Gigography
The Who Live In Concert
Friday, November 20th, 2009
Nokia Theatre, New York NY
Notes
ROGER DALTREY USE IT OR LOSE IT TOUR
SETLIST
WHO ARE YOU
PICTURES OF LILY
BEHIND BLUE EYES
TATTOO
DAYS OF LIGHT
FREEDOM RIDE
GIMME A STONE
GOING MOBILE
NAKED EYE
I’M A MAN / MY GENERATION
I CAN SEE FOR MILES
SQUEEZEBOX
BORN ON THE BAYOU
YOUNG MAN BLUES
THE REAL ME
WALK ON WATER
BABA O’RILEY
JOHNNY CASH MEDLEY
BLUE, RED AND GREY
WITHOUT YOUR LOVE
ROGER DALTREY USE IT OR LOSE IT TOUR
SETLIST
WHO ARE YOU
PICTURES OF LILY
BEHIND BLUE EYES
TATTOO
DAYS OF LIGHT
FREEDOM RIDE
GIMME A STONE
GOING MOBILE
NAKED EYE
I’M A MAN / MY GENERATION
I CAN SEE FOR MILES
SQUEEZEBOX
BORN ON THE BAYOU
YOUNG MAN BLUES
THE REAL ME
WALK ON WATER
BABA O’RILEY
JOHNNY CASH MEDLEY
BLUE, RED AND GREY
WITHOUT YOUR LOVE
Highlights
Photos
photo by midnighter99
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photo by midnighter99
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photo by midnighter99
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photo by midnighter99
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photo by midnighter99
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photo by greg daly
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photo by greg daly
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photo by jeff kleeman
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photo by jeff kleeman
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photo by jeff kleeman
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photo by leslie
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photo by bob fratti
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photo by bob fratti
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photo by bob fratti
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photo by bob fratti
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photo by bob fratti
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photo by abby
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photo by abby
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One of the best concerts i ever went to! God bless Roger Daltrey!
It was great seeing Roger in such a small venue, there really wasn't a bad seat in the house. It's a shame that some people had to smoke joints and talk over Roger the entire time, they really gave New Yorkers a bad name and he was rightfully upset (and he sure had no problem expressing that). The band was great, Simon sounded eerily similar to Pete and was wonderful on Going Mobile. The music was fantastic with a very diverse selection of material. I was surprised to hear Born on the Bayou which was fantastic. Highlights of the night had to be Young Man Blues, I Can See for Miles and Blue Red and Grey. All in all Roger sounded amazing and I can't wait to see The Who play at halftime on Super Bowl Sunday. Bring on the 2010 tour!
First, the band was fantastic! I've seen members of The Who perform with many other musicians and this is by far the best non-Who band with whom a Who member has performed. Really greatn.
Second, the show is truly well constructed - an amazing and layered set list - best hits, Roger's faves-Who and otherwise, and some of his own great ones.
Finally, the storytelling is so funny, intimate and special.
10 of 10 for certain. A great, great show.
I've seen The Who countless times over the past two decades and all of the shows have been amazing, and Roger on this night, as always didn't disappoint.
His voice was crisp, his delivery as strong as ever and his choice of songs were spot on.
One of the biggest highlights on this night for me was his version of Gimme A Stone. Of course he pulled out classic Who songs, but to hear him perform Blue Red and Grey and Without Your Love was something I'll never forget. As was his tribute to Johnny Cash.
The band he had behind him were incredible. Of course we all know Simon Townshend, but the rest of the band were solid. Especially his drummer. Zack should watch out.....lol
The only two down points came from some very ignorant and rude fans who were affecting Roger at certain points. Why anyone would pay money to see something special and then try to ruin it is beyond me, but Roger as always was the consummate professional.
I highly recommend if you have the opportunity to see this tour to go. Your money will be well worth spent!
And like Roger likes to say:
Be Lucky!
All the best,
Rob Tebaldi
So far, this is the tour longest set list. The band is clearly havin fun playing a different set list every night. Hope they replay songs they only played once or a few times, like Roger s'"Second Out" or/and "Givin it all Away"
or The Who s' "Bargain", "Boris the Spider" or "Summertime Blues"....
Glad he did this tour !!
This was a great show, but not as "great" as his performance at the Borgata on November 14th at the Borgata.
The Nokia Theatre show was filled with marijuana smoke which affected Daltrey's voice onstage. He also grew more ornery as the evening progressed; even yelling at some fans who had ticked him off for some reason or another. Despite that, his performance on "Blue, Red & Gray," "Baba O'Riley," and "Tattoo" were superb and first-rate.
