The Who at Madison Square Garden

Vocalist Roger Daltrey formed his first band, the Detours, in 1959 in London, England. Daltrey met John Entwistle by chance on the street carrying a bass and recruited him into the Detours. In mid-1961, Entwistle suggested Pete Townshend as a guitarist. The band became the Who in 1964, and after a few personnel changes recruited drummer Keith Moon that same year. This quartet became the Who's classic lineup. The Who rode the British Invasion in America with several hit songs, built a reputation as a wild live act, and helped pioneer hard rock music in the late 1960s. The band's popularity soared in 1969 with the release of a double-LP rock opera, Tommy, and sustained its popularity through several more albums, tours and festival performances. Moon died in 1978, and the band continued until a farewell tour in 1982 and split in 1983. In later years, the remaining band reunited to record and tour sporadically. The Who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Entwhistle died in 2002; the Who continues as Daltrey and Townshend plus session musicians in the recording studio and touring musicians on the stage. Townshend announced a second final tour in 2015. The Who has sold over 100 million records worldwide. The band's most recent studio album is 2006's Endless Wire; a new studio album reportedly will be released later this year.

The Who brought the Moving On! Tour to Madison Square Garden tonight, with Daltrey and Townshend joined by guitarist Simon Townshend (Pete's brother), keyboardist Loren Gold, violinist Katie Jacoby, bassist Jon Button, drummer Zak Starkey, backing vocalist Billy Nicholls, and a symphony orchestra of 48 musicians covering the arena's massive stage. The first part of the show centered on Tommy, followed by a core-band-only mini-set of “golden oldies, just like we are,” as Daltrey phrased it, and the concert concluded with a Quadrophenia-centered set with the orchestra. Daltrey swung his microphone like a propeller and Townshend swung his guitar-strumming arm like a windmill, providing the rock theatrics; visually, the orchestra, stacked in stadium seating and playing as an orchestra does, was grandiose. The orchestra performed on all but five songs in the two-hour, 24-song concert. Sonically, the orchestrated arrangements sounded bold and massive. The highlight of the mini-set was Daltrey and Townshend's no-frills acoustic version of "Won't Get Fooled Again." So then, the question might be posed, "Why was there an orchestra?" What effect was intended by the rock band? The end result was that the orchestra, as mighty as it was, was maybe a touch too much and as such, the Who's repertoire often did not achieve maximum rock drive.

Setlist:

With Orchestra

1. Overture
2. It's a Boy
3. 1921
4. Amazing Journey
5. Sparks
6. Pinball Wizard
7. We're Not Gonna Take It
8. Who Are You
9. Eminence Front
10. Imagine a Man
11. Join Together

Band Only

1. Substitute
2. I Can See for Miles (tour debut)
3. Won't Get Fooled Again (acoustic, performed by Daltrey and Townshend as a duet)
4. Behind Blue Eyes (with string accompanists)
5. Tea & Theatre (performed by Daltrey and Townshend as a duet)

With Orchestra

1. The Real Me
2. I'm One
3. The Punk and the Godfather
4. 5:15
5. Drowned
6. The Rock
7. Love, Reign O'er Me
8. Baba O'Riley