30 Sep 2025

Wednesday 17 September 2025, Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA

Show Report: Sept 17, 2025; The Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA

The Hollywood Bowl – and so much to say.

This is indeed a special place. I remember our old guitar roadie, Alan Rogan, use to make custom guitar picks for each tour. And they would last for 30 shows or whatever. But there are two venues that got their own special-edition picks: Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl. For good reasons, both are iconic venues. And to The Who, there is a lot of history.

During our VIP soundcheck, Roger mentions this – their very first time here being 1968 and they were the opening act for the Everly Brothers. An odd mismatch, but the Everlys are and were iconic to so many English groups – Roger still plays an Everly Brothers model guitar every night onstage; enough of a tribute to know he’s still a fan. And then he mentions the front half-circle section where the VIP fans are seated used to be a pool/a moat. (That’s true, water across the front of the stage.) He said “A pond and Keith Moon – that’s a bad combination!” At the end of their show, for ‘My Generation’, they were trashing the things onstage and Keith kicked his drum set over into the pond. At the same time, he says, sound man Bob Pridden set off a smoke bomb – and due to extreme fire regulations – he was arrested and jailed, then the place filled with all sorts of firemen and firetrucks. Evidently not the usual Everly Bros show?!

And since then, so many great shows here – and so well-received. Honestly, this place is huge – upwards of 18,000 people here, and we always do two or more shows when schedule permits. And no one can forget the ill-fated show in 2002, the first time The Who had ever stood onstage without John Entwistle. It’s was troubled and strange for Rog and Pete, but it happened (thanks, Pino). That was my very first day onstage with The Who, too, watching from the sides. I don’t remember much but the tour manager saying “They seem to like you, if you wanna go on tour, be on the bus in an hour . . .” So I began there. (And again in 2006 when Rabbit was gone for a while, they threw me in on keyboards one night, first show, no rehearsals, in front of my hometown crowd – scary.)

Our last show here was a monster. Absolutely the best show of the tour, and in front of a musically-experienced crowd – even they were stunned. I have some very famous musician friends, platinum-record people themselves – who told me it was the best concert they’ve ever seen. So we are definitely looking forward to what happens tonight. It’s nicely warm, almost hot during the afternoon, which means we’ll be comfortable outside tonight. Under the stars, surrounded by green hills and trees – such a setting.

They have their own sound system here (and some noise limit levels) but it’s a good-sounding rig, designed also for classical concerts that happen here, so it’s accurate and clean. We try it all out during the hot evening (sun still up) soundcheck. “You’re all mad (crazy), you’re all completely fucking mad!” Roger says to the small crowd – today they’re very close to the stage during soundcheck, just a weird result of our seating situation here. The band run through the usuals and one song nobody expected – not even the band. That song didn’t make the show tonight, but maybe Friday? Likely. Pete does a good amount of clean jazz guitar noodling, trying out ideas, as his jazzy side has really been coming out during the solos nowadays. It’s cool to hear, this clean Wes Montgomery version of things, a side that never is never seen in the shows . . .

Video courtesy of Mark Lachovsky 

Video courtesy of Mark Lachovsky

John Hogg and Pete’s guitar tech Simon Law

Tonight I’m told that the driving GPS app (Waze) was warning people away from this area, specifically mentioning The Who concert. I’ve lived here for years, just minutes away, and have never seen that before!

We have a superb opening act, the Joe Perry Project. As we had in Boston, they are back, with one change: now a great female vocalist added and keyboards are gone. But otherwise the same; Brad Whitford (superb Aerosmith guitarist), Chris Robinson (Black Crowes), Robert DeLeo on bass (Stone Temple Pilots), and fantastic loud drummer Jason Sutter. As if that wasn’t enough, midway through the show they bring out Slash on guitar for ‘Mama Kin’ and a few more. Slash has always been a huge Aerosmith fan. (And his bandmate Duff McKagan watched from the wings…) And . . . then . . . Steven Tyler comes out, fully adorned in his scarves and hair and custom clothes. Total rock star presentation, and he brings a bigger show than anyone onstage – despite some heavy competition. The crowd loved it and probably could not have been more entertained.

And onto the main act, Pete, Roger, and friends. The place is packed, and it’s a deceptive view here: It doesn’t look that big from the stage, rather intimate. But when you hike or climb all the way to the back, it looks immense and so distant from the stage. Needless to say, video and screens are important here. And while it’s never quite loud enough back there, the sound is always clear and full.

