Set list
- I Can't Explain
- The Seeker
- Anyway Anyhow Anywhere
- Fragments
- Who Are You
- Behind Blue Eyes
- Real Good Looking Boy
- Sound Round
- Pick Up The Peace
- Endless Wire
- We Got A Hit
- They Made My Dream Come True
- Mirror Door
- Baba O'Riley
- Eminence Front
- A Man In A Purple Dress
- Black Widow's Eyes
- You Better You Bet
- My Generation
- Cry If You Want
- Won't Get Fooled Again
Encore
Line Up
Roger Daltrey: Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
Pete Townshend: Vocals, Guitar
John Bundrick: Piano, Keyboards
Pino Palladino: Bass
Zak Starkey: Drums
Simon Townshend: Backing Vocal, Guitar
Newspapers
The Who
Washington Post, 10.03.2007
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend still go by the Who, though cynics could dub the outfit that played at Verizon Center on Thursday the Why. More than any of its British Invasion comrad...
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Fanreports
Seth Davidson
A fine performance from our boys last night in the nation's capital. This was my first show since the early days of the tour back in September, and the most notable difference was simply the comfort level that the bandseems to have with performing this set list. This was one of the rare Who shows in my experience where neither Pete nor Roger seemed to have any complaints about the sound at any time. Of course, some Who fans are like NASCAR fans - happiest when a wreck occurs since that sometimes seems to inspire the band even more. Well, no wrecks tonight, but it didn't seem to weaken the performance. As per usual, we skipped the opener, and got to the arena during the break. Our seats, in the lower portion of Section 113 (side stage) were exactly what we wanted. We had plenty of room to dance and no one minded our standing the whole show. It was a bit weird not seeing some of the regulars - the Relayers and PsychoDerelicts that I've been attending shows with for years. The set list was pretty standard. We had hoped maybe to get Relay instead of YBYB, but that wasn't to be. We got BWE, but not MPT. But we did get Naked Eye, which was really what I was hoping for most of all. Pete was fairly chatty (moreso than he was a few days later in Long Island) and seemed to be in a pretty good mood. He made a few funny comments, including one about being glad he's not young and another one about the meaning of NE and how he wrote the good songs when he was younger. He does seem a bit unnecessarily apologetic about the new material. (After BOR he commented how that song always seems to "rally the troops" and offered a new explanation of the song - now he says it was inspired by all the trash left after the Isle of Wight festival; of course last week, I think he said it was about nothing!). As for windmills and jumps, Pete gave us plenty of them. Roger was in very good voice, IMO, and compared to last fall when he was having shoulder difficulties, he was able to swing the mike quite well, although he saved most of that for the final numbers and encore. We got a multiple Birdman from Pete during Sparks, which was great. I like a lot of the video material projected behind the ban, but was not knocked out by the stuff added since the fall (particularly the stick figure drawings during Wire and Glass). And I wish they would drop having any video on during Tea and Theater - the focus should be on Pete and Roger and nowhere else. DC crowds are famously blase, known for sitting on their hands. And while DC was a very good Who town back in the 70s, more recent shows have not drawn that well. (Back in Nov 1996 the "TED" show ticket sales were so poor that the box office began offering seats for $5 for every full price ticket purchased!) But this crowd -- and the show seemed to be a virtual sellout and tickets were not easily found on the street from what I heard -- was very enthusiastic during the classics and respectful during the new material. The response to BOR was loud and long, while at the other end of the spectrum, I was impressed at how quiet and attentive the audience was during Tea and Theater.
Marc Starcke
Saw The Who in the heart of D.C. for the first time. Also this was the first time me and my brother saw snow since we moved from New York 30 years ago. We saw snowflakes falling on the way in and snow on the ground everywhere. "Snowflakes falling"! The song was fitting tonight. But first there was the explosive versions of ICE and AAA, which Pete just crunched and windmilled on with venom and energy that got the Verizon center crowd going early on. Back to Fragments. I always love this song live and this is the one I dedicated to the rest of the night - which was followed by a ferocious WAY, with Roger sounding more powerful than usual on the vocals. Pete windmilled and jumped alot - so by this time I was pumped up and doing my leaps from my seat! I am glad they did "Real Good Looking Boy". Sometimes I feel like that could do an older classic instead of this one, but every time I hear it live, I love it! Especially since Rabbit is back on the keyboards, he really is heard up front on this one. I always love the miniopera, and Roger continued with his excellence on vocals on this night, as he would in Borgata and Nassau. I love during MG how Pete sings (during CIYW refrain) "You can pay me, you can pay me in advance, and then you can cry if you want". F*cking hilarious. Then "fuck 'em"!!! And a Pete gone wild on guitar! Pete comes all the way behind Roger and faced Zak while doing a frenzied guitar solo as Zak kept up with his fast and relentless drumming, all the while he's making eye contact with Pete.This went on for about a minute! Pete then comes to the edge of the stage and does that thing where he mouths to the crowd and then points at himself, and he is off to the frenzied guitar soloing again!! Incredible! WGFA as great as ever, with Roger's scream spot on and Pete's extended solos, windmills and leaps fantastic! The really great moment at the show for me was seeing "Naked Eye" for the first time in many years. I thought Pete's guitar lines were similar to the record at times, which sent chills up my spine. The highlight of the night! On "Amazing Journey", Pete did the longest birdman pose ever - I timed it at 10 seconds. He starts it off with crashing a windmill down on the strings and then the pose, then another ferocious windmill and then another birdman pose - this one was real brief -and then he goes wild on some great soloing. Into "Sparks" with more great guitar work and interacting with Zak's amazing drumming and Pino's excellent bass work. It was great to see a sellout or almost sellout crowd in D.C., since that's all we talked about prior to the show was how it was a mystery how the last few "area" shows hadn't sold well. As mentioned it was my brother and I's first trip to this area, and the historic sites all around us were fantastic. The Whitehouse, the Monument, Vietnam and other war memorials. Secret service and government police. Museums, historic hotels, etc, etc. A great night in D.C.!