I also had my photo taken with Roger who was cool. He wished me and my fiancee well on our engagement and marriage.
At age 65, his voice continues to boom and I am constantly impressed by its stamina and ability to bring the Who songs back to life.
Sincerely,
G.J. Daly
"This isn't a WHO show," Roger Daltrey quickly asserts, mere moments after following his USE IT OR LOSE IT bandmates out from shadowy sidestage wings to take the spare stage before a sold-out crowd of devotees. The applause that greets his arrival - and indeed, even this announcement - rings with the familiarity of moments experienced at many a WHO gig, though. And as the crowd - mostly standing and shoehorned-in across the expanse of a wooden ballroom-style floor - draws its collective breath, there is the sense that they've lived this moment together, experienced this anticipation, felt this collective rhythm of their pulse beats, before.
They've all read the reviews, pored over set lists, watched the YouTubes, studied the fan reports that have filtered across the Net since Daltrey's first large-scale solo tour in nearly a quarter of a century commenced some seven weeks ago, but this is real: a moment virtual reality, even in all its clarity, can never duplicate, and suddenly they're not exactly sure what to expect. They know what's going to happen, but maybe they're a little less certain of what it's going to make them feel.
As warm lights suffuse the centerstage attraction that has drawn the enthusiastic crowd, he's slinging a guitar over a shoulder and across his chest, and the opening chords of WHO ARE YOU ripple throughout the densely-packed space, working their way into hearts, promising answers.
The number lands with the full sonic impact inherent in its composition, and yet somehow the loose and bluesy touches hint at new ventures off this well-traveled thoroughfare; side roads that have always been there, pockets and nuances that are built into the schematics of the piece, but that may now be explored in greater length and at one's own pace.
Five minutes later, Daltrey is painting PICTURES OF LILY. There's a bit of humour carved from double entendres about becoming familiar with one's hands while on the road. If there's one note heard clearly in the cheers and applause that are the backbeat, it's that many fans are startled to find themselves in a hall with Roger Daltrey singing this song that seems to have arrived whole from another lifetime ago.
Roger beats upon the face of his acoustic guitar throughout the final minutes of BEHIND BLUE EYES, and a deep, knowing voice delivers both swagger and fragility as the plaintive prayer is laid bare.
A salute to tattooed women receives a rain of applause, particularly from tattooed women and the men who love them, and then the song itself unfolds to much delight.
DAYS OF LIGHT finds Roger rattling a tambourine and raising spirits. A feel-good number if ever there was one.
The next two songs - FREEDOM RIDE and GIMME A STONE - are so good, they easily justify Roger's positioning of two largely unfamiliar tunes at the center of his show. Were skips to the loo even possible within the wall-to-wall confines of the crowd, it's doubtful many fans would avail themselves. No ground is lost here, and the energy and electricity is ratcheted up as people who don't know the words begin learning and singing the choruses.
Anticipation reaches a fever pitch as Roger announces that a song from WHO'S NEXT - one that's never played live at WHO gigs - will be performed. And Simon Townshend etches a living road map from brother Pete's GOING MOBILE, complete with flourishes one would imagine Pete himself offering. Once again, that sense of walking through a dream sets in, as a song so prominent in the hearts of WHO fans is unspooled like so much tape from an old Ampex cassette, one drawn perhaps from a Chevy glove compartment, the sort that held the secret soundtrack to lives lived within the well-traveled corridors of WHO'S NEXT.
Roger ably accompanies Simon throughout on harmonica, coaxing Saturday-night-roadhouse wails from deep within the harp. Suddenly it's 1971 again, and the police and the tax man are going to miss everyone along on this jaunt. Simon, a brilliant and accomplished musician in his own right, soars on this one. It's everything WHO purists want it to be, but he owns it himself as well.
NAKED EYE follows - another relative rarity, sacred but far from resembling a relic, perfectly paving the way for the rapid-fire triple shot of I'M A MAN, MY GENERATION BLUES, and I CAN SEE FOR MILES. "We used to worship the ground these guys walked on," Roger says of Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley, and others of their ilk.
An enthusiastic reading of SQUEEZEBOX begs and receives audience participation, its reward the deep confident growl of BORN ON A BAYOU. YOUNG MAN BLUES is an absolute treasure, despite some glitches Roger endures with pesky earbuds at the start; a tech is dispatched to uncoil and reconfigure wires snaking down Roger's shirt, while Roger never stops rocking his mike stand or tapping his foot for an instant.
