Rock and roll is an attitude as much as it is a genre — if not more so. The Who was the ultimate example of this.
The band Mushroom proved it once again when they covered The Who’s science-fiction rock opera “Lifehouse” last Saturday at the Make-Out Room.
It’s quite a task covering a band like The Who, the masters of concept work. It’s more so to cover this particular project, because the original vision of “Lifehouse” was never fully manifested.
The original concept was to adapt to the audience — to develop new material on stage influenced by the crowd’s reaction to the performance. Pete Townshend found his inspiration for the opera in an unlikely place — Inayat Khan, s Sufi musician and philosopher of the early 1900s.
The Who’s fifth studio album, “Who’s Next,” was created. The songs from “Lifehouse” were broken up and recorded on different albums. Its most visible offspring is the song “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” now the theme song for “CSI: Miami.”
Although Mushroom was not developing new material on stage Saturday, they still had the audience’s undivided attention.
Mushroom is composed of an enthusiastic backbone bass player, two guitarists — rhythm and lead — a keyboard player and a drummer. One of the guitarists sings, and so does a female lead singer.
The sound was grunge before the existence of the Seattle scene or Pearl Jam. The musicians slid through the notes, and the songs produced an edge that built up and finally burst. The energy was lively and loud, with great musicianship.
As anticipated, they covered “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” offering a pleasant version of a familiar song. Did the crowd love it? Yes!
To see more live shows playing at the Make-Out Room (there are a lot of them), go here.