The Who Should Retire

I watched the Super Bowl and looked forward to seeing The Who perform. The stage set was great, the fire works added to the spectacle but the main men Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend were adequate at best.  

At Live 8 in July 2005 The Who resurfaced to a worldwide audience and played a rousing set which had those in Hyde Park up and dancing.  A little over four years later under the Miami stars, the story has changed dramatically. Two late middle aged men play on past glories in front of another worldwide audience and fail miserable to deliver.

The problem for Roger and Pete is that interest alone is just seeing the ‘greatest band in the world’ is no longer enough, they have to perform and to the top of their game.  What we are left with is an embarrassment.  

Roger Daltrey can no longer hit the high notes that were so much part of The Who repertoire nor is he capable of leaping around the stage without looking like a grandpa on a night out at a karaoke.  Pete Townsend looked even worse.  His overuse of the famous windmill arm left him looking like a one trick pony.  His guitar playing was poor on the night and the few solos he had to play he messed up.

Image via Wikipedia

As if to emphasis that they were the elder statesmen of Rock, they were backed up by young enthusiastic band members who covered a multitude of their sins.  The drummer, and a fine drummer he is, might well have been chosen as a Keith Moon lookalike.  The bass player rightly made no attempt to take on the role of John Entwistle.    

Daltrey and Townshend sang rebellious teen songs that once had the ring of truth.  ’My Generation’ one of the great rock tunes of all time, wanted the world to recognise the power of youth and allow it to flourish.  It called on the Establishment to stop putting them down.  These elder statesmen would do well to listen to the words of their most famous song.

Bob Dylan’s voice has almost completely gone but he is capable of writing songs to suit it’s limited ability.  Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones wrote new material when they went on tour and did not relay solely on the oldies, Daltrey and Townshend cannot compete.

I thought it was a sad sight to see the once might group.  The once thumping voice of youth exposed as an aging twosome WHO should really know better.  As a stage, it does not get much better than the Super Bowl Show, so hopefully Roger Daltry and Pete Townshend will retire gracefully on a shaky high.