The Who – Target Center – Minneapolis, MN – May 1, 2016

The Who bring their “The Who Hits 50!” tour to Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 1, 2016.  It is a great day for a concert, being the one of the first nice and warm days in the city in weeks.  The feeling around the city is positive and upbeat, as people are excited to see a band that has been rocking for more than fifty years now.  The show is sold out and the audience could not be more excited.  Packed to the rafters, the Target Center is filled with audience members ranging from their twenties to their seventies.  I have never seen The Who, having missed them last time they came through town.  Luckily, the last tour was mostly filled with the “Quadrophenia” album and a few scattered hits.  This show is nothing but sheer hits, ranging throughout various years from “Who Are You?” to “My Generation”, “Eminence Front”, and “The Kids are Alright”.

For being over seventy years old and for having surpassed vocal meningitis and vocal cord surgery, Roger Daltrey sounded amazing.  Pete Townshend’s guitar skills carried the show, switched from the utter psychedelics of “My Generation”, do the downright haunting “The Rock”, and the finale,  “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. He and Roger interacted heavily with the crowd throughout the evening, telling stories about the songs, the Monterey Pop festival, and finally at the end of the night when they stated to the crowd, “We do our best. We’re really too old for this. And from what I can see, you’re much too young.”

The show lasted just about two hours, satisfying just about everyone in the audience.  Those who stated that Daltrey’s voice sounded off should take into account the fact that The Who have been doing this for longer than a good amount of the audience last night have been alive.  They’re in their seventies and are still selling out concerts.  His vocal cords have been through hell and back.  It’s not 1967 anymore, but we can all enjoy the show like it is.