Jolly Roger is still flying high
Pop Roger Daltrey Royal Albert Hall
Roger Daltrey is one of rock’s most iconic stars, the roaring voice of The Who. In the Sixties and Seventies, with cascading curls and bare chest, wildly swinging his microphone as if it was a lethal weapon, he set a template for a kind of masculine warrior idol. He was the ideal frontman for a band that always seemed on the verge of descending into mayhem or ascending to nirvana.
He still does the microphone lasso tricks but, at 74, Daltrey is a much more avuncular presence. As the patron of Teenage Cancer Trust, he has organised an annual week of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall since 2000, raising millions for the charity. So he had the relaxed air of being among friends as he headlined his own show, doing his bit for a good cause, chatting with humour between songs.
He was essentially backed by The Who’s live band, and the set was filled with Who classics, intriguingly padded out with more obscure personal favourites from their catalogue, some of which had never been performed on stage before. Daltrey jokingly dedicated Another Tricky Day (from Face Dances) and How Many Friends (from The Who by Numbers) to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg: “He’s going to find out how many real friends he’s got now.”
Introducing Going Mobile from Who’s Next, he revealed that absent bandmate Pete Townshend never liked to play it because he found the strumming action too hard.
“He’s got a metal plate in his wrist these days.” When Simon Townshend filled in for his older brother, Daltrey noted, “He’s a lovely chap, Simon.
I used to change his nappies.” He was possibly guilty of oversharing. “You should try blowing one of these things,” he commented after a ripping harmonica solo. “At my age, I’ve got more wind coming out the other end.”
The odd set made for a strangely easy-going evening, and it was hard not to miss the volatile presence of Pete Townshend. Even so, those giant anthems – I Can See for Miles, Who Are
You, Baba O’riley – remain some of the most effective in all rock history, and when Daltrey got to work on them it sounded as though he was trying to tear the hall down.
Hoarser than in his glory days, Daltrey still has a big voice that strains magisterially in the high register and grows with bluesy gusto in the low. He has an impressive use-it-or-lose-it attitude, driven by the conviction that he needs to keep singing and performing to maintain his voice and keep the fire burning.
He is so closely associated with The Who, it can be overlooked that he has made nine solo albums, with another on the way.
He previewed a couple of new songs at the end of the show, and they sounded better than anything from The Who’s last album, Endless Wire
(2006). If Pete is paying attention, maybe it’s time he gave his old comrade something to really sink his chops into.