Roger and Pete saunter out together, and in direct contrast, there is no rockstar behaviour at all, no fancy clothes. Almost like two workers coming out to do a job. Which they are. There’s the usual beginning, some windmill guitar getting the crowd up a little more. Pete thanks the “usual Los Angeles kitchen sink” (I think he means it’s a really big mix of types here. Old rockers, canyon hippies, business people, celebrities from film and music, kids and families, whatever). Pete seems “on” already, moving about a lot, whether it’s felt or pushing hard to make something happen, it’s hard to tell, but it works to animate the show and crowd. Roger sounds his usual strong self – nothing but that great voice and laugh.

Video courtesy of James Wynne

After ‘Listening To You’ ends, Pete mentions that they played it a lot in the late 60s, and people were too stoned back then; they sat and with the many repeats at the end of the song, they started to get up for the ending. Nowadays, he said, they’re already up – so he asked anyone coming on Friday (two nights away) to start it by sitting down at first. I’m always noticing how many songs are better live than they ever were, even though they’re from those famous albums. Maybe this is why Live At Leeds was so popular, the unbridled Who is better than a controlled one most nights. Definitely some parts were rough, like the transition from ‘My Generation’ into ‘Cry If You Want’ – they’re just similar enough to work, but they have different feels. Despite quite a few rehearsals on that matter, it sometimes just doesn’t flow easily from one to the other. So this one tonight was a bit like shifting from first to third gear; it worked but not smoothly. Once it’s rolling, though, all is good. Pete likes to experiment on guitar, and the stutter switch and scraping of strings is adding all kinds of angular noise to these sections. If you’re a once-a-year Who fan, you probably notice the basic songs in the set, and sing along and cheer at the end. But if you’re a die-hard listening or attending more than one show, you’ll be in Grateful Dead territory comparing how the shows differ: They really do change things, allowing it both to be great beyond expectation, or fall just below the normal sometimes – it’s taking chances that makes the band and everyone in the room hold anticipation and excitement. ‘Eminence Front’ is another example – more noises and trying out different versions of the vocal. Roger does this with ‘My Generation’, ‘Cry If You Want’, and ‘5:15’ – trying out vocal parts that play with the up/down of the band jamming.

It went a bit silent just before ‘You Better You Bet’: one of my jobs is starting the backing track for this and a few others. They give no specific instructions, but anyone with musical skill knows when the energy is dying down – but sometimes you can’t just start the song when a musician is not ready onstage: It’s a judgment call, now or wait? Both have perils; wait too long and the forward energy of the whole show dies – even in just a few quick seconds. But start too early and it really screws up someone’s performance. But as soon as they hear the track, very recognizable, everyone cheers – ‘You Better  You Bet’ is a big, big hit and it’s almost perfect every night.

Stress – I was thinking about this today, how it affects different tiers of the entourage here differently. Probably the greatest stress is on the performers themselves: They are in the spotlights, on the big screen, and each person’s part is loud and clear most of the show. The “backline crew” is the team that deals directly with the performers, and if anything goes wrong (broken snare drum, bass amp cuts out) it can instantly wreck the show. Similar for our monitor/sound people and playback; things go correctly 97% of the time, but when it goes wrong, it can be disastrous sometimes – so these are also rather stressful jobs. (I work on backline and playback, so I feel the stress on show days, and am so relieved when it goes well and we get through a show without any big issue. But the stress is still there.) I expect lighting and video are so good at what they do that almost nobody catches an issue – their gear is highly reliable and they have great backup and coverage; usually their world is stable and supportive. Plus we have things like trucking and backstage amenities, ticketing and band “handlers” (those who move the band from here to there). These jobs have their stresses, but they are less intense than a drummer or guitarist feels (can be real fear to do your shining moment right.) Anyways, I realized today how much stress some of us do carry each day. We all constantly worry about failures, like an airline would. We prepare for “worst-case” situations and how to deal with them – in advance when we can. Our team is all professionals, from the top-down, so rarely do we have a full disaster. Even those – The Who deal with them so well that sometimes it feels like an advantage when they happen . . . those shows are so memorable!

At one point, Jody is just pounding on a cowbell, and it’s really loud. Pete can hear it cutting over everything on the stage and turns to make a funny face like “what IS that!?” Afterwards, he voices the classic words into the microphone “More cowbell!!” to a great roar from the crowd.

