{"id":170264,"date":"2025-09-20T19:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T19:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/170264\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T19:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T19:15:08","slug":"the-who-shines-in-farewell-tour-at-the-hollywood-bowl-concert-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/170264\/","title":{"rendered":"The Who Shines in Farewell Tour at the Hollywood Bowl: Concert Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tI can say that I did not expect to be leaving the Who<\/a>\u2018s visit to the Hollywood Bowl<\/a> this week holding myself back from breaking into complete bawling. Yes, it\u2019s a farewell tour, and one we\u2019re pretty sure they mean as an actual swan song, but we\u2019ve had those before, in recent years, like Elton\u2019s final stop at Dodger Stadium three years ago, but all in fine, celebratory fashion without any moments that really felt like they called for a personal emotional outburst. Going into the Who\u2019s \u201cThe Song Is Over Tour\u201d \u2014 which played the Bowl Wednesday and Friday nights, and makes its last U.S. stop in Palm Springs Oct. 1 \u2014 bringing some tissue paper probably never occurred to most fans, considering more practical questions like:<\/p>\n

\n\tWill this be a case in which they should have turned in their badges just a tour or two sooner? Will Roger Daltrey<\/a> still be able to hit the high notes at 81, even if he still sounded shockingly fine at 78, when the Who last played the Bowl for an orchestral tour in \u201922? Can Pete Townshend<\/a> still athletically tilt at windmills at 80? And then the really quibbly stuff: Will we miss Zak Starkey in the drummer\u2019s chair, after his recent disinvitation to soldier on with them through their last days? Why has \u201cGoing Mobile\u201d finally been introduced into the show, only to have Pete\u2019s brother Simon singing it? Do they really need all these extra players on stage? Why do they defy me by still leaving [fill in the blank with your favorite \u201960s single], clearly their best song, out of the setlist? <\/p>\n