THE REAL ME erupts like an unexpected crackle of thunder on a sunny summer afternoon, and the storm to follow offers no shelter, no quiet cozy notch in the Earth in which to wait out the weather. It's loud, captivating, soul-capturing - from beginning to shattering end. And one can fairly hear the rush of Quadrophenic blood circulating throughout the crowd, as palpable as the slapping of shoes upon floorboards.
Roger announces that the set list has pretty much been blown to bloody hell at this point - torn apart and reassembled, and there's not a fan on site about to complain. He is a magician playing tricks, and he alone knows which rabbit will be pulled from the hat next.
Security seems more concerned than Roger as he's compelled by a small but loud-mouthed pocket of 'revelers' to offer the following advice: "Shut the fuck up!" The suggestion is met by much applause and cries of support, and, soon thereafter, by a stretch of suitably respectful silence in which one might hear the plink of the proverbial pin.
Soon the audience is too engaged to give the matter another thought, as they're transported through the rapturous magic of Johnny Cash. And this is one of the moments that no review or flip vid can have prepared anyone for - Roger Daltrey doesn't simply cover Cash, he INHABITS the man. There's the sense that no one's ever going to be any closer to Cash than they are right now. Some part of The Man in Black is so alive on that stage that he's all but present in the flesh.
BABA O'RILEY finds Roger slashing through ribbons of neon light with twists of his mike, then leaning into the audience with it held aloft, to capture the communal recitation of this anthem that accompanies its every performance. The magnificent guitarist Frank Simes finds yet another moment to stretch and shine, as Pete's original backing tape assures us that Mr. T is unquestionably in the building, as both a composer and an on-scene musician. Pete is a central figure throughout the evening - like Cash, he's heard and felt but not seen.
BLUE, RED, AND GREY (AKA The Ukulele: What It Is and What It Can Do for You) is a testament to the power of a seemingly subdued and tender melody's ability to wrench from an audience an emotional response on par with that evoked by the fiercest rocker in the arsenal. The hall is thundering with people singing, "I love every minute of the day."
Roger offers his sincere thanks for the fans who've supported him through the years and on this tour, those sentiments perfectly mirrored in song within the luxurious embrace of the show-capping WITHOUT YOUR LOVE.
Two hours and seventeen minutes after taking the stage, Roger is seen one last time, tossing salutes and a thumbs-up to fans before exiting stage right. Lights come up, and bodies begin moving, like so many sardines loosed from a can in which they've nonetheless found comfort and renewal. Something to believe in.
But HAVE they been to a WHO show? Maybe, maybe not - but as anyone who's been to a USE IT OR LOSE IT gig will tell you, a big WHO heart beats at the center of it all.
Great show! only I wish Keith was able to accompany you Rodger
what a great show , the band and daltery sounded great and looked. I was real glad to see him in a small concert hall. I never know how funny he was great show.
General admission shows add an element of surprise to tour stops and this one was no exception. I was about 15 feet back from the state and Roger was full of piss and vinegar from the outset. As the first reefer smoke wafted up on stage, he asked folks to refrain. While he said he used to love it, he was now allergic and said it would compromise his singing if it continued. OK, this was NYC so you knew how that was going to go... Next up the crowd noise, interfering with his chain of thought and his storytelling, he singled out a guy near the front that he challenged to come up on stage if he thought he could do it better, Then it was too bloody hot on stage. Then the recurring challenge with the sound as he fussed with his ear bud and wirings. He later said it was the worst stage he'd ever been on, sounding like he was singing in a cardboard box. Fortunately, on our side of the stage, the mix was good. Sure enough, he erupted again later toward the guy he thought was screaming as he talked, I saw the guy after the show and he insisted it wasn't him, that there were a group of girls behind him who wouldn't shut up. His wife/gfrd backed him up, and from my vantage point, it seemed plausible. What Roger didn't see that seemed to fuel the commotion was Simon throwing picks out toward the aforementioned girls. Simon looked on a bit sheepishly as Roger blasted this dude in no uncertain terms. It was a bit uncomfortable but NY loves a good fight so the crowd warmed to Roger's anger. And since they love their weed, too, prior to BR&G, folks were lighting up again and Roger sarcastically thanked him for messing up his voice. Oh yeah, there was a concert to deliver and true professional that he is, he sucked it up (smoke included) and blasted through, especially the second half of the set. And what I liked about the supporting cast, they kinda looked on with bemusement as the band leader went apeshit, but no one felt like they had to or should intervene. Instead, they seemed to ratchet up their own playing to put the focus back on the music. I agree with the earlier post about the drummer, Scott Devours. He was beating the skins like there was no tomorrow. He and Simon seemed to be locked in, kinda reminding me of his bro and Moonie in the glory days. It was a joy to behold. As he introduced the Taj song, noting the harmonies, he said that a group called The Ivies had sung the harmonies on the ICE record - adding not many folks knew that (me included). Said the band decided they better learn to sing three-part harmonies so they wouldn't need back up for future records. My fave of the night, the real me. Roger said the band wanted to play it in the introduction, adding "let's see how we fuck this one up." Well, if fucking it up means "great," then keep fucking it up. That song alone was worth the price of admission. And thanks to Ian who read my post requesting a ticket and hooked me up. And to Marty, who hung out and traded Who stories with me. I'll look forward to other Wholigans sharing their experiences at the shows in fort myers and clearwater.
