Ted Shaw
The old kids are all right, too. Roger Daltrey brought a rejuvenated version of The Who's Tommy, plus a selection of other songs, to a packed Caesars Windsor Colosseum on Saturday, singing the music of the late-1960s generation.
It's a safe bet that many of those in the audience have kids the same age, or even older, than they were when they first heard this music.
The 67-year-old Daltrey has dusted off Tommy as a vehicle for his new touring band, No Plan B. The band features vocals and guitar by Simon Townshend, the younger brother of Daltrey's old Who mate, Pete Townshend.
The similarity in the Townshend brothers' voices and style of playing adds to the illusion. Simon Townshend provides a seamless transition from Pete's participation on Tommy, as well as the later hit, Going Mobile.
He even imitated Pete's famous windmill playing style at one point during Tommy.
The band wasted little time launching into Tommy once the house lights went down. With no fanfare, the opening chords of Overture drew cheers of approval from the audience.
No Plan B has been touring for a couple of years now, so Daltrey must have figured they were primed and ready to tackle the famous rock opera.
Tommy was released on a double album in 1969, but apart from a single Who tour in 1970 (which included Detroit's Grande Ballroom) and a handful of other occasions, the entire piece was never played by the band.
Even when it was performed, a few songs were left out, like Cousin Kevin and Welcome.
The only piece missing from Saturday's revival was the 12-minute instrumental, Underture, and for good reason. The long-winded track would have drained some of the energy from the show.
The rest, however, remained in all of its bombastic yet never short of electrifying intensity.
The performance was aided by animation on the large screens at the back and beside the stage. The images filled in some of the more obscure thematic elements of the piece.
Daltrey has undergone surgery on his throat in recent times, but the voice showed little strain. If anything the monstrous growl in Fiddle About suited the song about the abusive Uncle Ernie.
Townshend chipped in The Acid Queen, and he and fellow lead guitarist, Frank Simes, contributed the blazing, double assault in Pinball Wizard.
Simes was also featured in Sensation and We're Not Gonna Take It.
For the finale, See Me Feel Me/Listening to You, Daltrey encouraged the audience to sing along, which they did gladly.
The rest of the nearly twoand-a-half hour concert featured a mix of Who and Daltrey solo songs, along with a wonderful acoustic medley of Johnny Cash songs. Cash, Daltrey revealed, was an early influence on his singing style.
Of the non-Tommy songs, the most intense and satisfying were Young Man Blues, I Can See For Miles and Behind Blue Eyes. Daltrey also strapped on a ukulele to sing Blue, Red and Grey, from The Who By Numbers album, a song originally performed Townshend.
