The Who wrap up UK tour with fantastic show at Eden Project!

The Who closed out a month of Summer UK concerts last night (25 July) with a stunning performance at the picturesque Eden Project in Cornwall!

The Who Hits Back tour brought their orchestral show to a series of mainly outdoor venues around England and Scotland, with performances at Edinburgh Castle, Badminton Estate famous for it’s horse trials, rugby stadiums in Hull and St Helens, cricket grounds in Derby and Brighton, the 02 Arena in London, and finally, the Eden Project, which is a spectacular garden famous for it’s incredible greenhouse Biomes.

July would normally be a fabulous time of year to kick back and enjoy an evening under the stars watching a show, but as fate would have it, this summer has been a bit on the cool and wet side in the UK, so fans had to dodge rain drops before or during a few of the shows. But the spirit of the crowds were never dampened by the weather, and a good time was had by all the moment The Who hit the stage!

Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey performed with their excellent touring band of Simon Townshend on guitar, Zak Starkey on drums, Jon Button on bass, Billy Nicholls on backing vocals, Loren Gold on keyboards, and Emily Marshall on second keyboards. Pete’s brother Simon Townshend also gave rousing performances as the opening act at the Edinburgh Castle and Eden Project shows.

The Who performed with the Heart of England Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Keith Levenson, and featuring Katie Jacoby on violin and Audrey Snyder on cello. Unlike past tours where every show had a different orchestra of local musicians, this tour they used the same orchestra for all the concerts, so they were able to really bond with the band over the series of shows together.

Following on from the Europe shows in June and the US shows last year, The Who treated UK crowds to beautiful orchestral medleys from Tommy and Quadrophenia, along with many of their greatest hits, with a band only section in the middle that featured more hits, including a nice set of early singles from the 60’s. Some of the early shows ended with Pete and Roger performing the sentimental acoustic number Tea and Theatre. Later in the tour, Pete began switching out his usual Strat for a Rickenbacker to perform Anyway, Anywhere, Anyhow, in order to capture the distinctive guitar sound of the original recording.

The Who were in brilliant form throughout the tour, and seemed to pick up steam with every show. Age has not diminished Pete or Roger at all, and they still deliver such powerful performances every night. All the reviews have been glowing for these shows, and The Who continue to be one of the most exciting and dynamic bands to hit the stage this summer!

The Who have one more special performance coming up this summer, with a show at the Royal Sandringham Estate on August 28. That one should be truly amazing to see for those lucky enough to go. Fingers crossed they film it for a future video release!

Many thanks to everyone who contributed all the wonderful photos, reviews, videos, and setlists for all the shows this tour!

To view the concert pages, please visit The Who Hits Back tour page.

Here are a few lovely photos from the Eden Project show taken by Melissa and Gary Hurley and Matthew North.

Eden Project Photo credit: Melissa and Gary Hurley