21 Aug 2025
Saturday 16 August 2025: Sunrise, Florida
Rehearsal and Show report: 16 Aug 2025; Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, Florida
We meet again!
It’s not been that long since Italy and the last blogs. Enough break for Roger to squeeze in a few more of his own “acoustic” shows – which have a mix of electric and acoustic, but it’s different to The Who. I don’t really know what everyone else was up to – except those involved in that. Myself – home to a bunch of intense work in the studio and more, so no real “time off”.
We’re in Florida again. There is a place here that lets bands rehearse for very little, and it saves thousands to do so. So we do. And I recall this place for previous tours and even some of Roger’s solo tours. Rehearsals? We’ve just been touring Italy – so why? Well, Italy was good but not great. There are changes and mainly, this is a new set-up (staging and lights, musician changes, crew changes) for a major North American tour we’re embarking on this week. So the rehearsals went pretty well. I remember being in this same cavernous room with the full orchestra added – and the air conditioning went off completely. I think it was two full days in the sweltering heat. It’s just as hot here this week – but portable A.C. systems have been brough in just-in-case. And now it’s too cold – and burning hot outside. Ah well.
The first day is a tech day – I think the last one I can recall was somewhere up in Canada. Tech day means “no musicians” which is critical for getting all our gear right, hundreds of small things that need to be hooked up, tested, sorted, repaired. And even tech day, a full day, was not enough, but it gave those of us on the crew a good head start. We’ll do more the next morning before the band come in, and even more each day of the tour when time permits. I’m quite impressed by the changes in technology since we last did this (circa 2017). Tom and Fuji, our lighting team, are working on a large flatscreen in the back of the room, with a virtual 3D stage image; it even has musicians and drums and risers to replicate our setup. And thousands of “audience” bodies you can see, seats up the sides of the arena, and all our lighting rig is replicated above it all – so when they design and execute light cues, the virtual stage and everything lights up as it would on the real thing. Pretty cool. Our video crew also has their screens simulated there, so all their worlds combine in this new on-screen virtual world for tests.
Two days of band rehearsals are now focused on just a few songs, really. The ones that are rarely-seen or unfamiliar in some way. And this turns out to be a good strategy. They really do make improvements to the pieces and parts. On the first day, several people learn there is a part or parts that they don’t know well enough, so everyone is sent home with “homework” that night – even Pete and Rog – to get those details right. Day 2 is better, and shorter, as the crew have to break it all down again and pack the trucks for a move to the arena, an hour to the south.
Pete and Jody Linscott meet up again
The next day, Friday, is not a day off but an early load-in – set up the big 2025 stage for the first time.
True, we did just play in Italy, and the Royal Albert Hall before that, but there is a lot of staging and things being done for this coming tour that far exceed the scope of those smaller shows. For one, we have a return to big video, that clear and bright screen behind the band is back – missing for all these years (half a decade!) with the orchestra. The orchestra was so costly, and having their riser stages behind us would have blocked most of a screen anyway. But this new video set-up brings a lot of promise to the new tour: We have our amazing video team delivering new content, so many of the songs have new concepts visually throughout. Others are updated “greatest hits” of past video work, and even some mixtures of live and pre-recorded video images that will bring us more into a modern look. It’s all pretty cool, and we’ll get deeper into that in coming days.
The wonderful and multi-talented John Hogg
So this first day allows video and lighting, specifically, to load and hang and display all their stuff, and then run it during the night before we have the actual show day.
Saturday – show day is here, and luckily we’ve set up everything needed. This is a nice relief for everyone, we just amble in and wait for the band to arrive and soundcheck. First, the band wants to try out some of those newer things that WILL be on the show tonight (not all of them will fit in). They start working on that, but it takes some time, more than expected. Our tour manager, Mitch Gee, comes out to remind them that the VIP ticket holders (raising great money for Teen Cancer America) are waiting to come watch a rehearsal. So a few minutes later, they all come in, seemingly quite a crowd between 100 and 150 people. The band runs through some other needed pieces, ‘Eminence Front’, ‘I’ve Had Enough’, ‘See Me Feel Me’/’Listening to You’, and the crowd gets to see them work out how a piece will go – at this late stage, they are still trying out ways to make the show flow better. And some harsh feedback problems that get sorted out asap. There is a weird echo/ring in the sound of this empty arena, but certainly it will get better when the people fill those empty plastic seats. OK; we’re all set, and ready for tonight. The lights go low, and it starts to feel very serious here – it feels like it used to feel (at least in my 20+ years of shows) and that’s familiar and good. Anticipation. Potential.
