3 Sep 2025
Thursday 28 August 2025, Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY
Show report: 29 Aug 2025; Jones Beach, Wantagh, Long Island
All photos copyright William Snyder.
Jones Beach is by the water. Right by it – the backstage windows look out onto the waves, and there’s even a nice little “barge” – two floating pontoon platforms where you can eat and hang out. We’ve done this place before, many times. And usually it’s tough, but good. It’s not far from NYC but Long Island is just that – the big flat part of NY that juts out to the Atlantic on the East, with many boroughs, cities, and towns with LOTS of old-school rockers. This is the area where Kiss and Twisted Sister got their starts, and classic rock is still king.
The venue has had “some issues” – mainly from the water. Like a Smashing Pumpkins concert (and a few more) where the tide came so high the front sections were shin-deep in water. Fun? And storms have battered the place, even though it’s mostly made of concrete. Meanwhile, they’ve rebuilt and redesigned it to (a) be much nicer and fun (b) make more money. One of the obvious ones is a big third tier of grandstands up above the previous two, thousands more people (and thou$and$ more parking money!) coming in each show.
The VIP ticket buyers have supported the Teen Cancer America project – and their reward (one of them) is to watch our daily soundcheck. This is a roughly 30-minute thing most days, sometimes exact, sometimes a little less or more. Today – it goes on and on. That doesn’t mean it’s all busy – I recall Pete noodling on acoustic guitar solo for a while, just messing around, and later the same on electric. Not Who songs, just practicing and testing things out. All in all, this was our longest-ever soundcheck, almost 50 minutes. There’s a pretty serious echo bouncing back off the 16,000 seats (especially the real “wall” of seats in the back, but it’s almost certain that will go away when the bodies of the crowd fill up the space.
Our opening act is Feist – the group based around Canadian singer Leslie Feist. It’s an interesting call, to have them, because the music is so different. Not heavy in most places, but she has a great voice and stage presence, plus a really cool band. And since they’re all songs with various characters and textures, it’s always changing and that keeps things interesting. Unfortunately, our audience has real trouble getting here in rush-hour traffic, so the crowd is just barely getting in when she starts up – but they do a fine show for those who can hear it. (They’re going to be with us at Madison Square Garden, so that sold-out show will definitely be the opposite of this.)
Binky tuning up Roger and Simon’s guitars!
Der Who come out in der dark, and Pete instantly proclaims this as being his favorite venue to play; he is a sailor at heart, the side of him we never see (ever!) Yet he spends so much of his time and money on the water, he’s quite successful at that part of things as well. Roger joins in, “So great to be here!” It’s certainly a cool vibe backstage, with the views of the water – and they even have their own in-house laundry lady who takes care of all our roadie wear – for free during the day! Wonderful.
Video courtesy of C McAvoy
‘I Can’t Explain’ starts off, and I notice that it has the on/off punchy-ness of the original 60s version. I really miss that sometimes, the early Who sound has that funky punch from tight and parts with pauses, not so heavy then but groovy (and that made the teens dance). We have that a little tonight, and the drum sound being less-heavy ties in nicely with that. Everyone seems to be pretty locked together. Pete starts the solo with some windmills, rather than going in later – and it’s a sign we’re in for a good one. Of course the audience responds, and Roger’s swinging the mic, too – double win for the crowd to know “We’re at a Who show!” On ‘Substitute’, Roger gets the crowd singing and changes the last verse to “WE were born with a plastic spoon in OUR mouths…”
Video courtesy of Whitechapel – Ghost Video
‘Who Are You’ is up next. I’ve been “cautioned” not to start the backing synth track too soon; Roger has to put on his guitar for this one, but sometimes the break between ‘Substitute’ takes a little too long… Pete senses this emptiness and pushes me to go with a gesture or two (this happens almost nightly, but when I follow, Rog isn’t happy as he’s not quite ready.) As we have to wait, I gesture “not yet” and Pete holds up until he hears the four subtle “bloops” from the tracks that count them in. It’s there every night/show for decades, have you heard it? It was there on the recording, but edited out on the album.) [You can hear it on the official video for ‘Who Are You’ on the home page of thewho.com! ~ Editor]
‘See Me, Feel Me’/’Listening to You’ – it’s going well, as tonight they do the best transition into Roger’s iconic “See Me…” But I realize this was (in some years) a memorable and emotional ending to everything, especially after the long Tommy saga. But now it’s a middle piece, and feels quite different, familiar but not quite as emotional. Watching Jody Linscott rocking is always a pleasure. She’s a match to Pete and Simon T for physical presence and energy onstage. Beyond the musical addition, just having her move and smash and bang things – adds a great visual to the concerts.
