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mosthigh
I thought the orchestra was the best part last time, and the band-only segment was a bit tepid. On the other hand, the 2016 Hits50 tour was way more rocking and better overall.

When the orchestra is in sync properly with the band, stuff like 'Overture' can be glorious (the Vancouver show I saw was considered one of the best of the tour, and Eddie Vedder showing up didn't hurt, either).

Giving Roger control of the band allows him to fine tune his vocals, but it lowers the stage volume and robs the music of its punch. The amount of plexiglass and baffles around the drums and amps was staggering.

I’d agree with everything above. We probably caught the same “hits 50” gig at Rogers... The orchestra last time round was brilliant I thought, I’d completely forgotten Vedder being there. The standout from just the band set was the Acoustic Won’t get fooled again.

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Woz
it’s a drag that they’re gonna have an orchestra with them again. i was really hoping that they wouldn’t. it’s not good when roger’s allowed to call the shots and pete’s guitar isn’t the star of the show.

I was excited about this annoucement until I saw it's another symphony tour. I'll pass. The last great Who show I saw was at Desert Trip and I will hold onto that memory. the Symphony show in SF in 2019 was a nice novelty but lacked the "oomph" that makes the Who the bloody @#$%& Who. This is muzak.

I thought the Desert Trip show was the best time since I saw them at Madison Square Garden in 1979. I looked at Sacramento and $364 for floor in front of soundboard a bit much. Will wait until last minute to decide.

The first time I saw the Who was in 1980 at the L.A. Sports Arena where I had seen Pink Floyd perform The Wall twice just a few months earlier.
And somewhere in between those shows I saw the Clash at the Santa Monica Civic - it was an incredible year. And then the following year first time seeing the Stones...

The Who performances at both Desert Trip weekends were nearly as good as 1980, but not quite, though they were easily much better than the Stones and Macca both weekends.
I saw them several times throughout the years between '80 and Desert Trip (including the '82 "farewell" tour), but none were as nearly as good or memorable as the '80 and DT shows.
But the '19 Hollywood Bowl shows w/orchestra rank up there near the top in such a historical/magical setting, and looking forward to seeing them there again...and maybe/hopefully they'll add a second show.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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Hairball
The first time I saw the Who was in 1980 at the L.A. Sports Arena where I had seen Pink Floyd perform The Wall twice just a few months earlier.
And somewhere in between those shows I saw the Clash at the Santa Monica Civic - it was an incredible year. And then the following year first time seeing the Stones...

The Who performances at both Desert Trip weekends were nearly as good as 1980, but not quite, though they were easily much better than the Stones and Macca both weekends.
I saw them several times throughout the years between '80 and Desert Trip (including the '82 "farewell" tour), but none were as nearly as good or memorable as the '80 and DT shows.
But the '19 Hollywood Bowl shows w/orchestra rank up there near the top in such a historical/magical setting, and looking forward to seeing them there again...and maybe/hopefully they'll add a second show.

Was hoping for another shot at a full residency in Las Vegas, but The Park is still a great venue.

Right now watching Omaha 2006 DVD, TheMusic's Encore Series had various sales over the years and I got most of them. Still picking random ones to watch every once in awhile and this is a good one.

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Hairball
The first time I saw the Who was in 1980 at the L.A. Sports Arena where I had seen Pink Floyd perform The Wall twice just a few months earlier.
And somewhere in between those shows I saw the Clash at the Santa Monica Civic - it was an incredible year. And then the following year first time seeing the Stones...

The Who performances at both Desert Trip weekends were nearly as good as 1980, but not quite, though they were easily much better than the Stones and Macca both weekends.
I saw them several times throughout the years between '80 and Desert Trip (including the '82 "farewell" tour), but none were as nearly as good or memorable as the '80 and DT shows.
But the '19 Hollywood Bowl shows w/orchestra rank up there near the top in such a historical/magical setting, and looking forward to seeing them there again...and maybe/hopefully they'll add a second show.

I don't know about Desert Trip weekend 1, but I thought The Who at weekend 2 weren't firing on all cylinders until maybe the last 3rd of the show.

Pete even later commented that the band was tired after shows in Mexico in between.

I thought it was pretty rock n roll of Pete to let his head bleed for a few songs after he cut it changing guitars.

I also thought Saturday with Neil and Paul was the bomb. Both were at the top of their game, and when they played together, was the peak. I had seen both The Who and Macca (twice) already in 2016, and Neil w/POTR (twice) in 2015.

