The Who have kicked off their farewell tour ‘The Song Is Over’ in Italy with their new drummer – take a look at fan-filmed footage below.
The legendary band announced the farewell tour last May which they kicked off last night with a small run in Italy.
Notably, this will also be The Who’s first tour without longtime drummer Zak Starkey, who was fired around the time of the farewell tour’s announcement. Starkey claimed the band asked him to “lie” about the reasons for quitting the band, with his father Ringo Starr of The Beatles hitting out at Roger Daltrey over the firing. Scott Devours, who previously drummed in Daltrey’s solo band, has taken over Starkey’s duties on The Who’s farewell tour.
Now, The Who have officially kicked things off with an intimate show at Anfiteatro Camerini, located in Piazzola sul Brenta, Italy. Their show on Sunday (July 20) saw them play through hits like ‘My Generation’, ‘Pinball Wizard’ and ‘Baba O’Riley’. It also saw the band perform ‘I’ve Had Enough’ from their 1978 record ‘Who Are You’ for the first time in 12 years – take a look at fan-filmed footage below:
The Who’s ‘The Song Is Over’ setlist in Piazzola sul Brenta is:
‘I Can’t Explain’
‘Substitute’
‘Who Are You’
‘Love Ain’t for Keepin”
‘Bargain’
‘The Seeker’
‘Pinball Wizard’
‘Behind Blue Eyes’
‘The Real Me’
‘5:15’
‘I’m One’
‘I’ve Had Enough’
‘Love, Reign O’er Me’
‘Eminence Front’
‘My Generation’
‘Cry If You Want’
‘See Me, Feel Me’
‘You Better You Bet’
‘Baba O’Riley’
‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’
Last June, we spoke to Starkey himself about his split from the band, which came after The Who performed at the Royal Albert Hall in March as part of this year’s Teenage Cancer Trust gig series.
During the gig, Daltrey publicly called out Starkey mid-show for allegedly overplaying during ‘The Song Is Over’ – though Townshend would later go on to say he “couldn’t see anything wrong” with the gig.
Starkey told NME that upon the news of being fired, “Pete [Townshend, guitarist] said, ‘Are you strong enough to fight for your job back?’ I said, ‘Not if you’ve got to do it for me’. If it wasn’t for The Who, I wouldn’t be playing the drums. I was a guitarist first. And then he went, ‘Alright, let’s get you your job back’.
“Roger demanded a public apology and me admitting that I dropped two beats. So I did it, but with a duck playing drums – which is my character in the new Mantra Of The Cosmos video. Pete phoned me and he went, ‘Try that again without the duck’. I did it without the duck, got the gig back – 10 days later, sacked again. Roger said he couldn’t work with me no more after I’d done that.
“I still talk to Roger every week on the phone, I still text with Pete all the time,” he continued. “I spoke to Roger a few weeks ago and he said, ‘Don’t take your drums out of the warehouse just yet in case we need you’. What the fuck’s going on, man? That’s where we’re at now.”
After Italy, The Who will then proceed to tour North America, starting in August 16 at Florida’s Amerant Bank Arena and rounding off with a final show at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena (September 28). Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters, Billy Idol, Booker T. Jones, Candlebox, Feist, Joe Bonamassa, The Joe Perry Project, Tom Cochrane, and ZZ Ward are all slated to appear as “special guests” on the tour.
There’s no word yet as to whether they’ll visit the UK and Europe for a full tour.
Elsewhere, The Who’s Roger Daltrey has reacted to receiving a Knighthood: “It is a wonderful honour for me”.