The Who performing during the Who Hits Back! Tour at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas on May 3, 2022, with Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Simon Townshend, Loren Gold, Emily Marshall, Jon Button, and Zak Starkey. (Photo: Ralph Arvesen)
The Who are one of the top three greatest rock legacies in music history. Their music provoked explosive change and spanned what many critics declare is rock’s most elastic creative spectrum, with Pete Townshend’s songwriting moving between raw, prosaic, conceptual, and expressively literate. Their visionary sense of stagecraft headed by Roger Daltrey’s soaring vocal prowess is topped off by the band’s blistering rhythm section.
With both Roger and Pete delivering their memoirs in recent years (Pete’s "Who I Am" was released to much acclaim in 2012, and Roger’s autobiography, "Thanks A Lot Mr. Kibblewhite; My Story," was embraced by critics in 2018) it’s fitting that the two remaining members have shared their incredible legacy in literary fashion, for few bands have had a more lasting impact on the rock era and the reverberating pop culture than The Who.
Emerging in the mid-1960s as a new and incendiary force in rock n’ roll, their brash style and poignant storytelling garnered them one of music’s most passionate followings, with the legendary foursome blazing a searing new template for rock, punk, and everything after.
Inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall Of Fame in 1990, the band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, placing 27 top-forty singles in the United States and United Kingdom and earning 17 Top Ten albums, including the 1969 groundbreaking rock opera Tommy, 1971’s pummeling Live At Leeds, 1973’s Quadrophenia and 1978’s Who Are You. The Who debuted in 1964 with a trio of anthems “I Can’t Explain,” “The Kids Are Alright” and “My Generation.” Since then they have delivered to the world hits such as “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “Pinball Wizard,” Who Are You,” and,” You Better You Bet.”
In 2008, they became the first rock band ever to be awarded the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. The Who has performed all over the world including global music events for the Super Bowl XLIV Halftime Show in 2010 and closing the London 2012 Summer Olympics. The Who continued their charity work by playing a concert in January 2011 to raise money for trials of a new cancer treatment called PDT. In December 2012 they performed at the Hurricane Sandy Benefit in New York. In January 2014 they played a set on the U.S. television special to support the charity Stand Up To Cancer. In November 2012 Daltrey, with Townshend at his side, launched Teen Cancer America. The charity is now established in the USA, with offices in Los Angeles and devoted Teen Cancer units being opened in hospitals all over the U.S. TCA’s work has impacted over 5,000 young people and their families nationwide during the last ten years.
It's hard to believe that in all the years of listening to The Who I had never heard them in concert, but it's true, so I was really looking forward to the evening. Pete and Roger did not disappoint. From the Tommy selections in the beginning to the Who's Next selections it was a tour de force of magnificence. Roger's singing of "See me, feel me" brought tears to my eyes. If you have a chance to attend one of their shows on this tour, wherever it may be, take it.Setlist for the show at the Moody Center
Good song collection from The Who, obviously the voices have changes through the years, but overall experience was great.
The Who put on an incredible show! The Who sounded fantastic, crystal clear, super entertaining and they played all the songs Who fans would want to hear.
Wow! Saw them in the 80's. Roger was incredible back then. In his 70's, well, his voice is pretty incredible and he had stamina. Pete, holy cow man, does a little less windmill, and is still, one of the greatest guitarists. It was so fun to hear a musical phenom. When he plays acoustic you can really tell how gifted. Drummer is one of the very best I ever heard. Ever. A crowd favorite. And the symphony allowed Tommy and Quadrophenia alum music to shine. You realize what a genius writer and composer Pete Townsend is.
- Overture
- 1921
- It's a Boy
- Amazing Journey
- Sparks
- Pinball Wizard
- We're Not Gonna Take It
- Who Are You
- Eminence Front
- Ball and Chain
- Join Together
- The Seeker
- You Better You Bet
- Won't Get Fooled Again
- Behind Blue Eyes
- The Real Me
- I'm One
- 5:15
- The Rock
- Love, Reign O'er Me
- Baba O'Riley
The Who was the main act at the Moody Center with guests Amythyst Kiah. They continue across the United States, Europe, and Canada with the last stop at the Dolby Live in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 5, 2022.
The Who
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Photos by Ralph Arvesen
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