Neil and POTR were excellent both weekends, and were also extremely excellent at the two shows at the small Pomona Theater in between the two weekends - I had also seen them a year before at the L.A. Forum.
Paul's two DT shows were a bit drab and a near replica both weekends, and also from the previous tour (I saw him at Dodger stadium '14) including the same stories in between songs, same/similar setlist, etc.
Dylan was also great, but the setting was a bit too enormous compared to the much smaller venues I was used to seeing him perform at prior - theaters, small amphitheaters, etc., but it was still legendary.
And Roger Waters was exceptional both weekends. The Stones lacked something - especially the second weekend when Micks vocals started failing...which eventually resulted in the *Vegas '16 fiasco.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-02-11 03:09 by Hairball.

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Paddy

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mosthigh
I thought the orchestra was the best part last time, and the band-only segment was a bit tepid. On the other hand, the 2016 Hits50 tour was way more rocking and better overall.

When the orchestra is in sync properly with the band, stuff like 'Overture' can be glorious (the Vancouver show I saw was considered one of the best of the tour, and Eddie Vedder showing up didn't hurt, either).

Giving Roger control of the band allows him to fine tune his vocals, but it lowers the stage volume and robs the music of its punch. The amount of plexiglass and baffles around the drums and amps was staggering.

I’d agree with everything above. We probably caught the same “hits 50” gig at Rogers... The orchestra last time round was brilliant I thought, I’d completely forgotten Vedder being there. The standout from just the band set was the Acoustic Won’t get fooled again.

I was at both of these shows, the hits 50 show was excellent, the best sounding show I've heard at Rogers. 2019 show was actually the last concert I've seen pre covid. Now I'm looking forward to ZZ Top and Alice Cooper, both in Abbotsford in a couple months.

I saw a couple of versions of Hits 50, once in Denver and once at Isle of Wight, and while it was great fun, the Daltrey run Who (2010-present) is much less dynamic musically than when Pete had the reins.

I caught the orchestra show in Seattle and it was really good, it added a new element which made the whole thing more interesting. Pete in particular seemed re-energized. And as mentioned above, EV showing up to sing Punk and The Godfather didn’t hurt.

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tommycharles
I saw a couple of versions of Hits 50, once in Denver and once at Isle of Wight, and while it was great fun, the Daltrey run Who (2010-present) is much less dynamic musically than when Pete had the reins.

I caught the orchestra show in Seattle and it was really good, it added a new element which made the whole thing more interesting. Pete in particular seemed re-energized. And as mentioned above, EV showing up to sing Punk and The Godfather didn’t hurt.

I believe you are mistaken about Daltrey running the Who. In my opinion,
Pete is the leader.

I have been a huge Who fan since I was 11 years old at heard Who's Next. Quadrophenia was life-changing - both with a story I could relate to, and the power and precision of the music. Entwistle's bass on The Real Me revealed a whole different way to use the instrument. I still get chills listening to it almost 50 years later.

I've traveled to see The Who and, live, always preferred them to the Stones...until seeing them pre-pandemic on this orchestra tour. The band seemed old and tired, and energy of power gone. The power/vitality that made The Who THE WHO for me were not there.

The only part that was not bad was the closer, Baba O'Riley with a violin filling the original violin role (instead of Roger on harmonica). The rest of the evening felt sad.

Pete Townshend on the Who’s 2022 Tour, the Keith Moon Biopic, and His Inevitable Retirement

The guitarist also sounds off on the absurdity of NFTs, the future of classic rock, the Spotify controversy, why he loves Freaks and Geeks, and more

By Andy Greene
February 13, 2022


Matt Licari/Invision/AP

[www.rollingstone.com]
--

Great interview!

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swimtothemoon
I believe you are mistaken about Daltrey running the Who. In my opinion,
Pete is the leader.

Pete was, for many years. But in 2009, Daltrey had a mostly successful arena tour in the US on his own, and from that decided he didn’t need to put up with anything from Pete anymore, if Pete didn’t agree to terms, he’d just do solo tours. So Roger sacked their long term keyboard player, brought in the musical director and keyboard players from his solo shows, put the drummer in a plastic box, and just generally made it into a different thing.

The ‘06/‘07 shows were not great for Daltrey, and he sounds far better now than he did then, so it’s not been all bad. But the band used to jam - you can listen back to My Generation in 2006 and hear Pete, Zack, Pino, and Rabbit all locked in together exploring the space musically, a real working band. Now it’s something different. Not altogether bad. But not what it was.

