's harmonies are stellar. At some points during the performance, their harmonies are so clear that I had to review the DVD at these points just to make sure it was the same band and performance to which I had gotten so accustomed. During the Tommy section (which, I'm very sorry to say, is horribly edited), the harmonies are given a place in the mix that had been denied them, even on the CD, which was released several years earlier than this completely and totally refurbished version. I wish The Who's label would release the CD of The Isle of Wight show (in sequence with no omissions) to showcase these newly experienced vocal highlights.Now that this wonderful edition of The Isle of Wight concert has been released, I must agree with another Amazon customer (whose review is just before mine) and say that I really, really hope that there are no more re-issues, this one being the third edition thus far (not counting the Blu-ray version). However, before I conclude, I'll tip my hat to the folks who controlled the mixing desk just one last time. I'll be viewing (and listening to) this DVD very often, just because it's such a joy to hear this concert in this fashion (and the widescreen makes it equally pleasureable to watch). If you're unsure about whether or not it's all that much of an improvement, I must weigh in and say that yes, it is -- a HUGE one.

Wish I could give some of these things 4.5/5... it is perfect in that they were unbeatable at this time and to see a contemporary Tommy performed (as near as) in full, is wonderful as it's my favourite studio album of theirs... I still prefer the recorded version though. The highlights are the non-Tommy tracks for me - Young Man Blues is wonderful to watch and I Don't Even Know Myself is better (IMO) than the studio version; almost another mini-opera from Pete (even if it's only a few minutes in length!) Picture and sound are good for the era and everyone who is something of a Who fan needs to own this. It's not perfect but there's not a lot other Who performances on DVDs that comes close to it.

Amazing dynamic performance by one of the band's that defined the 60s. At the peak of their form the who move from power to soulful with effortless ease. I don't know what they were on at 2 in the morning. All I remember was that when they played My Generation the stars formed into ranks outlining a golden figure in the sky with a solid gold hem that was my generation. Beautifully filmed and edited really captures the power and anarchy of the band. Thanks guys.

.... at the isle of Wight. If you like the who,buy it. I did and I like it.

Wether you like The Who or not I guarentee you this DVD will make you wish you could go back in time and be there, it just builds and builds making you feel like you missed something special.It left me feeling like the studio albums of The Who were almost a playdown of their true talent, imagine for one minute a group known for trying radical live music comes together just for one night in a way that was probably as surprising to them as the audience then just relaxing and playing the best live music you could wish for!Well buy this and you'll soon realise why Keith Moon and John Entwhistle were so special.Basicly if you see this DVD you will know what's missing from every live performance since 1970.WOWWOWWOWA magic concert that will never be repeated in my opinion, almost makes it impossible to see The Who live now as dissapointment is the only feeling you'll get.

This is classic Who with all the original line up, you can't get much better than this!