The lead-up to The Who‘s North American farewell tour may have been a bit bumpy, but the legendary rock band was in fine form at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Saturday night (August 30th).
“The World’s Most Famous Arena,” as it’s known, has been a special place for The Who over the years, with the band having played MSG three-dozen times, including their show-stealing 2001 performance at the Concert for New York City honoring first responders just six weeks after the 9/11 attacks.
Saturday evening began with a set by indie singer-songwriter Feist, whose enchanting vocals echoed nicely through the arena. She expressed gratitude and awe in having the chance to open for an iconic band like The Who, and was received warmly by the crowd, even though her efforts to pump them up for the headliner fell a bit short. However, by the end of her set, she had many in the audience singing along to her signature song “1234.”
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As mentioned, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing in The Who’s camp in the months leading up to the farewell outing. A messy breakup with drummer Zak Starkey stole headlines for a few weeks, while singer Roger Daltrey wondered aloud if he would even make it to the end of the tour, citing his health and age as concerns. In fact, The Who had to postpone a couple of recent shows in Atlantic City and Philadelphia due to an undisclosed illness within the band.
Yet, when The Who took the stage shortly before 9 p.m. at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, everything seemed to fall into place. The band kicked things off with their early single “I Can’t Explain,” and banged out the classics “Substitute” and “Who Are You” right after. Daltrey’s voice sounded as strong as it’s been in years, while Pete Townshend had a spring in his step as he delivered his trademark windmill guitar move with plenty of gusto.
Now’s probably a good time to point out that Daltrey is 81 and Townshend is 80, and it’s likely neither envisioned themselves rocking out this hard in their eighties — after all, it was Townshend and Daltrey who respectively wrote and sang the infamous line, “I hope I die before I get old.” But here they were, bringing the rock to the MSG crowd more than 60 years after forming the band.
The set continued with Townshend taking lead vocals on the rarity “Long Live Rock,” performed for the first time since 2014. Other highlights of the middle of the set included “Pinball Wizard,” “Behind Blue Eyes,” and an extended version of “My Generation.” The band also represented their post-Keith Moon early ’80s Kenney Jones era with standouts like “Eminence Front” and “You Better You Bet.”