Billy Bob Thornton (the acclaimed actor) is also a fine singer and loves to rock, so he has his Boxmasters band, and they’re able to squeeze in just two nights with us – although I hear they were desperate to do more. This is important for them and they open up the night with some solid two-guitar rock and roll. The band has quite a look, American-garage mechanic outfits sorta, some beards and some hats – it’s very American. But we’re all really impressed by the stage idea – a big set of stacked Vox amps (yes, the old English brand of The Beatles, Stones, and The Who!). You almost never saw them stacked up like Marshalls, but they’ve done it across the stage, leaving the drummer off to the right on his own riser. And it rocks. Easy to understand, they sure have some strong musicians – and I don’t know, but I suspect these are guys with some experience together. The guitar sounds, in particular, were superb, and there’s not a lot of stage moves – we don’t have much space left for them, but they make it work well and people really seemed to get it quickly. Nice to have them along.
Video courtesy of K Train Productions
And after more waiting and food and whatever – The Who 2025. There’s a new opening video montage, vintage stuff mostly, even John and Keith’s voices are heard amongst the bits. And so it begins, this tour that’s had so much press and discussion, and it’s time to show what is really happening. Mention must be made of our new members, John Hogg you’ve known about from Roger’s band and from the recent shows. He’s just a stellar singer and even more charming and peaceful guy – like Billy Nicholls was before – one of those people that just makes the room better. Next to him is a favorite, Jody Linscott! Returning to The Who since her last tour in 1996? But she’s done so much onstage time with Roger’s and Pete’s solo expeditions, that’s she’s basically family – and with decades of history, nothing new except what it adds to this version of The Who. As with the tours before, there’s a lot special about what she does. My obvious thought is – why do we need percussion? But the audio result is obvious – she’s bringing things to life, especially since they started using electric drumkits to keep stage volume low for the orchestra (Roger loved it, Zak loved it even more – he prefers electric to acoustic kits) and so we continue. Jody’s magic machines of sound add back in a more organic and natural feel, never overplayed but the crash cymbals and shakers and whatever actually work well on these songs; you’ll hear. More so – she’s visually mesmerizing – always bopping around and feeling the music more so than anyone else onstage. This is a big deal, in my opinion. Rog and Pete certainly don’t have the energy onstage of their younger selves, no one expects that, but having the other musicians like Simon T and Jody bring the pulse and the excitement too – that makes a better show. We love it.
Scott Devours is on drums, no news here; we’ve just done his re-return shows in Italy with good success and we know he’s still eager to please. He has “woodshedded” like crazy. Even in these rehearsals, when they question how they want to play something, Scott has shown his knowledge “This tempo is the fastest you ever played in, and this other tempo is the slowest you ever played it”. He’s pretty serious about doing the job well. He’s gone through all the Who shows to take notes and learn the options that might be needed. He and Rob (our sound mixer) and Dan Norris (drum tech) have all spent hours working on the drum sounds, something we didn’t get much of before. They’re all trying to create a more natural sound, as the sound with Zak was more punchy, modern, and explosive, and they’re trying to get back to a 60s/70s drumkit sound. It’s working; this is the best drum sound we’ve had in years.
The crowd is loud but not crazy – but seemingly a pretty full house. I suppose these folks in Sunrise are quite familiar with us. I can recall at least three tours beginning in this room – which includes this one. We did Quadrophenia here for the first time; that was nearly a disaster – but it was Quad so it was good! There just wasn’t enough time to prepare and get Quadrophenia with its many parts in-shape. ‘Cut My Hair’ and ‘The Dirty Jobs’ just weren’t songs they were used to playing live. And I recall Pete storming off two songs before the end of the show then; Roger soldiered on and delivered the end of the set. Then we started our orchestral tour here, another big challenge, but it was more successful. So we’re happy to have these faithful people support us, always with the caveat that a new show is exciting, sometimes rough, and challenging.
