The John Entwistle Band - Live

On June 27, 2002, Heaven's Band gained the greatest bass player who ever lived. John Entwistle had accomplished much in his life: from his revolutionary innovative bass work with the rock band The Who, to solo writing, recording, and live performances with his own band. Executive producers Steve Luongo and Robert Swope have turned what was probably a routine filming of the John Entwistle Band on stage, into a fitting tribute to this talented musician, and the man. There is so much emotion and energy packed into this short DVD. Luongo made sure viewers came away with a full understanding of what John Entwistle was all about. I have never seen a more sincere offering from one friend to another. This DVD is an absolute must whether you are a devoted Entwistle fan or not. The package is basically divided into the live performance and Steve Luongo's Eulogy to Entwistle. The "concert only" option allows one to view the live set uninterrupted by Luongo's anecdotal commentary between songs. Much can be learned from Luongo's heart-felt remembrances, however, along with video clips of John at home and in the studio, so do not skip the "view all" option. The performance consists of an eight-song set, played at an outdoor festival setting at dusk. Accompanying Entwistle is drummer Steve Luongo, Godfrey Townsend on guitar and lead vocals, and Gordon Cotten on keyboards.Except for the short typically macabre opener "Horror Rock," the set consists of Who songs written by Entwistle, and Who live standards. The camera crew are not yet warmed up when the band goes into what has to be Entwistle's greatest song ever: "The Real Me." The shot remains on Townsend, while Entwistle wails the song's opening signature bass lines. A second camera zooming in on Entwistle's back, adds to the frustration. Yet, the song suggests the ultra tight bass and drum work, and Townsend's Daltry-like vocal style that will dominate the show. Entwistle introduces "Had Enough" in his husky London brogue. This number features nice vocal harmonies between Townsend, Luongo, and Cotten with more tight bass and drum work. Entwistle dons an 8-string bass for "Success Story," and adds some sweet effects to it for the song's bridge. Entwistle strains to sing lead on his "Trick of the Light," yet the song's continuous phrasing would challenge the breathing skills of the most powerful singer. He ends the song with an incredible machine-gun flurry of hammer-ons, coupled with Spanish guitar-style strumming that can only be uniquely attributed to the Entwistle style. By now, the small crowd is coming alive, and thankfully, the camera crew has gotten it together. Townsend opens "Shaking All Over" with a guitar solo, however, his performance will continue to suffer from lack of volume. The song leads to a duel between Entwistle and Luongo that culminates into a breath-taking, ear shattering bass solo, complete with more hammer-ons, bass harmonics, and Entwistle strumming feverishly with every finger of his right hand. The set ends with the Who live standards "Summertime Blues" and "Young Man Blues."The second feature of the DVD is Luongo's Eulogy to John. First read at Entwistle's memorial service, Luongo reproduces it here backed by a video montage of John at home. Through Luongo's words, we learn about what is was like to be a friend of John Entwistle. Here we see John the artist (remember the cover art of the Who album "By Numbers?"), the collector of arms and armor, guns, and antique cars (although John never learned to drive), and an entertainer who genuinely loved his fans. Luongo is to be commended here for his sincere dedication and friendship. Entwistle was just doing what comes naturally to him on this DVD: playing awesome bass guitar. Luongo only asks that "when we hear thunder, think of [his friend] John Entwistle!" Thanks Steve, we sure will!

I was at this concert in Manchester. (I live closeby) Most of the groups that played this festival only played 45 minutes to an hour. You are probably watching the entire set.Some of the other concert footage is on the Live from Itchycoo Park DVD. Wish they would release a lot more of the footage from this oldies festival. I had a wonderful time.

Thanks this concert by the John Entwistle Band was recorded and filmed, so we can appreciate how great he was playing his bass and also as a composer. Here we can hear and see "Trick of the Light" one of John Entwistle s' best song originally recorded by the WHO for the "WHO ARE YOU" cd (this version sang by Roger Daltrey), and also on the WHO s' 1989 concert live "Join Together" cd. Also "Success Story" from "WHO BY NUMBERS" and "Had Enough" also from "Who Are You". Is interesting to be able to watch how he aproaches some of the songs and the response from his band. He does not sing much here but in the later years he was not singin with THE WHO other songs but "MY WIFE" or "BORIS THE SPIDER".There is also a live concert recorded and filmed at WOODSTOCK, i hope one day gets released, and also at Hitchico Park in England.It is sad he was not playing songs from his first 5 solo albums, except for "Too Late the Hero" and "My Wife" (from Rigor Mortis).

