{"id":154222,"date":"2025-08-17T22:56:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T22:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/154222\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T22:56:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T22:56:11","slug":"the-who-kick-off-north-american-farewell-tour-with-energetic-set-featuring-first-ever-live-performance-of-a-1970s-gem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/154222\/","title":{"rendered":"The Who Kick Off North American Farewell Tour With Energetic Set Featuring First-Ever Live Performance of a 1970s Gem"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Who<\/a> launched what founding bandmates Roger Daltrey<\/a> and Pete Townshend<\/a> have insisted will be the group\u2019s final North American tour on Saturday, August 16, at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida. The trek, dubbed The Song Is Over: The North American Farewell Tour, features 17 confirmed shows, plotted out through a September 28 performance in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

As seen in fan-shot footage<\/a>, the concert began with a video montage feature archival film clips and audio snippets from interviews with The Who\u2019s members over the years.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Roger Daltrey Expresses Concerns About Completing The Who Tour]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The band kicked off the show with two classic early tunes, \u201cI Can\u2019t Explain\u201d and \u201cSubstitute.\u201d Before the next song, \u201cThe Seeker,\u201d Townshend addressed the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so great you\u2019ve all come out to see us this one last time,\u201d Pete said. He then quipped, \u201cIf any of you\u2019ve got very, very, very deep pockets, Roger and I are always available for private parties! Seriously, it\u2019s great to be here. We\u2019re so pleased to see you all come out.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a USA Today review<\/a>, Daltrey struggled with voice issues and technical glitches at various points during the show, but also delivered powerful vocal performances on many songs.<\/p>\n

More About The Who\u2019s Tour Kickoff<\/p>\n

The set was made up predominately of The Who\u2019s best-known and most-popular tunes, although the rock legends did dig into their catalog for a few deep cuts.<\/p>\n

The show included blocks of four songs and five songs, respectively, from the band\u2019s classic albums Who\u2019s Next and Quadrophenia.<\/p>\n

The Who\u2019s Next mini set featured \u201cBargain,\u201d \u201cLove Ain\u2019t for Keeping,\u201d \u201cBehind Blue Eyes,\u201d and \u201cGoing Mobile.\u201d This marked the first time The Who had ever performed \u201cGoing Mobile\u201d in concert. Longtime Who touring guitarist\/backing singer Simon Townshend handled lead vocal duties on the song, which originally was sung by his brother Pete. Simon also has actually sung the tune more than 100 times at Daltrey\u2019s solo shows.<\/p>\n

The Who followed that segment with \u201cPinball Wizard\u201d and \u201cSee Me, Feel Me,\u201d from the landmark 1969 rock opera Tommy.<\/p>\n

The Quadrophenia mini set featured the songs \u201cThe Real Me,\u201d \u201cI\u2019ve Had Enough,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m One,\u201d \u201c5:15,\u201d and \u201cLove, Reign O\u2019er Me.\u201d USA Today reported that \u201cLove, Reign O\u2019er Me\u201d featured one of Daltrey\u2019s best vocals of the evening. You can check out fan-shot video<\/a> of the performance on YouTube.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Daltrey addressed some of the concert\u2019s rough edges when a technical issue led to a pause at the start of \u201cYou Better You Bet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never remember the perfect show,\u201d the 81-year-old frontman said. \u201cYou remember the f***-ups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, no Who concert would be complete without the Who\u2019s Next anthems \u201cBaba O\u2019Riley\u201d and \u201cWon\u2019t Get Fooled Again.\u201d Those tunes were played near the end of the show.<\/p>\n

About The Who\u2019s New Touring Drummer, Scott Devours<\/p>\n

The August 16 show was The Who\u2019s first U.S. concert since officially hiring Scott Devours as its touring drummer. Earlier this year, the band created much drama when it was announced that Devours was replacing the group\u2019s much-beloved longtime touring drummer, Zak Starkey.<\/p>\n

Devours has been the drummer of Daltrey\u2019s solo band since 2009. Scott also filled in for Starkey several times in 2013 when Zak was dealing with a tendon issue.<\/p>\n

While the band was being introduced on August 16, Townshend joked about Devours, \u201cI have no idea who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Show\u2019s Finale<\/p>\n

The concert ended with The Who\u2019s first-ever U.S. performance of the Who\u2019s Next track \u201cThe Song Is Over.\u201d The band first played the tune live on March 30 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which was Starkey\u2019s last show with the group. During the Royal Albert Hall performance, Daltrey struggled to begin the tune, and complained about Zak\u2019s drumming. It\u2019s believed that that incident was a factor in Starkey\u2019s ouster from the band.<\/p>\n

The Who has since played \u201cThe Song Is Over\u201d at its two shows in Italy in July, with Devours drumming.<\/p>\n

The Who farewell tour continues on Tuesday, August 19, in Newark, New Jersey. Check out all their scheduled shows at TheWho.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Who\u2019s Set List, Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, FL \u2013 8\/16\/2025:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cI Can\u2019t Explain\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cSubstitute\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cWho Are You\u201d<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cThe Seeker\u201d<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cI Can See for Miles\u201d<\/li>\n
  6. \u201cBargain\u201d<\/li>\n
  7. \u201cLove Ain\u2019t for Keepin\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n
  8. \u201cBehind Blue Eyes\u201d<\/li>\n
  9. \u201cGoing Mobile\u201d<\/li>\n
  10. \u201cPinball Wizard\u201d<\/li>\n
  11. \u201cSee Me, Feel Me\u201d<\/li>\n
  12. \u201cEminence Front\u201d<\/li>\n
  13. \u201cMy Generation\u201d<\/li>\n
  14. \u201cYou Better You Bet\u201d<\/li>\n
  15. \u201cThe Real Me\u201d<\/li>\n
  16. \u201cI\u2019ve Had Enough\u201d<\/li>\n
  17. \u201cI\u2019m One\u201d<\/li>\n
  18. \u201c5:15\u201d<\/li>\n
  19. \u201cLove, Reign O\u2019er Me\u201d<\/li>\n
  20. \u201cBaba O\u2019Riley\u201d<\/li>\n
  21. \u201cWon\u2019t Get Fooled Again\u201d<\/li>\n
  22. \u201cTea & Theatre\u201d<\/li>\n
  23. \u201cThe Song Is Over\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    (Photo by Sergione Infuso\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Who launched what founding bandmates Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend have insisted will be the group\u2019s final…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":154223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[976,171,56398,975,35300,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-154222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-classic-rock","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-farewell-tour","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-the-who","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}