Product: The Who - The Vegas Job (2003)
Rating: 4.0
A Must Have for the Diehard Fan
While nothing will ever be as good as The Kids Are Alright, or even Live at the Royal Albert Hall DVD, the Vegas Job is good show with good production and possibly the best audio since TKAA. The Who were on stage as a real band for the first time in almost 20 years. There's no back up singers, no awful brass section, no spare guitarists and no phoning it in. Townshend is inspired and plays with abandon, mistakes and all. Daltrey's voice is strong, even if he flubs a few lines. That's the big thing. The Who are back to a raw sound and there's a possibility in every song that something may derail. Entwistle, well, he never was anything but brilliant on stage and for the first time, you can hear him clearly, at least 50% of the time, which is 100% better than most concert DVDs. As a fan, its amazing to hear Starkey improv with Townshend during Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere and Entwistle during 5:15 and several other songs.The sound quality is inconsistent, sometimes bass drops out, sometimes its perfect, but the drums are clear and not too compressed, unlike other DVDs, so the band sounds more organic. There are the usual complaints about screen time. I mean, there's a shot of Townshend drinking a coke while Entwistle solos during 5:15. I would say, for the price, everyone should pick up this DVD and enjoy, but for the hard core fans, its a must.