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Videos
I Can't Explain
I Can't Explain
I Can't Explain
I Can't Explain / The Seeker
The Seeker
Who Are You
The Kids Are Alright
The Kids Are Alright
Pictures of Lily
I Can See for Miles
My Generation
Behind Blue Eyes
I'm One
I'm One
Love Reign O'er Me
Love Reign O'er Me
Sparks
Pinball Wizard
Pinball Wizard
See Me, Feel Me
Baba O'Riley
Won't Get Fooled Again
Won't Get Fooled Again
Press
Telegraph
Independent
NME
TV3
Just Backdated
Rolling Stone
Gigwise
Brian Kehew's report
Review by Dante DiCarlo
Nine years after I saw the Who play Hyde park I prepared to revisit the experience. The weather was great and I arrived just as main stage opener Gaz Coombs started playing. Somehow I wandered around the side and down to the front and soon after found myself on the front barrier to the left. My plans of seeing Vintage Trouble and Standard Lamps on the other stages went out the window as I prepared to stay put for the duration.
The rest of the acts were all decent enough, Johnny Marr was fine, Kaiser Chiefs had a lot of energy courtesy of front man Ricky Wilson but I thought they played for too long. Paul Weller was great and wish he had had a bit longer at the expense of Kaiser Chiefs.
Then time for the main act. The Who appeared with Pete telling the crowd “you are very far away.... but we will fucking reach you!” I can't speak for the people further back, but I was certainly reached. “I Can't Explain” started off the set, Pete's guitar sounding perfect, distorted and powerful yet clear. The sound at the front was excellent all night and Roger sounded fantastic not only at the start of the show but pretty much all the way through. Pete was in full energetic mode, throwing bucket loads of windmills into songs as he saw fit.
They dedicated “Pictures Of Lily” to Paul Weller as it is apparently his favourite Who song. Pete spoke about how Paul had brought back the mod movement in the late 70s and remarked on his wonderful solo career adding that he hoped it was a mutual appreciation society.
A highlight for me was hearing Bargain, which I don't think I've heard in over 10 years. Mainly though it was a greatest hits set, no time to play “A Quick One” and as with recent gigs no time for one of their most famous songs “Substitute” but it was a very tight streamlined set.
Towards the end of the night Roger once again blew everyone away on “Love Reign O'er Me” and Pete did the same on “Amazing Journey/Sparks”. I realised after the show that I couldn't really recall a Who show where there wasn't some very noticeable goofs, especially lyric flubs, but at Hyde Park they were pretty much perfect. Nice that they chose to film this for an upcoming DVD release.
If this was indeed their last London gig, it was a great one to end on. After getting home I looked on Facebook and discovered people that I didn't even know were Who fans had been there and were raving about the gig. One of my friends in his mid to late 20s commented that they were still the best band he'd ever seen. Though I only saw three who fans that I knew there, it seems just about everyone was there that night. I even saw Leslie Ash behind me. All in all a wonderful day of British summer and music. One to remember for sure.
Review by Matthew North
So after a frankly horrid drive to London, Park up outside my usual spot and get the underground in to Hyde Park. Once outside the venue there is a massive entrance that is empty but I’m not allowed in, oh no this is just for VIP and People that paid for express entry even though the site had been opened for well over 3 hours.
So I walk up to the poor peoples entrance, and once through the atmosphere of the place was nothing like it was in 2006. It was FULL of corporate sponsorship everywhere, Barclaycard this Bulmers that. Getting on to Drinks prices, £5 would buy you a Pint of larger or a 333ml bottle of cider. Fancy some water £2.50 a bottle.
What I was most disgusted about was one of the bars was sponsored by Stub Hub a third party ticket seller, this is something I know the who are very much against, but this wasn’t the Who’s gig is was part of the Barclaycard BST Summertime. They tried to give the event a festival feel, and they failed with all of its Las Vegas tat.
The support acts were spread across 4 stages, but only 2 of them were visible and you had to really look hard to find the other stages. The toilets were awful without adequate hand washing facilities.
Right enough of the site. As for the music, I was gutted I missed both Standard Lamps and Johnny Marr, I arrived just as Vintage Trouble finished, at least I did see 30 seconds of them. The Kaiser Chiefs were on, they were well they didn’t set my world alight, and nor did Paul Weller maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for it?
I was also annoyed at the 2 tier system for where you stand, meaning that only the VIP Premier people would have got within 20 foot of the stage, a point noted when Pete came on stage his first words were ‘You all look a very long way away’.
Just before the show, there was a presentation on the big screens about the bands history of playing Hyde Park, inc mention of 06 when the top gear team did a skit about taking the bands kit to the next gig, though on the screen it said they took it up north, but I don’t think you will find Beaulieu up north more like 50 miles west haha.
The band did an hour and a half of mostly the big numbers from the singles catalogue, Much as I wished there was never going to be a chance of hearing Naked Eye or A quick one I’m destined never to hear those tunes live it would seem.
The Who were on form and seemed to enjoy it, if they want to leave London on a high, then they did that alright, and I’m sure that Glastonbury is going to be as epic as it was in 2007.
I do really miss seeing Rabbit on stage with them though. I do hope I see The Who one more time before they finish, it was a good gig but not the best, Won’t Get Fooled Again appeared to go a little astray at the end.
Review by Mark Smith
So, my 21st show. I really thought the Birmingham show in Dec was the last time I would see Pete and Roger. So this show was a bonus. The Wife and I arrived at the site when the Kaiser Chiefs were on stage (a slimline Ricky trying so hard to get the crowd going). The crowd: massive! We got the beer in! Mr. Weller was on next. I thought he was good, I'm not a fan by any means. We were way back at this point, and it was difficult to concentrate on the music with so much going on around us: fairground rides, food stalls and general boisterousness- all good fun!
We started to move forward when Weller had finished, then The Who were on! They played really well (better than the Brum show). It was a great set, seemed a little short though. We settled on a spot by one of the delay towers, number 5 I think. The band were still small specks though. I won't go into any more detail on the actual show - check out the Youtube clips. My wife had to go to the toilet about three quarters of the way through the set: I never saw her again until the end, she got mixed up about what delay tower I was at. And that was it. No Tea and Theatre, they finished with Won't Get Fooled Again. No encore. As Roger thanked the crowd there was a real sense he was saying goodbye - or that's how it felt anyway. But really great stuff. Took an age to get out, but that's big crowds for you. It was a good 'un!
All the best to them for tonight's show. and I thank them for all the cracking shows I've attended over the past 19 years.