Brent/whosleft
Just a great, great show. Roger was trim, fit, happy and in perfect voice. Going Mobile, Young Man Blues and Blue, Red and Grey were worth the price of admission alone. Front half of the theater was standing only, which was perfect, because who wants to sit during a Who show? Looking forward to seeing the boys at the Super Bowl
This show was very interesting. I think a "prefect storm" of issues happened that made this a very unenjoyable show for Roger. He called it the worst venue that he had ever played in his life. Saying that the sound was like performing in a cardboard box. He said he couldn't hear any highs, and noted that the club is primairly used for hip-hop shows that are more bass driven. At one point he added, "and it is really pissing me off!" and throwing his water cup splasing to the ground for emphasis.
He also scolded the people standing in the front at least twice for smoking mother nature, saying that he was allergic to it now, and that it would mess up his voice and cause him to have to stop the show.
Add to that some rather unruly crowd members that weren't interested in having Roger talk to the audience. At first it seemed to be more of a minor irritant, "You sound like a bunch of animals down there" he said early on. But by the end, with the other problems, he was ready for a fight. "Shut the f*** up! If you don't want to hear someone talk go and watch Madonna, she doesn't talk to the crowd at all. Go listen to your ipod. You should come up here so I can take care of you. Even though I am 65 I could still put you in your place." (The last two may not be exact quotes but are close.) This also pointed out a problem with the club having little security.
Roger was also done a disservice by the opening band, Paper Zoo, who didn't even come on until 8:30 and were very poorly received. (The crowd was lined up outside at 6pm, the doors opened late, after 7pm, and then the opening act came out nearly 90 min after that.) So people had been standing for 2 and a half hours before the opening act even started.
That said, Roger and the band tried to make the best of the bad situation. They were very tight, and at least in the seats in the back, the sound for them was very good. Highlights for me were "Real Me", and "I Can See For Miles". "Born On The Bayou" was a surprise for the fans and the band. And while not tight, seemed to help put Roger in better spirits. Roger did his damndest to put on a good show in spite of the venue and certain members of the crowd, and I was very happy with the show.
I will point out one additional problem with the event, that isn't necessarily a review. A large portion of the seating in the back of the theatre was reserved for VIP ticket holders. The issue was that most of them wanted to be standing up front close to the stage. This left a frustratingly large amount of seats blocked off to the crowd when there weren't enough seats. At first the to security staff in the seating section tried to stop people from stinng there, but as the show went on, finally they had to relent.
From the opening notes of a stripped down bluesy Who Are You through the live rarities Pictures of Lily, Tattoo, Going Mobile with Simon killing the vocal and sounding eerily like his brother, great version of Naked Eye, and a surprise The Real Me as requested by the band ROCKED!!! Blue Red and Grey had Daltry's Vocals at their best hitting all the notes and from the sound of it he had the crowd in the palm of his hand with everyone having fun, singing along to most of the songs. Aside from a few wankers up front who showed no respect by talking over Roger and pissing him off where he told them to fuck off a few times it was a great crowd. The band was totally pro, great all around and even when they pulled out Creedences Born on the Bayou and you could tell they hadn't played it so often they held it together beautifully with a well placed cymbal crash to get back into the groove; kind of improvised and a magical moment. Looking forward to the next Who album and tour from the guys who wrote the book on rock music. Long Live Rock I need it every night!!!!
I joined this site just so that I could comment on the drummer with whom Roger is touring these days, Scott Devours. He was incredible last night at the Nokia Times Square show, and a part of my experience was just watching him *go*. Roger sounded absolutely fantastic -- better than ever -- and told lots of great stories about his career. I was especially moved by the way he thanked fans at the end of the night. Very heartfelt. Thank you for a thrilling experience.