Video courtesy of K Train Productions
Which begins almost immediately. There are sound issues, despite having a nice soundcheck before. And, no surprise – it’s drums. Somewhere, somehow, the kick drums are bothering Roger. He’s struggling and our onstage mixer, John Switzer, has nearly turned them OFF for Roger and he still has too much (long story, but you can only do what can be done in the moment; it took nearly half an hour of struggles to find that something else was probably happening, and we solved it for our longtime singer…) At one point near ‘Behind Blue Eyes’, Mr. Switzer (whose lovely wife and friends were here for the show) came out to help Roger dial in his body wireless pack and onstage settings. He crouched behind Roger on center stage, who diffused the situation with a hilarious “He’s not playing with my arse!” comment, which went over great.
Video courtesy of Ken Rotberg
Roger is dressed a lot like this audience, completely casual; blue shirt on blue trousers, and blue eyes, of course. Pete is different (as they are!) in a dapper black suit. Dressy. They really are two sides of a coin. This set-list is pretty damn strong. I know you’ll see it online, but I like that it jumps all over their career, a good amount of the 60s singles, album cuts from the first half of the 70s, 80s hits, even a 2006 song – decades of The Who. And of course, the big ones you gotta have at any Who show. Certainly, it was rough in spots (like a Who show) but as Roger quipped tonight, joking – “You don’t remember a perfect show; you remember the fuck-ups!”
Simon Townshend takes lead vocals on ‘Going Mobile’. (There are SO many songs in our setlist from Who’s Next… but it’s a classic.) He’s done it a lot on Roger’s solo tours, and Pete happily does his parts along – slightly less-confident than the others who have already played it onstage many more times than the composer. Simon has that vibe, that energy of a younger Who musician, and the bloodline is evident – he’s cut from the same cloth. Powerful, stabbing guitar sounds, and spirit for playing the songs well and as-new.
What REALLY makes the show breathe is the visual team now, our video crew. Not only are they doing the new/old pre-recorded montages of photos and scenes, but they are running the camera crews and mixing it all together. It’s stunning in so many places. In modern shows, there are many bands (U2, Roger Waters, Kraftwerk) where video IS the thing. In our world, it’s still a supplement, but they are sensitive enough to know what works with the songs, and doesn’t take away at all. We all know The Who 2025 isn’t the onstage fireball tornado of 1973 Who, so having Jody and Simon T and all the visuals adding to things is great for the audience, and for each other. We’re really enjoying these visual additions to a musically-strong show.
‘Pinball Wizard’ was the first time I really saw the crowd get going – it’s just a classic song, and definitive for The Who; there’s nothing else in music quite like it.
This show is far from perfection; there are a ton of f***ups tonight. No matter, it’s a “first show” and more so – there are no perfect Who shows. (Well, I saw one once in 2004 – no cock-ups at all ever – but watching that back on video – it wasn’t even impressive at all.) At one point I saw the band members laughing out-loud about how the parts had just shifted – for the nth time – and they were able to recover fully. In this band, it’s common to have mistakes and changes, and it’s not treated as negatively as someone like Madonna or George Michael might feel. Perfection is not a goal. But having had one zillion drummer friends say “I could play for The Who” – nope. Playing along to old Who records is not the job here. Being able to turn on a dime, change this beat into that measure and to signal the lost guitarist or singer with the right part – that’s the job. Almost anyone can keep a beat but the struggle, the challenge, is to guide these people through the mess that is a swirling Who noise. Zak was an expert at that, and Scott has done years with Roger (since 2009) doing the same. And it’s still scary.
At one point, Pete acknowledges things by saying “We didn’t used to rehearse at all in the old days. The only exception was Tommy (which you’ll remember was played not quite exactly like the album.) After one rehearsal, Keith and I went to a pub and he told he ‘I think it’s gonna be a hit’!” He admits they rehearse now – but wondered if it does any good!
