Love was “raining” o’er Roger Daltrey on Sunday night at West Springfield’s Big E Arena. As for the rest of us, it was just raining rain! The outdoor venue was over 2000 strong for the iconic singer of The Who, and ponchos were prevalent and abundant, but this writer had no problem donning only his shorts and a Sparks T-shirt, gladly taking on the rain to see a legend of this caliber up close and personal. And he seemed to be having fun as well!
Singer Amy Helm was supposed to open but cancelled during the day. That made the show start at 7:45 and end around 9:15, which worked well for those in the crowd like myself who made the trip.
Opening the show was a fun surprise, covering Pete Townshend’s solo hit “Let My Love Open the Door.” As someone who’s best known for covering the lyrical genius of Townshend, it’s interesting to hear him delve into Pete’s solo catalog. He followed that with an obscure cover of Taj Mahal’s “Freedom Ride” before a double shot of Who classics, “Who Are You” and “Substitute.” Prior to those songs, he did reassure the crowd that there would be Who songs in the mix. “Not a lot, but just enough,” he quipped.
Daltrey is still a freak of nature. His signature masculine and powerful voice has shown little sign of wear at 82 years of age. And although he opts not to do the scream in “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” he has earned the right to leave that to the audience. He loves to be on the road to keep his instrument sharp for whenever The Who DO decide to go back on tour. The Who have been having farewell tours since ’82, and now the singer is literally 82.
Daltrey also performed his solo smash, 1973’s “Giving It All Away,” which was penned by a then-unknown Leo Sayer, before a cover of Paul Simon’s “Boy in the Bubble,” which Daltrey stated his love to perform, as his solo band has the capabilities of the cultural sounds and instrumentation of Simon. The Who’s “Squeeze Box” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” followed, before the almost humorous back-to-back covers of CCR’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” and Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now,” as the rain was still “coming down on a (not so) sunny day.” We in the first few rows ate it up though, getting to know everyone personally as we all joked about our wet chairs, umbrellas, ponchos, etc. We all hugged in our little group and sang loudly as we were getting drenched.
To close out the show, Roger led his band, which included Simon Townshend, Pete’s brother who has been playing with The Who and nearly every Who side project since 1996, into the iconic “Baba O’Riley,” featuring one of the highlights of the night – Katie Jacoby’s violin solo to close out the song. Jacoby has been touring with Roger’s solo band since 2018, and with The Who since 2019. The night ended with the band performing a rollicking version of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
Being so close to him onstage and seeing an older man who still looks and sounds great only exuberated my awe-filled reverence towards him. This is a man who came up alongside The Beatles, The Stones and all of that, changed the musical landscape in rock, hard rock, punk and even heavy metal – almost single-handedly. He has acted alongside Ann Margaret in “Tommy,” performed at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight, blown every other band on the planet off stages around the world, set a Guinness Book record for “loudest band in the world,” and dealt with Keith Moon (which he should be awarded sainthood for). And there he was. Right there, unassuming until he opened his mouth. The history in that man is untouchable. And again, as I always say – see these guys while we still can.
I will travel within a 4-hour radius to see any members of certain bands, with The Who being on the top of that list. And although their “Farewell Tours” have become almost a parody of themselves at this point, with both Roger and The Who citing the costs and troubles of touring in the US as being a reason why, these days, we may not see them here again. All I can say is that I hope that’s wrong. These greats can’t play forever, even though the endurance and power of Daltrey’s voice don’t make me feel that way.
Setlist can be found here:
https://www.setlist.fm/
