The Who’s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend played the first of two Budweiser Stage appearances on their North American farewell tour on Tuesday.Supplied
The last song by the British rock legends the Who at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage on Tuesday was Tea & Theatre, a mellow send-off about survival.
On stage were just singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend, the two remaining members of the band who 60 years ago released My Generation, a brash declaration of a youthful creed that was snarled and stuttered: “Why don’t you all f-f-fade away, and don’t try to dig what we all s-s-say.”
My Generation’s descending power chords in 1965 were pure aggression − wars have been started with lesser gestures.
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At one point during Tea & Theatre, released in 2006, the 81-year-old Daltrey walked over to place his hand on the 80-year-old Townshend, who sat as he played an acoustic guitar. Townshend looked up and was seemingly surprised, even though the quaint drama is the same every show.
“Lean on my shoulder now, this story is done.” Daltrey sang Townshend’s lyrics. “It’s getting colder now, a thousand songs.”
Original drummer (and true rock ’n’ roll maniac) Keith Moon died in 1978. Virtuoso bassist John Entwistle died in 2002. Can we be honest? The Who has been half a band ever since, literally and otherwise. Backed by five accompanists, they’re currently about halfway through their The Song Is Over North America Farewell Tour, named after the deep cut from 1971’s classic Who’s Next album.
They play the same venue on Thursday. A concert at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on Sept. 23 is the only other Canadian date. The tour ends in Las Vegas on Sept. 28. Whatever happens at the MGM Grand Garden Arena stays in the MGM Grand Garden Arena. That’s it − probably.
Guitarist Pete Townshend on Budweiser Stage.Supplied
“We may come back in disguise, as a new band,” Townshend said, cheekily. Daltrey added that this really is the final tour, before adding, “Never say never.”
Please, say never. It’s time to retire the band. Earlier tour concerts in Philadelphia and Atlantic City were called off due to an unspecified “illness.” Prior to the tour, a public spat erupted when longtime sideman drummer Zak Starkey was bizarrely fired, reinstated and then fired for good.
Not that they don’t put on a show. Though a repeating, ugly, popping audio glitch marred the first half of the concert, the performance was otherwise powerful. Daltrey’s throaty rumble was mostly up to the task of singing some of the greatest rock anthems ever written. Townshend’s guitar playing, once a nightly audacious electric experiment on par with Dr. Frankenstein’s best work with lightning bolts, is tamer now.
The cuts from the 1973 conceptual masterpiece Quadrophenia were particularly strong. Daltrey hit the high notes on the epic rainy ballad Love, Reign o’er Me and Townshend sang I’m One with the right mix of angst and melancholy.
Once musically volatile, the Who are predictable now. Once four parts firing apart but somehow together in all directions, the current band plays under control.
Townshend used to be a visually dynamic and athletic performer. He no longer windmills his right arm with much velocity and his leg-scissor jumps are a thing of the past. These are understandable concessions to the aging process.
Singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend, the two remaining members of the Who, backed by five accompanists on their farewell tour.Supplied
To their fans, the Who gave more than the perfunctory “Thank you, Toronto.”
On the “See me, feel me, touch me” passage from the 1969 rock opera Tommy, a giant golden hand was shown on the video screen behind the band, with the index finger pointed at the crowd during the chorus: “On you I see the glory, from you I get opinion, from you I get the story.” Just as the messianic “deaf, dumb and blind boy” Tommy sings to his disciples, the Who sang to their fans.
Sentimentality, never a Who trait, was displayed on the penultimate The Song is Over. Daltrey replaced the line, “I’m left with only tears” with “Thanks for all the years.”
Long Live Rock was a fun semi-rarity. A few rapped lines from 1982’s Cry If You Want freshened up My Generation. The back-to-back Won’t Get Fooled Again and Baba O’Riley were galvanizing crowd-pleasers, particularly the latter’s shout-along line, “It’s only teenage wasteland.”
Those who arrived in time to see the opening act, Tom Cochrane, were treated to the bonus appearance of Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson for Cochrane’s Human Race, Lunatic Fringe and Life Is a Highway. Cochrane had opened with Boy Inside the Man, his hit with Red Rider about staying teenaged forever.
Never growing old? The concert industry depends on it. To feel 17 years old for two hours is why fans are cool with paying hundreds of dollars for half a band like the Who. The cost is worth it − no price is too high. Long live rock in 2025.
