The Who farewell tour after more than 60 years is called “The Song Is Over” but of course, it never will be.
Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey have soldiered through 60 years or so together, losing bandmates Keith Moon and John Entwhistle long ago, and 30 year drummer Zach Starkey more recently in a public dust up.
They are 80 and 81 years old. Could they ever have imagined making it this far, to fill stadiums as they wave goodbye? But last night at Madison Square Garden, the duo — with a band that includes Townshend’s much young brother, Simon — pulled off a bravura that – for a rock band with a really big sound — was touching and intimate.
Last night’s success was a tribute to Townshend’s songs holding up all this time better than ever, and Daltrey’s theatricality and once soaring voice coming through in the pinch. By the the of the two hour, 20 minute show they looked tired, but never defeated.
“The Song is Over” show is smartly assembled of early 60s hits like “Substitute,” “I Can’t Explain,” and “My Generation,” then highlights their rock operas “Tommy” and “Quadrophenia.” Their tour de force, “Who’s Next,” from 1971, is still the show stopper, an album that grows and grows in legend and importance to the rock canon.
We did get one surprise song — “Long Live Rock,” an outlier — that they haven’t performed since 2014. Otherwise the show sticks with a carefully laid out set list that alternates so Daltrey can show off his sweet and powerful vocals, while Townshend — who’s also still singing — can do prove he’s one of the greatest guitarists ever.
The spotlight is on Daltrey, though. He moves tentatively on stage — who can blame him at 81? His voice is strong at the start, but loosens up as the evening proceeds, to the point where he’s stunning in the last third.
Last night he missed a couple of cues and forgot some words, but he was disarming about it and didn’t mind starting over. The audience loved that. Daltrey’s big moment comes in “Love Reign O’er Me” from “Quadrophenia,” that leaves no doubt of his legacy. How he did it remains one of the universe’s mysteries and gifts.
The joke about The Who, of course, is that they’ve had many ‘farewell tours’ over the years. But as Pete said last night, “We’ve played 36 shows here” — at Madison Square Garden — “and this is probably the last one.” I guess, probably is the word. I’d love to see a final Who show at the Metropolitan Opera House, where they reached glory in a 1970 performance of “Tommy” for 10 bucks a head.
Nineteen years ago, when The who could have ended, Townshend wrote a song called “Tea and Theater” that no one really notice. The men — who admit never really socialized off stage all these years — use it as their poignant spot on finale, just the two of them, in a send off that underscored their long, sometimes tenuous relationship. Yes there were wet eyes in the audience.
Will you have some tea
At the theater with me?
We did it all
Didn’t we?
Jumped every wall
Instinctively
Unraveled codes
Ingeniously
Wired all the roads
So seamlessly
We made it work
But one of us failed
That makes it so sad
A great dream derailed
One of us – gone
One of us – mad
One of us – me
All of us sad
All of us sad
Lean on my shoulder now
This story is done
It’s getting colder now
A thousand songs
Still smolder now
We play them as one
We’re older now
All of us sad
All of us free
Before we walk from this stage
Two of us
Will you have some tea
Will you have some tea
At the theater with me