‘The Seeker’ is great – this stage has an old wooden floor of planks, and that somehow makes it a tighter sound that I think the band likes. Each room does have “a sound” from above, from below, all around. You can’t control that, and sometimes it helps, sometimes not.
Pete’s down in his chair for ‘Behind Blue Eyes’, but tonight he’s rocking hard IN the chair, almost bursting out of it at the end. ‘Eminence Front’ is usually a winner, but it has a shaky start, and then gets back onto the rails. Pete starts playing with the phrasing, pushing and pulling the start of his vocal and guitar lines, and even stops singing the chorus just so he can do more guitar soloing. He’s told me directly – his reason for being here is so that he can wail on the guitar, it’s the highlight of each show when he gets to challenge himself to improvise and try out new parts. ‘My Generation’ is better tonight; the ending section sounds a lot more like the chaos that used to happen on the very first 60s tours. Not quite as explosive (literally) but the noise and roughness is there tonight – I hope that continues! I notice Rog and Pete are taking turns (without any planning) to sing or solo, and it’s a musical dance to not step on each other’s parts. Tricky, but that’s the fun and excitement of improvisation.
Roger’s saying something between songs, probably to the sound man or the drummer, and Pete says “Are you ok, Rog? Everything good?” Roger laughs back, and says “Where the f*** am I!?” Sometimes it is hard to tell . . .
Pete gives us all a great tidbit of information: While he’s introducing ‘Going Mobile’, he mentions that the famous track was a single first take of the song, live, with him singing the vocal as they played. That’s pretty cool; “one and done” is the phrase. We will all hear it differently from now on. He says, nowadays it takes him days and days just to do a demo, but that’s how things were different in the old days.
Video courtesy of Whitechapel – Ghost Video
‘The Real Me’ is loose, and almost a train-wreck musically. They know it, there are some heated words and actions onstage. But ‘I’m One’ recovers with beautiful floating sounds coming from Roger’s harmonica and Simon’s careful added harmonies. ‘5:15’ starts wonky, so Pete halts it and starts once again – not that uncommon in our world. Perfection is almost impossible, yet they don’t mind a flaw, as long as it doesn’t continue too long. The audience is seen fully now as the stage lights are beaming out. The crowd are all moving to the big riff of ‘5:15’ and it starts to energize the band to see them going. ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ hits, and I know already – it’s just going to be great: I know what this audience is in for… And as it closes, everyone’s on their feet making tons of noise. And we’re about to hit them harder because we start the ‘Baba O’Riley’ backing track, which is like an irresistible drug – people hear that and freak out! And just when ‘Baba’ is winding up, this crowd gets hit again – as Katie Jacoby comes out on violin for the solo. She’s back – a last-minute decision to add her to the tour again. She’s always pleasant and fun to have around, both on The Who’s and Roger’s tours. But the recent set of shows where the harmonica solo just wasn’t there – this was a weak spot when we really need the impact. So, certainly at considerable expense, they invited Katie to join our tour for the duration. And it works great – the peak is there and Roger and Pete are smiling big. Following ‘Baba’, we start ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ – a 1-2-3 punch of the best Who tracks in a line, and there’s no escaping it. This audience is won over, another strong night.
Video courtesy of Whitechapel – Ghost Video
And Katie’s back!
Jon Hogg gets mentioned in the band announcements, he’s new to most here in the USA, but familiar to those who’ve seen Roger’s many UK tours. What a great voice he has. I spoke to Eddie Vedder recently and he said he wished he auditioned for that slot – he’s still the biggest Who fan out there. A guy who packs in his own stadiums full of people (like Joe Perry) is happy to be around a Who show anytime, anyway, anyhow.
Onward!
Tonight’s set list follows after the photo so if you don’t wish to know, don’t scroll any further!
I Can’t Explain
Substitute
Who Are You
The Seeker
Love Ain’t for Keeping
Pinball Wizard
See Me, Feel Me / Listening to You
Behind Blue Eyes
Eminence Front
My Generation
Cry If You Want
You Better You Bet
Going Mobile
The Real Me
I’m One
5:15
Love, Reign O’er Me
Baba O’Riley
Won’t Get Fooled Again
The Song Is Over
Tea & Theatre
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