\n\tBut if these are the sorts of rock-geek thoughts that fill your mind going into a show, there is one song that is guaranteed to wash them all out, for good:<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLove, Reign O\u2019er Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s no surprise that the Who \u2014 or the Two, as fans sometimes call Daltrey and Townsend, long after the other original members are gone \u2014 would do a small selection of \u201cQuadrophenia\u201d songs near the end of any modern-day set, climaxed by this number, very arguably the greatest of all rock power ballads. But it is still surprising how awash in unabashed emotion it can feel, from a group that always wore its heart halfway out on its sleeve, but not always this fully. The irony of \u201cQuadrophenia\u201d as the band\u2019s most accomplished concept album is that it\u2019s so concentrated on a story of teen angst but that its peak song delivers on the eightysomething angst just fine. And when Daltrey delivers those climactic howls as well and as cathartically as he ever did, against all odds\u2026 the audience are not the only ones bowled over, as it turns out.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat always fucking blows my mind, Rog,\u201d said Townshend at the Bowl, a man who does not recklessly dole out compliments but knows the moment when one is called for. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLove, Reign O\u2019er Me\u201d is a tearduct-loosener if ever there was one, and it had the added effect at this late date of triggering thoughts about how far we have or haven\u2019t all come as mortal beings since the days of the Who singing about love and mods on the rocks. They were not done bringing us into pure emo mode. Following the \u201cQuadrophenia\u201d segment were the traditional two big numbers from \u201cWho\u2019s Next\u201d (\u201cWon\u2019t Get Fooled Again\u201d and \u201cBaba O\u2019Riley\u201d), but for the actual close of the show, it was dealer\u2019s choice. And what Townshend and Daltrey chose to deal to send us out with as our last live memories of the Who was tellingly affecting.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRoger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of the Who at the Hollywood Bowl<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRandall Michelson\/Live Nation-Hewitt Silva<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Song Is Over\u201d is, weirdly, a number that the Who never deigned to do live \u2014 at all \u2014 until making it the title track of the farewell tour, and, at worst, you could argue that the pick is a little too on the nose. But it also happens to be a great song that deserves this place in the spotlight, however obvious the reasons for its belated addition might be. Daltrey has altered the lyrics, turning it from a kiss-off to a kiss goodbye, with \u201cThanks for all the years \/ I\u2019ll always remember \/ Even if I live for a million years\u201d replacing the original lines \u201cI\u2019m left with only tears \/ I must remember \/ Even if it takes a million years.\u201d Following that, the six auxiliary players leave the stage to leave Daltrey and Townshend taking seats to perform \u201cTea & Theatre,\u201d a still somewhat obscure latter-day effort from the \u201cEndless Wire\u201d album, with no attempt to rewrite the sadness inherent in lines like \u201cThis story is done \/ It\u2019s getting colder now \/ A thousand songs \/ Still smolder now\u2026 We\u2019re older now, all of us sad, all of us free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat should\u2019ve been it, with Daltrey holding his actual tea aloft in salute, except now came the comedy part of the show \u2014 a routine somewhat unique to Wednesday night\u2019s show at the Hollywood Bowl, or as Townshend called it, in cheekilyreferring to the venue\u2019s world-famous shell, \u201cLos Angeles\u2019 kitchen sink.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s so ridiculous, doing this farewell tour,\u201d Townsend said, \u201c\u2018cause we\u2019re still learning how to do the fucking thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne day we\u2019ll be good, really good,\u201d promised Daltrey.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSometimes it gets better and sometimes it gets worse,\u201d said Townshend, keeping the humility vibe going as he added, \u201cTonight was extremely average. I would ask for half your money back. You\u2019ve been great,\u201d he quickly added, even as Daltrey roared with laughter at the prospect of the audience bringing up \u201ca fucking million lawsuits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd so,\u201d said Townshend, on the level for just a moment, \u201cI can\u2019t say \u2018see you again,\u2019 because we probably won\u2019t.\u201d The crowd groaned. \u201cUnless it\u2019s for a charity show. Roger and I will almost certainly work together in some shape or form. But we thought we might do a sort of a banjo band.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m gonna teach him sheet metal work,\u201d said Daltrey, widening their prospects. \u201cYou\u2019ll make a great metal worker, Pete \u2014 wield a hammer all day, it\u2019s really easy. Yes. A sheet metal worker like I started out, it\u2019ll be good for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI joined his band when I was 16,\u201d said Townshend, suddenly even more ruminative. \u201cI was still in fucking school. He came in, he\u2019d quit the year before \u2014 or been expelled the year before \u2014 wandered in with his tight trousers and his teddy boy hairdo, and he said, \u2018Do you wanna be in my band?\u2019 And I said, yes, yes, yes. There was only one answer, yes. And he was a sheet metal worker. So he was the lead guitar player; I was the rhythm player, he was the lead guitar player. Fucking crap, but he was the lead guitar player.. Every other couple of days he\u2019d come in and he\u2019d say, \u2018Pete, I can\u2019t play.\u201d And he\u2019d have blood over his fucking hands. So that\u2019s how I became the lead guitar player. It turned out you\u2019re a pretty good singer, yeah?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m learning,\u201d said Daltrey. \u201cLook guys, thank you so much for coming. May you all have wonderfully healthy lives. May you all\u2026 What\u2019s the magic message? Think lucky and\u2026 beeeeee lucky!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA fairly mirthful way to end the show, that was, and yet, if the self-consciousness of being aware that you were likely hearing \u201cThe Real Me\u201d or \u201cBehind Blue Eyes\u201d or even a youthful lark like \u201cSubstitute\u201d being played live for the last time was not enough to well up the eyes of a Who fan, hearing them banter spontaneously about their boyhoods for three minutes as the final \u201cencore\u201d was good enough to seal the crying deal. It may not have mattered how close to Daltrey\u2019s and Townshend\u2019s own age one is (and certainly there were a good share of younger folks at the Bowl, too): This show, at least in part, is about getting in touch with your mortality\u2026 vigorously.<\/p>\n

\n\tAny concern that they maybe should have bowed out of the game a bit earlier was quickly extinguished. The version of \u201cI Can\u2019t Explain\u201d that they began the show with was definitely not the most aggressive version the Who has ever played, but there was something about its placement at the opening that served as kind of a great joke, whether they meant it that way or not \u2014 the idea that you can reach your 80s and still be incapable of fully articulating the things that ail you.<\/p>\n

\n\tNot as great a gag, of course, as the sheer chutzpah of still doing \u201cMy Generation\u201d at this far a generational remove. For anyone who ever thought that Townshend might have regretted writing \u201cHope I did before I get old,\u201d the joke was and is on them: There is more intentional irony in heaven and earth, Horatio, than is dreamt of in the doubters\u2019 philosophy. And the Who\u2019s current version of that signature song now includes an extended, jammy coda in which Daltrey repeatedly sings, \u201cTalk about your own generation,\u201d as if in rejoinder to some flack they\u2019ve caught over the years, or maybe just a bit of inspiration aimed at the young. It didn\u2019t hurt that Townshend also ended this multi-part \u201cMy Generation\u201d with a wonderfully odd guitar solo that sounded like it could have been ripped out of the Jack White playbook.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRoger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of the Who at the Hollywood Bowl<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRandall Michelson\/Live Nation-Hewitt Silva<\/p>\n

