While the gutter media are still delighted to be getting their clicks through the Who / Zak Starkey charade afforded from their recent Albert Hall show, frontman Roger Daltrey got his spring solo tour underway which rolled into Wolverhampton on Thursday evening. The 110 minute set allowed Daltrey to revisit choice cuts from his solo career and Who classics alongside some covers of songs that hold special meaning to him.
Pete Townshend’s ‘Let My Love Open The Door’ opened the show and Roger explained how he always wished that that had been a Who song. After Taj Mahal’s ‘Freedom Ride’ there’s another couple of Who numbers in ‘Who Are You’ and the less obvious ‘Another Tricky Day’. Roger was in a relaxed mood and chatted at length giving some insight between the songs. Before ‘Giving It All Away’ he spoke about how he came to meet Leo Sayer when he was starting out while recording at Roger’s studio and in turn ended up writing several songs for him. He told of his admiration for Paul Simon and how he recorded and released his Graceland album and how much good music can do in instigating change before covering ‘The Boy In The Bubble’.
At 81, Roger is now going deaf and blind, but neither of those seem to be holding him back too much. His voice is still in remarkable shape and while he deferred the scream on ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ to the audience, elsewhere he handled everything from the power of ‘After The Fire’, the whimsy of ‘Squeeze box’ and the gentle ‘Without Your Love’ with aplomb. ‘Don’t retire…’ is the advice he gives ‘…it’s boring’. Playing with his mates it seems is much more fun than afternoon tea and visits to the garden centre, and what a band he has. Simon Townshend, who he refers to as his brother as well as Pete’s is upfront and gets to sing lead on ‘Going Mobile’. Katie Jacoby will be a familiar face too and her playing on ‘Baba O’Riley’ was nothing short of exceptional.
After the main set Roger returned to the stage alone and with acoustic guitar and was confronted by an over enthusiastic fan demanding he play ‘Pinball Wizard’. Even after he told her shut the fuck up it still took a while for her to relent and allow him to play a cover of the Kink’s ‘Days’.
In the strange world of the internet it seems that there’s never a post without some tiresome keyboard oaf commenting its time to hang up the mic. On the basis of this show, they’ll still have plenty of opportunity to moan from behind their keyboards as Roger shows no signs of slowing down and continues to have an enormous amount of fun on stage and leaving capacity audiences having had a thoroughly enjoyable night.
