While the success of the Piece Hall means you’re increasingly likely to see a bone fide rock ‘n’ roll legend in Halifax during the summer these days, they don’t come much bigger than The Who front man Roger Daltrey.
As a man that’s reached the pinnacle of his chosen musical genre, you might wonder why The Who’s frontman is out on the road these days, especially given the band had just done two sold out shows at the Royal Albert Hall. It’s clearly not for the money – there’s no band merch tonight – so it can only be for the love of performing.
Into his 9th decade, Daltrey somewhat shuffles toward centre stage as he waves and salutes the all-seated crowd, in a simple blue sweatshirt and jeans. As the music starts though, you can see that he is still doing this for fun. The legendary performer just loves performing.
The set kicks off with a nod to Pete Townshend, covering his solo tune Let My Love Open the Door, before a brilliant version of The Who classic Who Are You? Daltrey’s voice is strong, and backed by his 8 piece band, sounds incredible with the 4 part harmonies soaring along in the background.
Daltery’s having fun from the off, very relaxed and chatty on stage. His guitar tech Clive “Binky” Brinkworth gets name-checked several times, especially as he comes to help Daltrey pick up his stool so he can sit to play his acoustic guitar. It’s another sign that the veteran rocker has brought his friends on tour to make sure they have a good time.
The evening is peppered with engaging stories behind the songs, and reminiscence of those people Daltrey has met along his six-decade musical career. From John Fogarty to Paul Simon and Billy Nicholls (who is part of the band tonight), there’s love and respect behind each well chosen cover that appears in the set.
He delivers a great version of Boy In The Bubble by Simon, with an acknowledgment of all that the American songwriter has done to further the cause of world music in “The West”. Before singing the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic Have You Ever Seen The Rain, we’re implored to see John Fogarty, should we ever get the chance.
Of course, there’s space for a good selection from The Who’s extensive back catalogue, going back to The Kids Are Alright, Going Mobile (with Simon Townshend on lead vocal) and Substitute. While introducing Won’t Get Fooled Again, Daltrey tells of his mild regret for having included one of the “biggest screams in the history of rock.”
Asking for help to hit that classic note, he finds a very willing audience, led by those who have, by now, vacated their seats and made their way to the barrier, turning this into more of a rock show than “An Audience With…”.
The security begin a futile attempt to return the fans to a sedentary position but Daltrey won’t hear of it and calls off the guards so the crowd can now sing and dance freely to the end of the show.
The Piece Hall erupts to the opening chords of Baba O’Riley and although there are a couple more songs to close out the night, it already feels like the crowd have got exactly what they came for.
Someone once told me that there are 3 ways to think about age:
Your chronological age. your physical age and your emotional, psychological age. Daltrey has proved that, he is a legend, in his element, enjoying the thrill of performing, age is simply a number.
