The Who launched The Song Is Over -- The North American Farewell Tour Saturday at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, just outside of Fort Lauderdale.
The one big surprise was their first-ever performance of "Going Mobile" from 1971's Who's Next. A staple of Roger Daltrey's shows, it was sung by Pete Townhend's younger brother Simon Townshend, who sings it in Daltrey's band.
Daltrey has long been in favor of introducing un-played or rarely played songs to the set.
The other U.S. debut was the title track and last song of the night, "The Song Is Over," which they only did two other times -- this past March in London and last month in Italy.
As for the rest of the show, it was the usual array of suspects, including "I Can't Explain," "Who Are You," "Behind Blue Eyes," which they had to re-start due to technical difficulties, "Pinball Wizard," "You Better You Bet," "Love, Reign O'er Me," "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again." (Full set list below.)
In regard to the technical difficulties, Daltrey said, "You’ll never remember the perfect show. You’ll remember the [screw]-ups.”
They are doing a total of 17 shows through September 28th in Las Vegas with Newark, New Jersey tomorrow. No Texas dates so far.
This is The Who's first tour with drummer Scott Devours from Daltrey's band in place of Zak Starkey, who they parted with after their London shows in March.
This is also their second farewell tour with the first coming in 1982 when they were in their 30s. Now that Daltrey is 81 and Townshend 80, it makes sense that they're winding it down.
And, depending on how this tour goes will determine if they take it elsewhere.
The Who set list - August 16th in Sunrise, Florida:
- I Can't Explain
- Substitute
- Who Are You
- The Seeker
- I Can See for Miles
- Bargain
- Love Ain't for Keepin'
- Behind Blue Eyes
- Going Mobile - live debut with Simon Townshend on lead vocals
- Pinball Wizard
- See Me, Feel Me
- Eminence Front
- My Generation
- 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