The Who’s legendary live concert recording gets an outing at Axpona
By Roy Gregory
Last year at Axpona VTL, Nordost and Stenheim marked the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s seminal Dark side Of The Moon by playing the entire album – immediately followed by audience demand with the complete Wish You Were Here…
The event proved so popular that the exercise is being repeated this year – only this time the album in question is the 55-years young The Who – Live At Leeds. Arguably one of the greatest rock albums of all time, WLAL really does capture the raw energy and excitement of a great rock band playing in their pomp. Despite serial re-issues, you need an original pressing to really hear what this record and the system it’s played on can do. With a label famously inscribed with an instruction for the engineers not to correct crackles or pops, this is no audiophile experience – but exactly what you’ll be treated to at 5:30pm sharp on the 12th of April in Schaumberg F.
The system being asked to rise to the challenge?
Grand Prix Audio Monaco v3.0 turntable with Fuel Station battery power supply
Kuzma Safir 9 tonearm
Kazma CAR-40 cartridge
VTL TP-6.5 II Signature phono-stage
VTL TL-7.5 III Reference line-stage
VTL MB-185 III mono-blocs (x4)
Stenheim Ultime Reference 2 SX loudspeakers
Nordost Odin 2 and Odin Gold cabling, system grounding and AC distribution
For those who claim that audio systems can’t ‘do’ rock music, or simply those who bemoan the absence of decent rock music at audio shows, this is an opportunity not to be missed! And who knows what they’ve got lined up as an encore?!