Roger Daltrey/Leslie Mendelson @ Town Hall, New York, NY 9/27/26
Bill: Roger Daltrey/Leslie Mendelson
Venue: Town Hall, 123 W 43 St., New York, NY
Date: Sunday 9/27/26
Ticket: $66 (Balcony Row F Seat 22 via Stubhub a few days prior)
9pm Roger Daltrey
Active: 1959 (London, UK)
Affiliated: The Who
Latest Release: The Who's Tommy Orchestral (Polydor, 2019)
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8pm Leslie Mendelson
Active: 2004 (New York, NY)
Latest Release: After The Party (The Royal Potato Family, 2024)
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Roger Daltrey plays a bit to his own piper. I hadn't seen him solo before and he took a 9-piece band into the 1,500 capacity Town Hall in midtown to back him for what he called "A Great Night Out." Well, it was, his voice sounded great. There seemed to be some issue half a year ago that has been resolved and Zack Starkey is back in rehearsal for the Who so "the fire still burns" for Roger, although he leaves the scream in "Won't Get Fooled Again" to the audience now.
I was wondering exactly why Leslie Mendelson was in the Who orbit opening for the Who itself as well as Roger solo all these years. Apparently, she came to their attention covering "Baba O'Riley" in Shepards Bush in 2014 for a Who tribute show the backing band was involved with and Roger liked her. Her most memorable song she played tonight was her last where she complains they don't play Rock 'n' Roll on the radio anymore. There's a little bit of careerism going on where everywhere you look to find some info about her, she is cited as Grammy-nominated. This bleeds locally into the jam-band scene a bit and I guess there was some Spin Doctors affiliated production and even went into the Dead world where she had dueted with Bob Weir. It interesting how some people can get twenty years on, still have a powerful support network, yet seem like they are a little stuck below their aspirations. I guess that's showbiz. Maybe it's the material. Pete will have to come in and save the day on this one.
So Roger brought his band out and kicked into the song Pete made a hit without him in 1980, "Let My Love Open The Door." The 80's history is interesting how they tried to end the Who, but Pete was sending coded messages via cassette for song suggestion. Roger had a minor hit with "After The Fire" from that tape, but even though he had his own top 40 movie hit with "Without Your Love" from McVicar and doing just fine with a solo career, it wasn't THE WHO and couldn't crack arena and stadium headlining. The fire still burned and they came back to resusitate their live brand for decades to come.
Roger wanted to move away from The Who for this tour and with a handful of exceptions, do other things. "Substitute" was the only 60's hit we got tonight. Of course, there is no escaping the Who even with younger (by 15 years) pro brother Simon Townshend there on guitar. Even if Simon fucked up his one lead vocal in the show going into a non-existant verse during "Going Mobile" that he couldn't recover from, there is no mistaking those genes. Who needs stodgy uber-slick professionalism anyway?
Fun was the name of the game. So was getting the audience involved. In addition to the scream prompt of "Won't Get Fooled Again," we were given a call-and-response "Squeeze Box" audience chorus first ladies, then gents then everyone together in-and-outing. Roger had a impish grin on his 82 year old face. He still flies the flag for Rock 'n' Roll after all. He seemed to have the most fun when he was breaking out the 1965 Northern Soul B-side by Garret Mimms, "As Long As I Have You."
Roger looked to flesh out his setlist with songwriters of his age like John Fogerty ("Have You Ever Seen The Rain") Paul Simon ("The Boy In The Bubble") and Neil Young ("Rockin' In The Free World") as well as influencers like Taj Mahal ("Freedom Ride" he appeared on in the Largo project album) and even a pop warhorse like "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash got the Daltrey interpretation. I'd highly recommend: the voice is in good form, Roger is highly conversational in his between song banter and he even did a birthday special for a girl named Sue. What more can you do?
Save it for the Who.
FOR FURTHER REVIEW:
The Who-The Who Sing My Generation (1966)
The Who-Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy (1971)
The Who-The Who By Numbers (1975)
The Who-20th Century Masters: The Best of The Who: The Millenium Collection (1999)
Pete Townshend-Empty Glass (1980)
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