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tommycharles

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swimtothemoon
I believe you are mistaken about Daltrey running the Who. In my opinion,
Pete is the leader.

Pete was, for many years. But in 2009, Daltrey had a mostly successful arena tour in the US on his own, and from that decided he didn’t need to put up with anything from Pete anymore, if Pete didn’t agree to terms, he’d just do solo tours. So Roger sacked their long term keyboard player, brought in the musical director and keyboard players from his solo shows, put the drummer in a plastic box, and just generally made it into a different thing.

The ‘06/‘07 shows were not great for Daltrey, and he sounds far better now than he did then, so it’s not been all bad. But the band used to jam - you can listen back to My Generation in 2006 and hear Pete, Zack, Pino, and Rabbit all locked in together exploring the space musically, a real working band. Now it’s something different. Not altogether bad. But not what it was.

Vegas Who?

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bye bye johnny
Pete Townshend on the Who’s 2022 Tour, the Keith Moon Biopic, and His Inevitable Retirement

The guitarist also sounds off on the absurdity of NFTs, the future of classic rock, the Spotify controversy, why he loves Freaks and Geeks, and more

By Andy Greene
February 13, 2022


Matt Licari/Invision/AP

[www.rollingstone.com]
--

Great interview!

Thanks bye bye johnny - .

So many topics covered and quotes to digest and ponder...such as:

"There are other things that I want to do, still want to do, and will do, I hope. I hope I’ll live long enough to do them".

Hope so too.

At almost 77 yrs. old, he's still the epitome of a truly creative and active artist.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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swimtothemoon

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tommycharles
I saw a couple of versions of Hits 50, once in Denver and once at Isle of Wight, and while it was great fun, the Daltrey run Who (2010-present) is much less dynamic musically than when Pete had the reins.

I caught the orchestra show in Seattle and it was really good, it added a new element which made the whole thing more interesting. Pete in particular seemed re-energized. And as mentioned above, EV showing up to sing Punk and The Godfather didn’t hurt.

I believe you are mistaken about Daltrey running the Who. In my opinion,
Pete is the leader.

The Who as a band and creative entity? Absolutely.

However Roger has been running the tours for 10 years plus now. Both his Tommy 2011 and Quadrophenia 2013 tours were 100% percent Roger then he asked Pete if he wants to come aboard and make it The Who, in one case he declined and in the other he accepted.

Thanks for the information. I was not aware of this at all.

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Dan
However Roger has been running the tours for 10 years plus now. Both his Tommy 2011 and Quadrophenia 2013 tours were 100% percent Roger then he asked Pete if he wants to come aboard and make it The Who, in one case he declined and in the other he accepted.

Given the damp squib that the 2017 TCT Tommy turned out to be, probably just as well Pete sat that Tommy tour out.

‘12-13 Quad is such a strange show. There’s so much wrong with it in theory. And yet it’s a great listen.

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tommycharles


Given the damp squib that the 2017 TCT Tommy turned out to be, probably just as well Pete sat that Tommy tour out.

Don't agree with this at all. I was at the first night of 2017 TCT and thought it was fantastic. Of course it was not The Who of 1970 but to hear the whole album played live was just brilliant.

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Valeswood

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tommycharles


Given the damp squib that the 2017 TCT Tommy turned out to be, probably just as well Pete sat that Tommy tour out.

Don't agree with this at all. I was at the first night of 2017 TCT and thought it was fantastic. Of course it was not The Who of 1970 but to hear the whole album played live was just brilliant.

I will take your word for that if you were there - I saw the film and found it pretty uninspiring, but sometimes that doesn't tell the whole story (as in this case, apparently).

The Quadrephenia show I saw in Sheffield ( I think it was 2015 or 16?) was the best Who show I’ve seen since my first which was the London Rainbow Theatre in 1980.

The who will play a special acoustic show for teenage cancer trust on 25th March at the Royal Albert Hall

[www.thewho.com]

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ukcal
The who will play a special acoustic show for teenage cancer trust on 25th March at the Royal Albert Hall

[www.thewho.com]

Excellent.

And I'd love to see Madness the night before...



_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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Hairball

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ukcal
The who will play a special acoustic show for teenage cancer trust on 25th March at the Royal Albert Hall

[www.thewho.com]

Excellent.

And I'd love to see Madness the night before...

