“The Who Hits Back” at the United Center
On Wednesday night, legendary rockers, The Who, performed at Chicago's United Center. It was the latest stop on their “The Who Hits Back” tour. If you were expecting the same band you saw in the 1960s-70s, you didn't get that, but that's not a bad thing.
The original four-piece band has been a twosome of Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey for the last two decades. If they wanted to continue to play as a group, new musicians were needed. So they added touring players which included Pete’s brother Simon, drummer Zak Starkey and a dedicated string section. In each city on this tour, they commission an orchestra that gives them a full, rich sound.
Those are the tour basics, but how did it go on Wednesday night?
The opening set begins with a series of six songs from the rock opera album “Tommy.” They followed up with Who classics “Who Are You” and “Eminence Front.” It was a spectacular start.
The orchestra then takes a break and leaves the band to play some songs on their own. For a few songs, there was a lull in the energy of the show. But, the band recovered with a rousing powerful version of “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, followed by a semi-acoustic version of “Behind Blue Eyes,” both from the great “Who’s Next” album.
The orchestra returned for the closing set of a fivesome of tunes from “Quadrophenia.” The concert ended with the classic crowd favorite “Baba O'Reilly.”
With every concert, there are highs and lows. This one was no different. Let's start with the lows…and there weren't many.
Daltrey’s voice occasionally broke. At age seventy-eight, it's to be expected. He recovered quickly, but it was noticeable and it also has been mentioned at other stops on the tour.
The only other low was the sound of some of the acoustic music was scratchy. It’s the U.C., not the Opera House, so it's expected.
The two complaints are minor and take away little from so many great moments of more than two hours of music. They include:
The orchestra was wonderful. How they find musicians in each city that have never played this music and seamlessly blend them together to sound as if they've been together for years is beyond me.
Zak Starkey is a phenomenal drummer. Yeah, he's not Keith Moon, but he doesn't have to be. By the way, can you believe Zak is now fifty-seven years old and is a grandfather? Wasn't it yesterday that Ringo became a dad?
Violinist Katie Jacoby took center stage with her solo on “Baba O'Reilly.” It's an iconic piece of music and she made the classic ending her own. You couldn't ask for a better way to close the show.
I love that Pete and Roger are still doing their schtick with the swinging microphone and the windmill guitar strokes. It's not as intense as it was fifty years ago, but it's cool that it’s still part of the act.
It was a wonderful night of music and memories with one of the greatest bands in the history of rock music. Pete Townshend told the audience that he loves Chicago and hopes to get back again. Pete, your fans hope so, too. We can't wait for the next time.