I love the visual scene ending of ‘The Real Me’ – as Roger sings his repeating “The real me, me, me, me . . .” over and over, the lights have a tricky strobe and shadow effect. Our man David “Fuji” Convertino has programmed the light show we use each night – he and Tom Kenny have created many of our Who lighting presentations over the years. Both are hilarious guys and great to work with; they do a lot besides the Who, video awards, country music acts, metal bands, Latin Grammys – they have some range beyond our needs.

David “Fuji” Convertino and Tom Kenney

“How are you doing!?” Pete yells, and then laughs, saying it’s always a cheap shot to get an audience reaction. But soon after, they are starting into ‘I’m One’ – and Scott clicks the count-off on his sticks – but nobody comes in. “Ladies and gentlemen, the count-in!” Roger proudly announces, when the song itself doesn’t happen. “What a c**t!” Pete seems to be hinting at Scotty. “Shall we start again?” Roger suggests… That wasn’t a cheap shot – everybody was engaged and laughs (I think!) I don’t recall this song being a big singalong before – or maybe it’s just louder tonight – but most everyone who knows it IS singing along. Cool. Speaking of drummers, Simon Phillips is here tonight, although I didn’t see him. Cool that he’s around to say hello to those that knew him from before. I always loved the drumming on the Join Together live album; that’s some incredible stuff.

Video courtesy of Mark Lachovsky

After ‘Love Reign O’er Me’, Pete tells Roger “That always blows my f***ing mind!” as everyone is on their feet applauding the vocals. And we know what’s about to hit them all – the one-two punch of ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ into ‘Baba O’Riley’. And tonight they really put some strength into ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, possibly my favorite of the ones done this year. ‘Baba O’Riley’ is next, with the audience already well into the band’s pocket; this is a home-run of a show already, plus Katie comes out and takes it further.  Scotty does a great drum fill in there somewhere, something unexpected and powerful, and Jon Button shows surprise on his face, too – that was a great moment.Pete and Rog both smiling and the telltale footwork; if they are dancing and hopping around, it’s a good show. We have many such things in each show. Moments that come and go. Sometimes you notice, sometimes not, but they are there!

This crowd is great, fun and noisy, but not out of control. To be fair, it’s a weeknight, so likely many of these will have work or something in the morning. But absolutely this show is stellar – not flawless but one of the best we’ve seen, maybe room to grow on the coming Friday show?

‘Tea & Theatre’ – during the day-off here in LA, Pete sent guitar handler Simon Law out to one of the many guitar shops to find him a new acoustic guitar just for this. Something with a more-comfortable neck, as he’s usually a big strummer on his big (Sheraton) Gibson, but ‘Tea & Theatre’ has a lot of softly fingerpicked and high-up-the-neck work. So Simon has brought this Martin out – they tested it first for the VIP folks this evening at soundcheck – and it’s now part of the show for the remainder of the run.

Then they finish. Sort of . . .

Pete and Roger clasp each other and hug, but then start to talk. And talk and talk, and talk. It never ends, seemingly. I thought it was seven minutes long, but realistically maybe more like four minutes, possibly. Still – by far – the longest they’ve ever done this onstage at the end of a show. They talked about not coming back, so Pete joked about having a banjo band duo, or whatever. It feels like they are enjoying these times and don’t want to give it up – in the moment – but things may be different away from the crowds. Then they started reminiscing about meeting – in 1961, Roger demanded that Pete join his band, with Rog on lead guitar. And so it began – a long, long run that continues at-preset. It was a strange (in a good way) ending to a great night for all of us. But I’ve never seen this before, the extended emotional outpouring and friendly togetherness like this. It’s powerful, and very personal stuff – again, not “show biz” but the side we love of this band. Big personalities capable of being sentimental and emotional.

Video courtesy of mano1971music 

(Inspired by this ending, I would welcome ‘The TWO’ shows in the near future, with just Rog and Pedro onstage: Lots of film clips shown, photos and stories, a few simple songs on guitar and piano, maybe a ukulele song or three. That would be a cool thing to see, and a huge contrast to a real Who tour . . . so not the demanding/exhausting stuff. One can hope. They would be really good at that I expect, and a lovely alternate side of their musical world.)

Onward! . . .

Tonight’s set list follows after this photo. If you don’t wish to know it, look away NOW!

I Can’t Explain
Substitute
Who Are You
I Can See for Miles
Long Live Rock
Pinball Wizard
See Me, Feel Me / Listening To You
Love Ain’t for Keeping
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
Won’t Get Fooled Again
Baba O’Riley
The Song Is Over
Tea & Theatre

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