Roger Daltrey, the former front-man of one of the all-time greatest rock bands in the world, The Who, still had it in him for a 2 hour+ show in Trieste, Italy. Old rockers never died, they just keep knocking the socks off of rock&roll aficionados out there! That was indeed the case for Roger Daltrey—at 68 years old and still in splendid shape—the former singer of one of the all-time great rock bands in the world, regular “Chernobyls” of rock music, The Who (memorable was how guitarist Pete Townshend would destroy on stage his guitars or how the late, great drummer Keith Moon would do the same with his drum kit, and the odd hotel rooms too)!
Indeed a treat for this correspondent as he saw The Who way back in 1977 in Canada and then again in an epic performance in 2007 in Verona’s Arena with Pete Townshend by Daltrey’s side and Zak Starkey on drums (n.b. Zak is Ringo Starr’s son. He once said that he never thought that his old man was a great drummer, but instead admired Keith Moon. And there he was that night sitting right in Moon’s place!).
Crisis, so what crisis? Tickets were a whopping 115.00 Euros, and yet die-hard Who fans were on hand to watch this great artist perform for more than 2 hours, dividing his great show into two parts: part one were songs dedicated to The Who’s epic “Tommy” rock opera while part two included some golden oldies from Daltrey’s old band (see below for set-list details).
No Moon, Townshend or Entwistle to back Roger this time, but a great five-piece band which also included on guitar a fellow by the name of Simon Townshend, yes indeed, Pete’s brother (same voice and almost same looks as brother Pete too). Another great treat for all those present at Trieste’s wonderful “Rossetti” Theater!
Not a quitter by any means (that evening in Verona a major thunderstorm hit the outdoor arena. The concert was suspended for 1 hour. In the meantime, Roger’s vocal chords gave up on him because of the cold and humidity. For the rest of the show he had basically lost his voice, but as Freddie (Mercury) once sang, “The show must go on”!, and Daltrey managed to sing, whatever he had left in his throat, right to the very end of the show with The Who’s greatest song, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”!), Daltrey, moved by the fans’ affection, left them with a small romantic song on, of all things, a small ukulele. Kind of funny as at one point he even forgot the words to the final song, but we forgave him as he was very, very "simpatico"!!!!!!
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