Pete Townshend - Live The Empire 1998 [2CD] (2000) [EAC-FLAC]

Pete Townshend - Live The Empire 1998 [2CD] (2000) [EAC-FLAC]
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Recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire on November 9 1998, this double CD release marks Pete Townshend's return to the UK stage as a solo artist after an absence of thirteen years. Backed by musicians such as Rabbit, Chucho Merchan and Pete Hope Evans, as well as featuring freestyle rapper Hame on a number of Pete's best known tunes.

2CD discs recorded on-stage at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, on November 9, 1998, Live: The Empire is an invaluable document of Townshend's first solo U.K. concert since the mid-'80s. He's well-aware of the significance, too, taking the stage with one of the most sympathetic-sounding bands that he's ever worked with (John Bundrick, Chucho Merchán, rapper Hame, and former Medicine Head alumni Peter Hope-Evans) , for a performance that truly stands as one of the finest he's ever consigned to disc.

Twenty-five tracks see Townshend range not only throughout his own catalog, but also across the music that inspired him to start playing in the first place -- there's a mercurial "Three Steps to Heaven," a gentle "North Country Girl," and enough Who classics to send even the hardest-core acolyte home grinning -- "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere" and "Mary Ann with the Shaky Hand" might be the evening's biggest surprises, but "The Kids Are Alright" and "Acid Queen" come close. And then there's "Magic Bus," rattling out of the dying chords of the inevitable "Won't Get Fooled Again," to conjure memories of the marathon journeys the song used to take during 1969-1970.
Of course it's nowhere near as protracted today, but the old bus still possesses the dramatic madness that Townshend has only occasionally come close to recapturing, and it's almost a shock when it does wind up, to be succeeded by "I'm One." There are a few low points: though it's certainly used sparingly, the rapping really doesn't work, and Bundrick's keyboards could be scaled back in places. But Townshend is in fine form regardless, and the success of the evening carries across on CD.

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Tracklist:
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CD1
01. On The Road Again
02. A Little Is Enough
03. Pinball Wizard
04. Drowned
05. Anyway Anyhow Anywhere
06. You Better You Bet
07. Behind Blue Eyes
08. Baby Don't You Do It
09. English Boy
10. Three Steps To Heaven
11. Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand
12. Sheraton Gibson
13. Substitute
14. I Am An Animal
15. North Country Girl

CD2
01. (She's A) Sensation
02. A Friend Is A Friend
03. Now And Then
04. Let My Love Open The Door
05. Who Are You
06. The Kids Are Alright
07. Acid Queen
08. Won't Get Fooled Again
09. Magic Bus
10. I'm One

*2000 Eel Pie Recording | EPR 009


Recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire on November 9 1998


Personnel:
Bass – Chucho Merchan
Guitar, Vocals – Pete Townshend, Tracey Langran
Keyboards, Vocals – Jon Carin
Organ, Harp – Peter Hope-Evans


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