He also mentioned it was their last tour. And then joked (sort of) that he and Roger would be available for private parties! I’m sure if you have the cash, nearly any artist would show up. Speaking of – I tell you, I was skeptical that this was a final tour. Farewell – you say that to people you intend to see again, later. Final – even that has been trotted out before – with the belief that it was true – in previous years. So I told myself “Yeah, a big offer will come in next year, and they’ll be back again.” BUT – things feel very different now. Nobody’s talking directly about it, but I think this may be it. Pete’s talked about solo shows, like Roger where you get to do something besides what is expected of this English band. That could be fun and creative – as Rog likes to play with his songs/musicians/styles. And as KISS pointed out, “tours” may mean you play single shows, not tours. Or whatever. If anyone buys a ticket just because it’s “final” I think that’s foolish – it’s the been done by so many people, and it’s rarely true. (I saw The Damned on three of their four farewell tours, and then again last year a few times! I know The Ramones did about three ‘ultimate last final shows’ for huge money, until the next one came along. Fans don’t care; if you’re playing, they show up. And why would non-fans care if it’s a final tour?) Pointless really, why even discuss it. With this band, the point is even less meaningful.
Video courtesy of Ken Rotberg
Quadrophenia is well-represented here, a nice chunk of the set, and nobody minds. I’m missing some of my favorites, but others are in here, mostly “the usuals”. Roger starts ‘The Real Me’ on exactly the right note and pitch without ANY cue or chord from anyone – he has perfect pitch, a rare gift that is rarely mentioned, but if Rog sings any song – he’s in the right key and note all the time. Not an easy song for a youngster to sing, try it sometime, but he’s absolutely as strong as those days. We’re getting tired of saying it, but Roger’s voice is getting better – not worse. He has moments of dryness or trouble hearing what to control, but just moments – he’s stunning everyone. ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ is the core of it, and he’s always right there. At one point, Roger keels over onstage, clearly a joke, and waggles his leg in the air – feigning exhaustion. It’s a good reference to show how hard he works on these shows, he’s carrying a lot – and making it work out in the end.
Someone in the crowd held up a handmade sign; “You still owe me $5 for McVicar” – hopefully not the film; Roger loves it, and absolutely revered the man himself. It’s where he got the famous “Be Lucky!” phrase he often shouts at the end of shows.
So, the show tonight was rough for sure, un-smooth! The band pretty much know their parts, they are pros but Rog and Pete have a lot to learn, to un-learn, and to remember. Yet, for a first show, it was definitely better than the Quadrophenia start a few years ago. And I think with the visual punch and solid backing band, it carried Rog and Pete through any issues. I remember ‘See Me Feel Me’ into ‘Eminence Front’ being the moment that things sort of gelled together and it felt just right. Roger’s vocals were as good as 1969 Woodstock, and Pete hits hard on ‘Eminence Front’. The parts of the show after that just kinda fell into place – which is a relief, since it’s good to get better as the show goes on. After ‘Love Reign O’er Me’, I saw Pete visibly relax and start to just enjoy things again.
After ‘Baba O’Riley, Roger stopped playing the harmonica-as-violin solo – seemingly ran out of steam or something; he said his lips dried out and he couldn’t finish it. Pete asked him “What’s wrong with your ORGAN? (mouth organ is a slang term for harmonica). Roger said back “At least there nothing wrong with that!!” Then into ‘Won’t get Fooled Again’ – two of the strongest stage anthems ever back-to-back, we had a quieter ending. Roger’s conceived of two “message” songs for this tour; ‘Tea And Theatre’ (from 2006’s Endless Wire) has been a nice closer for the duo alone on many shows, but this time Roger designed a segue into ‘The Song Is Over’ (in abbreviated form) as they both carry the message of surviving, looking back – a musical arc completing. Roger reaches out to hold Pete’s shoulder as ‘Tea and Theatre’ ends, a touching moment for everyone.
Video courtesy of JD’s Live Music
And so it ended. We’re so glad this generous audience allowed a rougher start, but a memorable one. And they get to experience the show with no notion of what the setlist will be, what visuals will look like, who’s in the band. A fresh view is rare in today’s world, where previous shows and setlists are on the web immediately. Thanks for having us.
Onward!
Tonight’s Set List follows. Look away if you don’t wish to know!
I Can’t Explain
Substitute
Who Are You
The Seeker
I Can See for Miles
Bargain
Love Ain’t for Keeping
Behind Blue Eyes
Going Mobile
Pinball Wizard
See Me, Feel Me / Listening To You
Eminence Front
My Generation
Cry If You Want
You Better You Bet
The Real Me
I’ve Had Enough
I’m One
5:15
Love, Reign O’er Me
Baba O’Riley
Won’t Get Fooled Again
Tea & Theatre
The Song Is Over
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