Review: Classic rock titans bring most recent farewell tour to Bay Area

I broke my bed to The Who back in the ’80s.

Wait. I can explain.

I was listening to “Who Are You” at full volume and bouncing up and down on the bed. After one particularly impressive bound — compete with a Pete Townshend-style windmill arm move and leg kick — I landed back down and cracked a number of slats under the mattress. Instead of informing my dad, I decided the best course was to keep mum on the situation and just sleep on that broken bed until I someday moved out. I was like 13 at the time, so that only meant waiting another five years or so.

As with most plans of my teenage years, this one didn’t work the way I hoped it would — and my dad eventually found out what happened.

The point I’m getting to, in a fashion that is way slower than my editor would probably like, is that there are millions of people from my generation — as well as the ones before and after — who have memories set to the soundtrack of The Who.

And some 10,000 of those fans turned out on Sunday night to relive them — and perhaps even make some new ones — as The Who brought its most recent farewell tour to the Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View.

Roger Daltrey swings the microphone as he performs with The Who at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View on Sept. 21, 2025. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

The trek is officially dubbed The Song Is Over: The North American Farewell Tour, which follows its debut final tour in 1982 and, more than three decades later, The Who Hits 50! — described by vocalist Roger Daltrey as the British band’s “long goodbye.”

So, here we are a decade removed from that “long goodbye” and is there any reason to believe Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend when they say that they are 100 percent going to stop touring when The Song Is Over concludes?

Absolutely not.

Yet, it’s always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to The Who farewell tours. So, we’re willing to put ourselves in a position to get fooled again — if it means getting to see Daltrey and Townshend perform from this great catalog for possibly the final time. The guys are both in their 80s — Daltrey is 81, while Townshend is just a young pup at 80 — so, really, one of these days has to be the last time, right?

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Whatever comes down the line, The Who certainly made Sunday’s show count, delivering a 22-song set filled mostly with fan favorites and showcasing many of the reasons why the group was once widely considered to be the finest in all of rock.

Daltrey’s voice — the one thing that really makes or breaks a Who show — sounded amazingly strong for most of the night. Of course, he doesn’t hit those big notes the legendary way he did 50-plus years ago. But he still handles them in a fashion that tops what you’ll hear from most singers half — or, even, a quarter of — his age in rock.

The group kicked off the two-hour show back at the beginning, going back to its birth year of 1964 for “I Can’t Explain” and then moving forward one year for “Substitute.”

Pete Townshend performs his signature guitar windmill as he plays with The Who at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View on Sept. 21, 2025. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

From those two early singles — both of which were collected up on the 1971 compilation “Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy” — Daltrey and Townshend took the highly appreciative crowd on a fun tour through its songbook, moving from the 1965 full-length debut “My Generation” (or, as it was released the following year in the U.S., “The Who Sings My Generation”) all the way up to the band’s 11th studio outing, 2006’s “Endless Wire.”

Townshend was windmilling away right from the first number, showcasing his trademark enthusiasm while always seeming to be the one directing what was happening onstage.

Townshend has gone from being an overrated axe man– who never really should have been considered in the same league as guitar heroes Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck anyway — to now being definitely underrated, as people often point to his playing as the least impressive link in the classic Who lineup (with powerhouse vocalist Daltrey, wild-man drummer Keith Moon and bassist-extraordinaire John Entwistle).

He came across at Shoreline as — well, what he’s always been — the perfect guitarist for this music. He brings the memorable riffs, the boundless energy and the constant reminder of what rock done right looks and sounds like. Substitute (name your pick for top fret-blazing guitar ace here) into the band and the music would lose its magic.

Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend perform Who Are You?with The Who at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View on Sept. 21, 2025. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

Daltrey and Townshend were working in front of a topnotch group of players, consisting of guitarist Simon (brother of Pete) Townshend, keyboardist Loren Gold, bassist Jon Button, percussionist Jody Linscott, backing vocalist John Hogg and drummer Scott Devours, who has done a superb job taking over the throne from Zak Starkey.

Daltrey was at his best when it counted most, bringing the drama to those big vocal moments at the end of “Love, Reign O’er Me” and then powering through arguably the most famous scream in all of rock ‘n’ roll history for “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

Fans all had their favorite moments from this show. Mine came when the group played “Who Are You” and I turned to my 16-year-old daughter — who was seeing her very first show from The Who — and I shared with her the story of how this music-obsessed young teen once broke his bed while jumping around to the song. We shared a smile and a laugh about that.

And, just like that, a new memory — set to the soundtrack of The Who — was born.

Pete Townshend sticks his tongue out as he performs his signature guitar windmill as he plays with The Who at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View on Sept. 21, 2025. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

The Who setlist:
1. “I Can’t Explain”
2. “Substitute”
3. “Who Are You”
4. “I Can See for Miles”
5. “Long Live Rock”
6. “Pinball Wizard”
7. “See Me, Feel Me”
8. “Another Tricky Day”
9. “Behind Blue Eyes”
10. “My Generation”
11. “Cry If You Want”
12. “You Better You Bet”
13. “Eminence Front”
14. “I’m One”
15. “The Real Me”
16. “5:15”
17. “Love, Reign O’er Me”
18. “Going Mobile”
19. “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
20. “Baba O’Riley”
21. “The Song Is Over”
22. “Tea & Theatre”