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Videos
I Can't Explain
Substitute
Who Are You
Who Are You
Love Ain't For Keeping
The Seeker
Behind Blue Eyes
The Real Me, 5:15
I'm One
I've Had Enough
Love Reign O'er Me
My Generation
Baba O'Riley
Press
Review by Eleonora Bagarotti and Alberto Genero
The Who's final Italian tour: two isolated dates in Padua and Milan.
The first concert was much better than the two concerts at the Royal Albert Hall last March, which both Eleonora and I attended.
After the classic, well-executed start with I Can't Explain, Substitute and Who Are You, we were thrilled to have confirmation that Love Ain't For Keeping is still present in the set list (as Alberto contributed to the Who's Next box set, these 1971 gems are a Holy Grail for him).
We hope that this good form will be confirmed in Milan, hoping is a good omen for The Song Is Over last tour in the USA.
The lion's share was taken by the five tracks of Quadrophenia: The Real Me, 5:15 (a beautiful track that without John Entwistle is more anonymous), I'm one in a lyrical interpretation by Pete; a nice surprise, the inclusion of I’ve Had Enough, and Love Reign O’er Me at the end, of which the audience stood up for a standing ovation to Roger Daltrey.
Tommy’s presence is less preponderant, See Me Feel Me is followed by You Better You Bet, a song that is always catchy even if its interpretation is uneven.
It is a duty for the Italian audience to close with Baba and WHFA.
It’s a shame to close the Song Is Over Italian shows without a small tribute of any tracks of Who by Numbers, a great and underrated album (Eleonora would have been happy to listen songs from Endless Wire live).
In Padua, Pete and Roger left a great memory.
At the end of the show, Alberto complimented Scott for his great work on drums.
Review by Derick Bhupsingh
What can I say? This band was absolutely beautiful and brilliant tonight.
The Concert was set in a historic compound on an Italian palazzo or Chateau, in a lovely old building and on cobbled stones.
I am completely biased of course. Man they rocked that place and I even think it was a better gig than the Last one at the Albert Hall. No stopping songs half way through then restarting.
Pete gave his all. Ok he dropped a pick. Rogers voice was truly amazing. How he does it is anyone's guess. But you could see they were quite knackered by the end.
They opened with ICE then Substitute, which got people up and dancing and singing. The floor was all cobbled stones however, so not too easy to do.
Great fun soon turned into... misery, as the gestapo tactics by security were imposed on everybody. You could not stand. You must sit down. Then they put security officers in chairs facing us to control us. So for the whole gig it was like that! Until the very last numbers which were BOR and WGFA which closed the gig.
The entire band were great, including Scott. No Jody however and no Billy Nicholls.
I loved every second of it. This was a night to remember. Met and spoke to many Italian Who fans who are wonderful. So our Little escapade was marvelous. I had a blast as they say.
Oh outstanding song was I've Had Enough...that blew me away! SMFM ran second, and BOR a close third...
Review by Simone Simo
It’s a warm midsummer evening in northeastern Italy, our favourite season, the season of open air gigs and rock’n’roll. Music’s in the air as people start gathering in the charming Anfiteatro Camerini in Piazzola sul Brenta, a few kilometres away from Padua.
The Who is about to play really soon, at 9pm they get onstage while many people still have to get to their seats.
I Can’t Explain is the opener of the show, some brave people, including myself, stand up and start dancing in the front row, under the stage. The guys in the security service don’t seem to appreciate this kind of behaviour, and send us away threatening us. What should be a rock’n’roll gig is treated like an opera concert, forcing the crowd to sit down anytime someone tries to stand up. But, what is that makes us want so hard to stand up and dance? The music played by our heroes, of course.
The gig displays timeless classics such as Substitute, My Generation, Pinball Wizard, Baba O’Riley and more, for a total of 1h40 of non stop music. The crowd’s amazed and stands up cheering and applauding at the end of every number.
Roger and Pete both seem quite happy to be back to Italy playing together again, after their participation to the Firenze Rocks festival in 2023. Roger appreciates the location a lot, “someone really rich lived here”, he states watching, amazed, the charming villa in the background.
In the middle of the gig, the crowd gets surprised by The Who performing My Generation, back on the setlist after several years. The song is part of a nostalgic medley which reminds me of the famous album Live at Leeds, fading into See Me Feel Me, and ending with Cry If You Want.
The whole gig is ruled by Roger’s voice, loud as thunder as he’s at his best vocal condition, and Pete’s rocking guitar. His riffs are the back of The Who’s sound and all the necessary to give life to a perfect Who song, he’s pure rock’n’roll, shaking, twisting and rolling his arm, doing his iconic windmill around his Fender Stratocaster.
The encores include Baba O’Riley and Won’t Get Fooled Again, everybody stands up and hurries to get under the stage to celebrate the epic ending of an epic gig. At the end of the last song Pete and Roger get together in a hug and thank the crowd for their effort and participation. It’s an emotional goodbye, as their farewell tour starts with a big success.
As usual, when the show’s over, people get under the stage hoping to receive a pic or a setlist. I managed to get a setlist, a precious reminder of the show, now proudly displayed on the wall in my room at home.
The Who forever, long live rock.
Review by Reinhard Kollarich
At the age of 12 years I was very excited about the most huge music festival that took place on the 13th of July 1985 all over the world. I was waiting for the music I knew that has been played on radio. But once it was in the evening, there started a band with a music that blew me away, a cool looking singer in jeans and a guitarist who played guitar by doing windmills with his arm. Definitely something really new for me – it was time to free my concert guitar from dust and try to play some power chords.
Years have gone and I must be fair, I haven´t heard the boys for a long time, but as life goes on my family and me went to a holiday on ice show this year – most music from the presence – except two songs – one was Pinball Wizard. I started to play my old who records and my daughter really liked the music – I recognized that they were playing in Italy this year and Padova isn´t that far from Venice. So everything got it´s course, we got us 3 tickets first and then the hotel and flights.
Now, exactly 40 years later after Live Aid I got the chance to see my band again, for the 4th time. I have seen them 97 in Vienna, 04 at the IoW and 06 in St. Pölten. Every time a highlight. But now, it was the first time to see them with my 6.5 year old daughter – what a chance.
I wasn´t sure how the band would play at the concert or if it will be a fight through their songs, as I have seen some clips from the Teenage Cancer events this year.
BUT what a great night. Start strong is the key – and yes they did with I can´t explain, Substitute and Who are you... perfect. The band was tight and Rogers voice was unbelievably fresh and Pete – yes, he was very inspired and did a lot windmills and a superb solo in Love ain´t for Keeping.
Hearing also 5 quad song in a row was also a great thing for me. I Had Enough was a fine choice, because of the songs tensions and Love Reign Over Me was also song a highlight this night.
Italian fans are very special as I know from other concerts in the past – which makes every concert very special – and with such great scenery as the Piazzola sul Brenta has – there couldn't be anything wrong anymore. The audience carried the band the whole night and the band felt that spirit.
To get our last train to Venice we had to leave earlier but we heard Baba and a few lines from Won't Get Fooled outside the arena and in the taxi.
This great summer day ended with the best music in our ears.
Reinhard, Sonja and Eleni
Vienna/Austria