Who's on first? Daltrey.
Perhaps Roger Daltrey and his cohort Pete Townshend are smarter than most everyone else of, ahem, their generation.
While lots of groups with roots in the '60s break-up and reform, the duo has never split The Who. The band languishes for a while but then pops back up again, like it did earlier this year for the much-discussed Super Bowl halftime show.
Daltrey, who warmed up the crowd for fellow legendary rocker Eric Clapton at the Marcus Amphitheater at Summerfest on Monday night, has long had a solo career, which he launched with "Daltrey," in 1973. His eighth and most recent solo outing was 1992's "Rocks in the Head."
Few, however, could name a solo Daltrey tune, except perhaps "Free Me," from the 1980 "McVicar" soundtrack (on which all members of The Who performed).
But that's OK, because Daltrey favored songs by The Who in his set, doing only a one tune from his solo records. Daltrey -- who arrived on stage in full daylight to little fanfare -- knows what his fans want and he's eager to give it to them.
"The point of what I'm doing is to have fun," Daltrey said before the band launched into "I Can See For Miles," with Daltrey donning an acoustic guitar.
Shedding the six-string, Daltrey kicked into another high-octane Who favorite, "The Real Me," which the singer spiced up with his trademark microphone twirling.
Of The Who songs, Daltrey said, "Sure, they're Who songs; they're my songs and I enjoy playing them."
With that, the chatty, personable showman played "Behind Blue Eyes" and continued focusing on songs by his band during the 52-minute set, with only a glancing nod at his eight solo records.
That nod came in the form the catchy "Days of Light," about Daltrey's brief stint as a working stiff, from "Rocks in The Head."
He also played a few covers, including an almost Celtic-sounding reading of Taj Mahal's "Freedom Ride," Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues" and "Gimme A Stone," a song written by The Hooters and sung by The Band's Levon Helm.
Among the other Who songs revisited by Daltrey were "Who Are You" and "Going Mobile" -- sung by the band's guitarist -- and "Baba O'Riley," the first song to get the sedate crowd onto its feet.
Supporting Daltrey was his current band, No Plan B, which features Townshend on guitar. In this case, however, that Townshend is Pete's younger brother, Simon.
The group also includes guitarist Frank Simes, bassist Jon Button (who has played with The Who), Loren Gold on keyboards and drummer Scott Devours.
Talkbacks
smcdowell13 | June 29, 2010 at 4:11 p.m. (report)
I'm 32 years old and have been a huge WHO fan for a long time. My husband and I bought tickets to this concert to see Roger Daltrey perform and I've got to say...the show was awesome. This is for all of those critics out there who think that Daltrey has lost his voice. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. His voice was strong. He interacted with the crowd. Cheers from the audience started from the beginning of the show to the end of his act. This was by far the BEST concert I have ever gone to! My hat's off to you, Mr. Roger Daltrey.
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Bobby | June 29, 2010 at 8:52 a.m. (report)
Thanks Dukefame for correcting me. Button played upright bass with The Who in some Super Bowl-related performances, but not on the actual show. As for A Flock of Seagulls, as far as I can tell Frank Maudsley was the bassist. I couldn't tell you, however, which spacecraft his then-hairstyle most resembled.
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dukefame | June 28, 2010 at 11:30 p.m. (report)
Pretty sure that was Pino Palladino on bass for the Who's set since the Ox died...but who was the bassist for Flock Of Seagulls?
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