Music Was Hot, Weather Was Not as The Who Rock Tinley Park

by Julian Spivey

“And if I shiver please give me a blanket/Keep me warm let me wear your coat"

Of all the excellent lyrics and terrific guitar licks in The Who’s set list at their Hollywood Casino Amphitheater performance in Tinley Park, Ill. in the Chicago area on Tuesday, May 21 it was this line delivered by vocalist Roger Daltrey during the performance of “Behind Blue Eyes,” one of my favorite Who songs, that stuck out most vividly during the show. It was freakin’ cold! It may have been late May, but it sure as Hell didn’t feel like it with temperatures in the low 50s with a wind chill in the mid-to-high 40s that had people bundled up like it was wintertime all over again. But, despite the chilly weather the band was as good as I could’ve ever hoped for – which is saying a lot for a couple of guys in their mid-70s who’ve been rocking people’s ears off for 55 years.
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The Who’s Moving On! tour is notable for the fact that the classic rock band from London, England is being joined on the road by a complete orchestra. I kind of expected the orchestra to play a bigger role than it turned out to play during the show, which isn’t a problem for me. Having never seen The Who and having always wanted to I had a small concern that the orchestra might change the way the music was heard, and it didn’t. This was still great rock music and the orchestra just added a nice touch to the music.

I knew from keeping up with tour setlists before attending Tuesday night’s show that a lot of the show would consist of the two critically-acclaimed rock operas written by Pete Townshend – 1969’s Tommy, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of its release two days after the concert, and 1973’s Quadrophenia. I’ve always been mostly a “greatest hits” fan of The Who, so the was also a slight concern I had going into the Tinley Park show … it turned out to be an unnecessary concern. Sure, it would’ve been great to have heard “Squeeze Box,” “I Can See For Miles” and especially “My Generation,” but it just worked hearing excerpts from Tommy and Quadrophenia played together as mini versions of rock operas with the orchestra.

Of course, it was “the hits” from these mini-rock operas that I loved the most from the performance on Tuesday night – “Pinball Wizard,” during the Tommy section that kicked off the show, and “Love, Reign O’er Me” during the Quadrophenia portion at the end of the concert. Hearing Daltrey perform “Love, Reign O’er Me” live was truly something. The 75-year old vocalist sounds incredible to this day, especially when shouting that final “love!!” during the performance.

After the Tommy section, Townshend took some time to thank the fans freezing their butts off for indulging the group in the performance and mentioned an upcoming release featuring Daltrey’s performance overseas of Tommy with an orchestra (sans Townshend and the rest of the group) before the band launched into the song that typically begins their shows “Who Are You,” their 1978 hit off the album of the same name. It was one of their best performances of the night and truly got the crowd completely into the show and moving around a bit.

Townshend and Daltrey are, of course, the only living members of the original lineup of The Who. Townshend’s younger brother, Simon, has toured with the band off and on over the last few years and is back with them proving rhythmic and acoustic guitar, as well as backing vocals. Zak Starkey, who is the son of the legendary Ringo Starr, has been The Who’s full-time drummer since 1996. The band is also joined on the tour by bassist Jon Button, the new guy among the group.

The mid-section of the show, as has been the case on the entire tour, sees the orchestra take a break and gives The Who the chance to show off some of their most memorable tracks of their legendary career. This is the portion of the show that sees the group alternate different songs depending on the night and on this night performed “The Kids Are Alright” and “The Seeker.”

My favorite Who song is 1971’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” which has been played solely and acoustically by Townshend and Daltrey on the tour, which gives the performance a nice intimate feel. The fact that it’s followed by my second all-time favorite Who song, “Behind Blue Eyes,” which sees the string section from the orchestra accompanying it, made this one-two punch of performances easily my favorite moments of the entire night.

The most recent song performed on the night was the intimate “Tea & Theatre” off the band’s most recent album 2006’s Endless Wire, the only album the band has released since the early ‘80s. It serves as a nice thank you to the group’s loyal fanbase before turning up the sound once again and being rejoined by the full orchestra for the Quadrophenia segment of the show that winds it down.

After the seven performances from Quadrophenia, wrapped up by the amazing aforementioned performance of “Love, Reign O’er Me,” came maybe the song the group is most associated with to wrap up the cold, but terrific night of music – “Baba O’Riley.” The song featured a fantastic violin solo by Katie Jacoby and served as a reminder that it might be the finest violin solo in the history of rock music.

It was truly an honor seeing The Who perform live, I just wish the weather conditions had been a bit more comfortable but hearing Daltrey’s still stellar pipes and getting to see Townshend’s trademark windmill guitar playing in person is something I’m never going to forget.  

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