The Who: Live at the Royal Albert Hall commemorates a remarkable charity gig in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. Roger Daltrey does allow himself a smirk as he declaims his famous hope that he'll die before he gets old, but other than that, The Who are to be commended for playing their reunion entirely straight. Their souped-up rhythm'n'blues was always propelled by a self-belief as fervent as it was absolute; had any irony been allowed to impinge on proceedings here, the spectacle of three men well into their 50s delivering a set of what remain definitive hymns to... youth and its attendant furies would have been wholly preposterous. As it is, the three surviving members of The Who (Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Jon Entwhistle) combine with keyboardist John Bundrick and drummer Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr) to altogether engaging effect. There is, obviously, nothing wrong with the songs "Pinball Wizard", "The Kids Are Alright", "You Better You Bet", and they all get the treatment they deserve here. In fact, the only downsides are the many guest performances, which are either redundant, like Noel Gallagher's rhythm guitar on "Won't Get Fooled Again", or actually detrimental, like Kelly Jones' dreadful braying of "Substitute".On the DVD: The widescreen DVD is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. The second disc of extras includes backstage and rehearsal footage, the option to watch the performance of "Pinball Wizard" from a variety of angles, and an interview with Roger Daltrey, which he devotes principally to his work for the Teenage Cancer Trust, who were the beneficiaries of the concert. Also included is a derisory booklet of hopeless out-of-focus photos of the show taken by Bryan Adams, who would be well advised, on this evidence, to stick with the day job. --Andrew Mueller [show more]
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