\n\tAnyone wondering how \u201cthe new drummer,\u201d Scott Deavours, would fit in need not worry. Starkey, who left under contentious circumstances (and some obvious personal heartbreak for him), is missed \u2014 the wild man element that stretched back to Keith Moon\u2019s day is gone. But with Deavours, who has played in Daltrey\u2019s solo band and previously filled in with the Who on occasion, you get someone who plays a very clean version of all those thunderous parts. And his near-constant smile is contagious \u2014 so maybe given his aptitude, and the dignity of the blokes he\u2019s playing behind, maybe it\u2019s all right that you feel assured no hotel rooms will be wrecked. (\u201cVery difficult position in this band,\u201d Daltrey said, when introducing the drummer near the end, \u201calthough every position is difficult in this band.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n\tThere is that novelty factor of having just brought \u201cGoing Mobile\u201d into a Who show for the first time, only to have Simon Townshend sing it. Pete introduced it by saying they\u2019d recorded it for \u201cWho\u2019s Next\u201d in one take, \u201cmaybe one and a half,\u201d maybe signaling that the tune had never been that important to him then, let alone now. But in any case, the proof was in the pudding of performance: It sounded fantastic with Simon singing it, sounding like a dead ringer for his brother in his prime, and with the exuberant energy to match.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPete Townshend of the Who at the Hollywood Bowl<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRandall Michelson\/Live Nation-Hewitt Silva<\/p>\n

\n\tPete Townshend\u2019s own energy is nothing to sneeze at now; even if \u201cwiry\u201d is no longer his primary descriptor, he appeared engaged almost in disproportion to the amount of time he\u2019s spend admitting over the years that he doesn\u2019t love touring. He mentioned having had a knee replacement, which doesn\u2019t seem to have hobbled him too much; he did a very brief mock-duckwalk during an interlude of \u201cLong Live Rock.\u201d And maybe while he was having his knee taken out, he also had some cartilage removed from his shoulders, because pulling off the trademark windmill swings at his guitar is still not a problem for him. As for his occasional lead vocals, he remained well capable of a good, old-fashioned phlegmatic growl in his biggest showcase of the night, \u201cEminence Front.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c5:15,\u201d the biggest rouser from \u201cQuadrophenia,\u201d seemed in theory like it might suffer from the lack of horns, which were most recently in abundance on the orchestral tour and had been brought out even on normal band outings. But somehow, without the brass, this actually turned into the night\u2019s most effective all-out rocker, extended into a jam that left the mod setting of the storyline for something that felt a bit closer to the psychedelic era by the end.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne other favorite moment was just an aside: During \u201cWon\u2019t Get Fooled Again,\u201d following the line \u201cThe hypnotized never lie,\u201d Daltrey added to the studio version, as is now his wont, \u201cDO YA?\u201d It wasn\u2019t exactly what you\u2019d call an accusatory moment, but it was just enough to remind you that, in the words of the Sex Pistols, they still mean it, man.<\/p>\n

\n\tA thousand years from now, when what\u2019s left of the race will need to show the aliens or whoever what a rock band was, yes, maybe they will play them excerpts of the Who playing live at Leeds or some other moment from their scrappy, all-devouring prime\u2026 but you know what? Clips from this farewell tour would do, too. They are going out on a high. The band that once was arguably rock\u2019s greatest is going out on a high that is still a hell of a lot closer to delirium than resignation. Accept substitutes, because you\u2019ll have to, but know there really are none. And when you hear Daltrey sing \u201cDon\u2019t cry\u201d during \u201cBaba O\u2019Riley,\u201d remember that you\u2019re not under obligation to follow that as a direct order.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRoger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of the Who at the Hollywood Bowl<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of the Who at the Hollywood Bowl<\/p>\n

\n\tSetlist for the Who at the Hollywood Bowl, Sept. 17, 2025:
I Can\u2019t Explain
Substitute
Who Are You
Long Live Rock
I Can See for Miles
Pinball Wizard\/See Me, Feel Me\/Listening to You
Love Ain\u2019t for Keepin\u2019
Behind Blue Eyes
Eminence Front
My Generation
Cry if You Want
You Better You Bet
Going Mobile
The Real Me
5:15
Love, Reign O\u2019er Me
Won\u2019t Get Fooled Again
Baba O\u2019Riley
The Song Is Over
Tea & Theatre<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I can say that I did not expect to be leaving the Who\u2018s visit to the Hollywood Bowl…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,40063,216,24218,24216,35357],"class_list":{"0":"post-170264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-hollywood-bowl","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-pete-townshend","12":"tag-roger-daltrey","13":"tag-the-who"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}