What more do you say about Lohn Entwistle! This guy was incredible. The video production seems a little on B grade side, but cool footage!

Anything from the greatest bass player, ever, is the best you can get.

First of all, I'm a huge Entwistle fan, and fully endorse what someone in some book once said, that he was "a good songwriter in a band with a great one." His first two solo albums--Smash Your Head Against the Wall and Whistle Rhymes--are second only to Townshend's solo albums as the best solo work put out by Who members.So, I was really hoping that this DVD would at least feature some of his solo songs. Instead, what do we get? Only one snippet of an actual solo song--about 8 bars of "Having a Nightmare." The rest is a mix of Entwistle songs from Who Albums, a cover of "The Real Me" and thoroughly unnecessary lackluster renditions of the Live at Leeds covers, i.e., "Shaking All Over," "Summertime Blues" and "Young Man Blues." Where's "My Wife?" "Boris the Spider?" "The Quiet One?" Couldn't they even have managed "Heaven and Hell," which was the Who's opener in most of their 69 and 70 concerts? Whoever programmed this concert must have though an all-Entwistle program wouldn't sell tickets. Idiots!What makes it even worse is that the songs are "played" by a third rate band that only reminds you of how great the Who bands (even the geriatric Townshend/Daltry/session players band that does the oldies circuit today) were.Most of the singling is done by the absolutely terrible guitarist (who received 80% of the video coverage, instead of Entwistle), and the mix is so poor that you can barely hear Entwistle's bass at all. If you didn't get the occasional shot of him playing, you wouldn't know he was there.But what's even worse than the concert footage is the execrable talking heads bits from the mediocre drummer who apparently was The Ox's chief collaborator in his last years. That partly explains why The Ox never put out any original solo work of an value in the last 30 years of his life. Unfortunate, you have to suffer this smarmy jerk's voiceovers during the otherwise priceless home videos of Entwistle jamming his in home studio How hard would it have been to get either a video or audio testimonial from Townshend, Daltrey, or even Peter Frampton, whose guitar was one of the highlights of the Whistle Rhymes album? And then we have to suffer through drummer boy reading quite possibly the worst eulogy ever.The only reason I didn't give this one star is because it includes (as far as I know) the only live video versions of several of Entwistle's best Who songs--"Success Story" "Had Enough" and "Trick of the Light." The Ox himself only sings on the last one, and it's clear that he could no longer sing. Which is a shame, because even though he always had trouble staying on tune, he had a nice voice (I saw him perform live with a much better band in a small club twice during the 80s, and he really could sing when he put his mind to it).This is just really a terrible epitaph for an artist of Entwistle's talent. He deserved so much better.

It's a little dated as far as production goes, but a must have for Entwistle fans. The best bass player of all time, and a great band backing him up.

Nice tribute to the world's greatest bass player of all times. It also features a Queens homeboy Godfrey Townsend.

Personally, I thought it was a very decent show. The only thing negative thing about it was how the camera was on the guitarist way more than John. Even when Godfrey wasn't doing much (the camera doesn't cut to John at all during the bass solo in Success Story, for example)The show started well enough with the instrumental "Horror Rock", although John's vocals at the end of it were a bit iffy. "The Real Me" was sensational and was performed with real energy especially from Steve Luongo (and John, obviously!). He can even be seen moving across the stage in mid song which is pretty rare to see from "the man who never moved on stage"."Had Enough" started off quite well and has the same impact that the arrangement of it on the "Who Are You" album has. Similarly, to "The Real Me", "Success Story" had loads of energy and "Trick Of The Light" contained a fantastic solo on the eight string bass."Shakin' All Over" was the real highlight of the show though as Entwistle and Luongo engaged in a drum/bass battle before John made Luongo stop so it just his bass that was playing."Summertime Blues" and "Young Man Blues" brought an end to an impressive but distinctly short show. Just a pity John didn't get that much camera time considering it was his band and they didn't perform any of Entwistle's better known Who material like "Heaven and Hell", "My Wife" or "Boris The Spider". Despite this, it is a great show to see/hear John's amazing bass playing in his later years.