Sir Roger Daltrey brought more than six decades of rock history to Long Island on Friday, October 2, as the legendary voice of The Who took the stage at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts for a stop on his A Great Night Out! tour.
Rather than trying to recreate the massive sound and spectacle of a Who concert, Daltrey’s solo show offered something different. Backed by a nine-piece band, the 82-year-old singer mixed Who classics with selections from his solo career, unexpected covers and plenty of stories from a lifetime spent in rock and roll.
Amy Helm opened the evening before Daltrey and his band took over the Concert Hall.
Daltrey opened with Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open the Door,” followed by “Freedom Ride,” before reaching into The Who catalog for “Who Are You” and “Substitute.” From there, the set moved freely between his own material, Who favorites and songs by artists ranging from Paul Simon and Creedence Clearwater Revival to Johnny Nash and Neil Young.
Some of the most memorable moments came between the songs, as Daltrey regularly stopped to share stories from his career and explain the music he had chosen for the night.
One took the audience all the way back to 1964, when Daltrey and his band, then known as The High Numbers, opened for The Beatles in Blackpool. Daltrey recalled going to retrieve the band’s van and finding himself surrounded by a group of excited young female fans, leading to a humorous misunderstanding when a police officer arrived and initially thought Daltrey was the one causing the trouble.
Before performing Paul Simon’s “The Boy in the Bubble,” Daltrey spoke about his admiration for Simon and the risks he took while making Graceland. Simon traveled to South Africa during the apartheid era to record with South African musicians, a decision that drew considerable criticism at the time. Daltrey praised the music that came out of those collaborations, calling Graceland one of the best albums of the 1980s and crediting Simon with helping bring the South African musicians and their music to audiences around the world. The story led directly into Daltrey and his band’s rendition of “The Boy in the Bubble.”
Daltrey also had some fun before “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” telling the crowd that he has officially retired from performing the song’s famous scream after more than 50 years. Instead, he handed that particular job over to the Tilles Center audience.
The stories added to the relaxed nature of a show that was noticeably different from a traditional Who concert. Daltrey wasn’t interested in simply recreating the past, instead reshaping the music and allowing the arrangements to breathe.
The band was a major part of making that possible, with Simon Townshend on guitar, Billy Nicholls on mandolin, Jody Linscott on percussion, Doug Boyle on guitar, John Hogg on bass, Katie Jacoby on violin, Steve Weston on harmonica, Geraint Watkins on keyboards and accordion, and Scott Devours on drums.
The instrumentation allowed songs that have been heard thousands of times to take on a different character, with Daltrey explaining that the band’s freedom from prerecorded tracks allowed them to shorten, extend and reshape songs from night to night. That freedom was at the heart of A Great Night Out! — not simply a greatest-hits set, but a mix of Who classics, solo material, covers and stories, all centered around the unmistakable voice of Roger Daltrey.
The latter portion of the night continued to show the range of the set, moving through Garnet Mimms’ “As Long as I Have You,” Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” and Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now.” Simon Townshend also stepped into the spotlight for lead vocals on The Who’s “Going Mobile.”
Daltrey eventually returned to one of The Who’s defining songs with “Baba O’Riley,” with Jacoby’s violin bringing another dimension to the classic. Rather than ending there, the band closed the night with Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” putting an energetic finish on a show that had spent the evening moving between Daltrey’s own history and the music that influenced him along the way.
More than 60 years after The Who first began making its mark, Daltrey spent Friday night at Tilles Center doing more than revisiting the past. He invited the audience into it — telling stories, changing arrangements and finding new ways to perform music that has followed him for most of his life.
Setlist: Let My Love Open the Door • Freedom Ride • Who Are You • Substitute • Happy Birthday to You • Waiting for a Friend • After the Fire • Days of Light • Giving It All Away • The Boy in the Bubble • Squeeze Box • Won’t Get Fooled Again • Going Mobile • As Long as I Have You • Have You Ever Seen the Rain? • I Can See Clearly Now • Without Your Love • Baba O’Riley • Rockin’ in the Free World
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