The Who Concert Guide

The Who officially kicked of its 50th anniversary tour on Sunday night (November 23rd) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates at the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The band, led by surviving members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, played a solid 18-song set, with several songs finding their way back into the Who's regular setlist after a number of years being sidelined: "Substitute," "I Can See For Miles," and "Squeeze Box."

Roger Daltrey told the local Abu Dhabi paper The National, “This is what we like. We have been doing this for a long time and to play in a totally new place and to a new audience is absolutely wonderful. We do have a certain amount of regrets and we do feel like we should have visited a few places a long time ago. It is just that Pete (Townshend) was never keen on touring. But now that the sands of time are ticking down, he seems to be more keen than ever.”

Daltrey went on to explain that he was happy to finally play the region, saying: “I do have a lot of Arab and expat friends living there. I am looking forward to just being there and spending some time with them. And I am also looking forward to drive some of your fast cars.”

One of the highlights of last night's show was the 1975 The Who By Numbers surprise hit "Squeeze Box." Although Roger Daltrey has performed the tune numerous times on his own over the years, the Who has made a concerted effort to keep the song out of its setlists since 1982. We caught up with Daltrey a while back, and he made no apologies for the song being one of the band's more commercial tracks: "We just did it as a piece of fun -- and that's probably why it's gonna be in my show (laughs)! It's just so quirky, and it just gives you kind of a slight insight into Pete's humor, y'know? At the time it was kind of tongue-in-cheek, a bit. We were very proud of our pop history. We're a pop group. We're a rock group now -- but we started as a pop group, and there's nothing wrong with pop. Pop's got a very valuable place in music history. And a three-minute single, they're all gems, usually, and they still stand up. A good song, is a good song, is a good song."

Pete Townshend has never been one to rest on his laurels, jumping head first into new and challenging musical, film and theatrical projects. He's amazed at how much slack rock fans seem to give their heroes once they hit a certain age: "I think one of the things that aging rock stars are doing at the moment is waiting to see what happens next. And I think the public seems to be quite patient to wait with them, and I can't, I can't understand why. I can't understand why anybody is so patient to watch a clock go by."

The Who next perform on November 30th in Glasgow, Scotland.