Roger Daltrey may have gotten older, but his voice has not aged one bit. The 74-year-young frontman of infamous British rock band, The Who, proved to the Fox Theater that age is nothing more than a number. Welcomed onto the stage by a few thousand applauding audience members, Daltrey made sure to open up the show with a bang — or more specifically, an “Overture.” The theatrical song that opened The Who’s huge hit album Tommy (1969) was smartly chosen to open up this show; it set the tone for a night full of high-energy performances. From here, the band moved on to play some of their biggest hits right of the bat: “Pinball Wizard” and “Who Are You.”
[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AKbUm8GrbM” width=”640″ height=”480″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GqgNebPm50[/su_youtube]
Although — I must admit — I had my doubts about the performance of a 74-year-old singer, Daltrey quickly made me rethink my skepticism. Not only did he sing everything fantastically, but he was hitting notes that I do not think he could have hit when he was 22; it was truly a masterful performance from the main man himself. The rest of the band were equally as brilliant. Simon Townshend — younger brother of legendary (The Who) guitarist, Pete Townshend — displayed that godly strumming runs in the family’s veins.
Photo by Chris Tuite
Daltrey even took the time in between songs to tell stories and engage with the audience. This included dedicating “Another Tricky Day” to the firing of Rex Tillerson and Donald Trump Jr.’s soon-to-be divorce. It later included a rant about social media’s negative qualities before heading into a powerful speech about true friendship and, eventually, “How Many Friends.” The song’s chorus lyrically (“How many friends have I really got? / You can count them in one hand”) contradicts the hundreds and thousands of “friends” that people are connected to on various social media platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat. Daltrey exhibited his stage presence through these dialogues even through his thick English accent.
Photo by theFIVE10
However, there were only a few moments during the concert that truly put me in a state of pure awe. The overall production of the stage design and lighting was relatively underwhelming. For those going purely for the music and Daltrey’s showmanship, this wasn’t a key component of the experience. Nevertheless, in my opinion, the show as a whole would have benefited with more production. As well as this, the last song was a bold choice. Ending with an unreleased ballad (“Always Heading Home”) from his upcoming album, As Long As I Have You, Daltrey ended the night with a bit of a whimper. The song itself was great, but with decades’ worth of music to choose from, he could have chosen a more exciting finale.
With that being said, overall, the concert was a surprising delight. The band rocked out and put everything they had on stage. There was never a dull moment; I was never urged to look at my phone or elsewhere that was not directly at the stage. Midway through the show, Daltrey said, “there’s something about singing that brings everyone together — but in a different way.” Not only did he and the rest of his band embrace this, but the entire audience felt it.
Rating: 8.2/10
Written by Shayan Shirkhodai