The Who's Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend rip it up at the 12/12/12 Sandy Relief fund concert. 
12/12/12 adds up as a rock extrvaganza

After last night's six-hour Madison Square Garden Sandy Relief Concert marathon, an all-star rock show that lasted almost as long as the actual disaster that inspired it, who was the night's biggest winner?

 That's right.  Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of the The Who.

At the risk of it turning into an Abbott and Costello routine, The Who's six song set was the stellar performance of the night combining a perfect blend of  clenched fist defiance, hope for the future and rock 'n' roll energy.  

 Their mid-show felt fresh and powerful. Where the Who were smart was in song choice such as  the rebellious "Baba O'Riley" where they recast the "Teenage wasteland" chorus singing "Sandy wasteland" and hitching  poignant video images captured during the storm's aftermath  to lyrics such as "see me, feel me, touch me" from "Pinball Wizard"  th featured song in the rock opera" Tommy."  The Who's set also had enough substance to it that the band found its rhythm.

 At the other end of the performance spectrum lay skirt-wearing Kanye West's half-hour rap fiasco that sucked so hard ears were popping at the Garden. On a bill that featured acknowledged  legends such as Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton,  and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters  to name a few, West's status just doesn't compare.  His set never found its own rhythm despite its length, and in fact his harsh delivery in a mostly classic rock line-up  disrupted the momentum of the rest of the show.

 Why West? Who knows, the Chicago rapper has no real historic connection to the east coast and is hardly a beloved local figure.  Much better choices for an act to represent the hip-hop nation would  been Brooklyn's rap god Jay-Z, Staten Island bad boys the Wu Tang Clan, or even the incredibly influential (and TV-safe)  Run-D.M.C who hail from hard-hit Hollis, Queens. 

 Rolling Stones one of the most touted  acts on the bill -- on break from their Steel Wheelchairs tour -- cobbled together a laconic, hello-we-must-be-going  versions of  their "You've Got Me Rockin" and "Jumping Jack Flash."  By only laying down a pair of songs  the Stones teased  with little musical satisfaction.  

  Mick Jagger, the leather-faced singer for the Stones did say what everyone was thinking when he quipped   "This has got to be the largest collection of old English musicians ever assembled,"  adding "If it rains in London, you've got to come and help us."

  In between those high and low points were an after midnight mini-Nirvana reunion with Paul McCartney filling in for the late Kurt Cobain, an impressive  acoustic duet between Coldplay's Chris Martin and  retired R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe on his much-loved "Losing My Religion  and Eddie Vedder lending his reedy, pained vocals to Roger Waters' classic "Comfortably Numb."  

  The other duet that made the Jersey contingent in the house quake was when Springsteen invited Jon Bon Jovi to help him rip through "Born to Run." Bruce later reciprocated by joining Bon Jovi on Jon's "Who Says You Can't Go Home."

 Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind" was the night's closing song and was played well after 1 a.m. It is arguably the best modern classic about Big Apple living of the last decade. It served as a rousing concert finale. 
 
  Billy Joel who wrote another classic about Skyscraper Park called "New York State of Mind" was also a hometown favorite. Joel's "Miami 2017" that you might know better as "Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway" was retooled with new Sandy-inspired lyrics that nicely dovetailed into the melody. Joel also gets high marks as the only artist on the bill to forget the high tides of Sandy for a minute and deliver the yuletide classic "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

  In between all the tunes were a few funnymen whose black-humor lightened the serious nature of the show. Adam Sandler offered a SNL worthy parody of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"  revising the lyrics to lampoon Donald Trump, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, The New York Knicks, Times Square porn and Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez with the chorus of  "Hallelujah, Sandy, screw ya, we'll get through ya, because we're New Yorkers."

 The Daily Show host and New Jersey native Jon Stewart called the concert the biggest Chanukah party ever, adding "When are you going to learn, you can throw anything at us -- terrorists, hurricanes. You can take away our giant sodas. It doesn't matter. We're coming back stronger every time."
  The sold-out show was televised live, streamed online, played on the radio and shown in theaters all over the world. Producers said up to 2 billion people were able to view the show.

Big air for Chris Martin in Australia: scenes from the "Mylo Xyloto" tour (below).
Our favorite Martin gets Coldplay on film
For those who weren't among the 3 million people who've  attended Coldplay's   "Mylo Xyloto"  over the past year, the band says it's releasing a concert film and CD from that sold out run titled "Live 2012."

 The simultaneous release of  Coldplay's  debut film and first live record in nine years will be November 19.

 Lead singer Chris Martin call the "Mylo Xyloto" tour the most fun Coldplay has ever had as a band. He says " It's felt very uplifting right from the start; partly because we are proud of the music, the LED wristbands, the pyrotechnics, the lasers and all of that stuff, but mainly because of the amazing audiences that we've been playing for."

Martin adds he hopes the film will capture the vibe of a Coldplay show. He says "Over the years, our crowd has become more and more a part of the concert itself. They're loud, diverse, full of soul, and make the songs sound much better than we can on our own. We wanted to try to bottle that incredible feeling."
 

Uncle RedFoo an SkyBlu party on: RedFoo with with Korean rapper Psy(below).

No crack in Party Rock shufflers

The gossip that electro-funk duo LMFAO is shuffling off into oblivion are widely exaggerated says SkyBlu who addressed the rumored split with his uncle and bandmate RedFoo.

SkyBlu today said "LMFAO has not broken up."

While the pair is on hiatus, taking time to explore their individual musical interests, SkyBlu clarified saying "RedFoo and I are Party Rockers for life. We love and respect one another and support each other in everything we do."

In an interview with Da The Man Press prior to the band's two June New York area concerts SkyBlu and RedFoo both insisted all was well with the band. SkyBlu then said "The rumor is completely false. I mean we're family and that's a very strong bond. Blood is stronger than anything."

RedFoo quickly followed up adding "Yeah, exactly. When you're a success these rumors come with the territory. We grew up in a musical family um, and Papa Berry [Gordy] taught us this thing he called the cycle of success. Part of [the cycle] is that the tabloids wanna say stuff to, you know, cause controversy."

The splitsville controversy was rekindled this past weekend when RedFoo was spotted in Las Vega performing with Korean MC Psy who's been scoring big with his track "Gangnam Style."

To read the full DTMP Q&A with LMFAO click "Interviews"