To say it’s been a trying past couple of years for The Who is something of an understatement, but here they are, a bit bloodied perhaps, but unbowed, warming up for another gig in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
“I can see the same faces as last night and we’re going to play the same songs as last night,” Pete Townshend archly remarks after they’ve kicked off with “Who Are You”. The diehards don’t care, and it’s easy to see what draws them back night after night when Townshend hunches over his guitar and almost shakes the life out of it while Zak Starkey hammers his kit during the instrumental section of “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere”.
The set features two sets of hits at either end, between which are sandwiched three songs apiece from “Who’s Next” and “Quadrophenia”. Bassist Pino Palladino doesn’t attempt John Entwistle’s runs during “5.15” and indeed remains out of the spotlight for most of the show, save for the bass solos during “My Generation”.
Townshend’s younger brother Simon also lurks in the shadows, providing auxiliary guitar and backing vocals and allowing Pete to take his solos. Roger Daltrey is in fine voice throughout, despite fluffing his lines during “Sea And Sand”. There is less of the microphone twirling and more focus on his vocals, reflecting the fact he's now 60.
They debut new song “Real Good Looking Boy”, which Townshend explains is based on Elvis’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love”. It’s fine, although the Elvis piano part at the start and close flies very close to being cringeworthy. The chorus just about makes up for it, but it certainly isn’t indicative of a creative revival. They also drop the chorus of other new song “Old Red Wine” into a fiery “My Generation”, which benefits for once from being truncated and features a roaring guitar passage from Townshend at the close which leads straight into “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
They encore with tracks from “Tommy”, including “Pinball Wizard”, a heavy version of the instrumental “Sparks” and their own grand finale, “See Me Feel Me”. A fight breaks out in the audience during “Amazing Journey”, as a bouncer climbs to stage height in an attempt to sort it out, he gets “machine gunned” in the back by Townshend’s guitar for his troubles. Townshend later apologises, saying: “I’m still a bit worried at the moment so I’m actually very glad to have them around”.
At the end, Daltrey and Townshend embrace. Evidently, when things go as well as they did tonight, there’s an extra sense of triumph. ‘Who 2’, as Townshend calls them, march on in better shape than for some time.