The Thursday, Friday & Sat gigs would all be worth seeing. I’m looking forward to hearing this Who gig whenever the vids turn up.
Have they done a whole acoustic set before?

The Who did acoustic shows at PRYZM, Kingston in February 2020.

They also played at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit in 1999. Those annual benefit shows were all acoustic.

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bye bye johnny
The Who did acoustic shows at PRYZM, Kingston in February 2020.

They also played at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit in 1999. Those annual benefit shows were all acoustic.

I was at that Bridge School concert. They followed Sheryl Crow, who was putting people to sleep. The Who came on close to midnight, and they were definitely NOT acoustic. Blew the roof off the place, and made the nighttime chill go away.

Pete did sort of apologize for the electric instruments —- and also for the swear words he used in front of the school’s kids.

I was just looking at a photo taken of myself and my best friend in 1976.

We're standing next to the shelf that contained his records and his stereo system.

On that shelf is a record-store display advertising the Joe Walsh album So What. My friend was a huge fan of both Walsh and the James Gang.

In the background, hanging on the wall is a poster for the Who 1976 tour. We both loved the Who, and had driven up to San Francisco earlier that year to see them at Winterland.

The two long-haired rockers in that photo look impossibly young when you see the old bald geezers we've become.

If you had told us back then that 46 years later both The Who and Joe Walsh would still be around and playing shows we would have laughed out loud at the whole concept. It would have seemed both insane and hilarious.


Who could have guessed? Certainly not us...


Long live rock!

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loog droog
I was just looking at a photo taken of myself and my best friend in 1976.

We're standing next to the shelf that contained his records and his stereo system.

On that shelf is a record-store display advertising the Joe Walsh album So What. My friend was a huge fan of both Walsh and the James Gang.

In the background, hanging on the wall is a poster for the Who 1976 tour. We both loved the Who, and had driven up to San Francisco earlier that year to see them at Winterland.

The two long-haired rockers in that photo look impossibly young when you see the old bald geezers we've become.

If you had told us back then that 46 years later both The Who and Joe Walsh would still be around and playing shows we would have laughed out loud at the whole concept. It would have seemed both insane and hilarious.


Who could have guessed? Certainly not us...


Long live rock!

Cool stuff, loog droog!

This is also something I've been wondering myself for years. Who had known that this rock music, once played by young musicians to even younger crowds, would be around forever? It didn't belong to the concept at that time... Some of the wonders could be divided:

(1) Would these musicians still play that music until they drop?
(2) Would we listen to the pop music we started to listen as teenagers until we drop? Like, say, never grow up...
(3) Would any of us be still alive?

It is a hindsight to say now that of course they would play for good (what else they would do) and we will listen it for good (a necessary condition for the musicians to play their shit), and none of us will ever die, but at the time that would have sounded out of this world...

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-02-22 10:08 by Doxa.

Here's a video of the whole acoustic gig early show,at Pryzm Kingston February 14th 2020.
Very small stage with Pete and Roger, Simon Townshend acoustic guitar, Phil Spalding bass, Jody Linscott percussion and Billy Nichols additional vocals.

Obviously RAH is a much bigger venue and looking at Who website, will be three more on stage making up the band for the night.

I was standing right behind the guy who took the video and had a great view.

Hard to believe those four acoustic gig's over two nights were just over two years ago.

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bam

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bye bye johnny
The Who did acoustic shows at PRYZM, Kingston in February 2020.

They also played at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit in 1999. Those annual benefit shows were all acoustic.

I was at that Bridge School concert. They followed Sheryl Crow, who was putting people to sleep. The Who came on close to midnight, and they were definitely NOT acoustic. Blew the roof off the place, and made the nighttime chill go away.

Pete did sort of apologize for the electric instruments —- and also for the swear words he used in front of the school’s kids.

Bridge School Benefit, 10/31/99 - [m.facebook.com]

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bye bye johnny

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bam

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bye bye johnny
The Who did acoustic shows at PRYZM, Kingston in February 2020.

They also played at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit in 1999. Those annual benefit shows were all acoustic.

I was at that Bridge School concert. They followed Sheryl Crow, who was putting people to sleep. The Who came on close to midnight, and they were definitely NOT acoustic. Blew the roof off the place, and made the nighttime chill go away.

Pete did sort of apologize for the electric instruments —- and also for the swear words he used in front of the school’s kids.

Bridge School Benefit, 10/31/99 - [m.facebook.com]

Great show, and definitely all acoustic