Artist: The Who
Venue: Derby, Incora County Ground
Date: 14 July 2023
They then got down to business with Daltrey swinging the microphone at a very early stage, and not always successfully as, at one point, it wrapped round his body coming to a stop with a resounding thud.
Right. First things first. After walking what seemed like ten miles from the car park to the box office, and leaving my partner somewhere in the middle as she was having great trouble walking (she has a condition, and it’s not alcoholism (but inebriation will get a mention later)), I was somewhat unhappy to be told that there was no photo pass, despite having had an email confirmation of such that very morning. This did not bode well for the guy in the kiosk telling me this as, near to boiling point, it was the second time it had happened to me in four days, the first time being the Hollywood Vampires show at Birmingham the previous Tuesday. Rock and Roll is no breeze folks.
So. I eventually sorted it, got in, and asked where I needed to go as I had the cameras. The first person pointed to the second person, the second person looked like I had asked him how to defuse a nuclear missile and the third person, the supervisor, got on the radio to ask, and the answer came back “Oh, we haven’t come across this before”, after which the supervisor took a photo of the pass to send to the controller. It was… like Thomas The Tank Engine, only TTTE is much more organised. I was then put back with the second person, as the supervisor had to go, and after a while he suggested I just go in as “I probably know what I’m doing”. Well yes, but I still don’t know where to go. I mentioned that I needed to get there quickly, as I would miss the support band UB40, who I understood were on at 19.30. The guy looked at me and said “No, they are on now, started at 19.00”. I could see no light from the stage, but yes, they were indeed already on, and I did wonder why they would be playing their music on the tannoy before the show. Consequently, I was not able to write about them, other than to say that what I did hear (and I did wonder when I heard ‘Purple Rain’ among the UB40 regulars), sounded quite good because, come on, if you’re old enough you have heard most of the stuff, and even though it wasn’t really my thing, I appreciate when a band puts the effort in, and Ali Campbell still has a decent voice.
Set List (or what I actually heard of it): Purple Rain (Prince), Many Rivers To Cross, Red Red Wine, Kingston Town, Can’t Help Falling In Love (Elvis).
The Who were on at 20.30, and I struggled to understand why it had been twenty-three years since I last saw them, before Roger Daltrey had white hair, and Pete Townsend still had some. I was also unaware, until they came on, that there was an orchestra to play behind them. I knew they had done this before, and I was looking forward to it even more now. Daltrey looked suitably cool walking on with a mug (of tea?) in hand and his open neck white shirt, while Townsend came on wearing a jacket with red scarf and beanie, walking straight to the microphone to tell the crowd that they had managed to stop the rain and thank them for coming, before donning his guitar. They then got down to business with Daltrey swinging the microphone at a very early stage, and not always successfully as, at one point, it wrapped round his body coming to a stop with a resounding thud.
And it still amazes me why people go to concerts only to talk all the way through it, which was the case with people behind us. Why don’t they stay at home and natter away, not annoying people near them who want to hear the music. We had three crowd favourites, ‘The Acid Queen’, ‘Pinball Wizard’ and Daltrey asked the question “who are you?” before starting that very song. The Heart Of England Philharmonic Orchestra then left the stage as the band continued with what Pete Townsend referred to as “This old crap”, on more than one occasion, which included ‘The Kids Are Alright’, ‘You Better, You Bet’, ‘Substitute’, ‘I Can't Explain’, ‘My Generation’, ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, and ‘Behind Blue Eyes’, one of my all-time favourites made even more impressive with the accompaniment of Katie Jacoby on violin and cellist Audrey Snyder.
The orchestra then returned for excerpts from ‘Quadraphenia’ with ‘The Real Me’, ‘I'm One’, ‘5:15’, ‘The Rock’, which was particularly moving as the two screens on either side of the stage showed pictures and footage of particular moments in history; the crowd applauding when Keith Moon and John Entwistle came on ‘Love Reign O’er Me’, (during which Mr Daltrey once again spun his microphone, but was this time successful), and ‘Baba O’Riley’, which was superb, not least because of the violin section near the end which was nailed completely by Katie Jacoby. For the last number, the last surviving members of one of this country’s iconic bands discussed if they could do another one and came up with a shortened version (about a minute or two at the most) of ‘Tea And Theatre’, Daltrey retrieving his mug, and both thanking people once again for attending.
As mentioned, it had been twenty-three years since I had seen The Who, and I have seen some uncomplimentary reviews of the show, which I think are very unfair. As Townsend was keen to point out, he is now seventy-eight years old, and even keener to say he was younger than Daltrey, and it’s hard to believe anyone expects guitar smashing and running around like they used to, but obviously some people do. I thought the set they played was well balanced, and gave any Who fan precisely what they wanted. Good on ‘em.
Review: Andy B./Lou C. Photos: Andy B.
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