The Who is wrapping a lifetime of touring in the US and fans feel 'bittersweet' Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAYSeptember 29, 2025 at 9:36 PM 0 LAS VEGAS – About four hours before they would uncork "Who Are You" to an arena packed with 17,000 fans, The Who ripped out the 1978 singalong for about 100 peop...
- - The Who is wrapping a lifetime of touring in the US and fans feel 'bittersweet'
Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAYSeptember 29, 2025 at 9:36 PM
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LAS VEGAS – About four hours before they would uncork "Who Are You" to an arena packed with 17,000 fans, The Who ripped out the 1978 singalong for about 100 people.
The assembly inside MGM Grand Garden Arena eagerly filmed the band's three-song soundcheck, enraptured by the presence of leaders Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend who also performed "I Can See For Miles" and "I'm One," with crowd-size-agnostic vigor.
But why is The Who, which has toured the U.S. since 1967 and is one show away from the finale of an 18-date farewell tour Oct. 1, even soundchecking at the sunset of a 60-year-career?
"Most good bands still do," says Tom Kenny, the band's lighting designer for 33 years.
Indeed, when The Who hits the stage just before 9 p.m. on Sept. 28, they sound taut and crisp, digging into "I Can't Explain" with the wisdom of veterans and the liveliness of teenagers who broke out of the London club scene in the mid-'60s to conquer America.
Now, they end their shows with the double punch of "The Song is Over," the ballad that gives this North American goodbye its name, and "Tea & Theatre," from 2006's mini-opera "Endless Wire."
Don't think the emotion isn't felt by the guy who wrote them.
"With 'Tea & Theatre,' our closing song on this tour, as I sit to play the very tricky guitar part, Roger stands beside me and is taller," Townshend, 80, says in an exclusive written comment to USA TODAY. "It feels appropriate. I am so glad now that when he called me to join his band in 1961, a rather lost 16-year-old at the time, I answered, and I went."
The Who setlist: All the songs on the iconic band's farewell tour
The Who – Roger Daltrey (left) and Pete Townshend – played Los Angeles for the last time during a Sept. 17, 2025, show at The Hollywood Bowl.The 'bittersweet' end to The Who in the US
Who fans, both at the VIP soundcheck – which costs about $1,000 for the experience, a concert ticket and Who swag – and the packed arena for the Sunday night concert were predominantly in the 50-plus demographic, a sign of decades of unrelenting loyalty.
Eddie Ryan, 62, is introduced by Kenny as "The Who's number one fan," a phrase used so frequently to render it useless.
But Ryan, who traveled from Alexandria, Virginia, has a strong case for the title. The Las Vegas show is his 324th Who concert, including every date on this farewell tour and a plan to hit 325 at the recently added Oct. 1 closer in Palm Desert, California.
The Who's farewell tour is perfectly imperfect – Review
Ryan "fell in love" with The Who as a teenager, caught his first show in 1982 at now-demolished Shea Stadium in New York and knew "this is going to be my band."
When he thinks about the impending end of hitting every Who concert, Ryan says it's "bittersweet."
"It hasn't quite hit me yet," he says, but when those last notes are struck, "it will be emotional."
Why The Who resonates with fans
Ryan and fellow Who fanatics Chris Zavatsky, 59, from Tampa and Alan McMullan, 71, from outside Charlotte, North Carolina, have developed a Who-centered friendship. At Sunday's show, they stand front row, a few feet from Townshend as he lightly windmills the start of "Substitute."
Zavatsky holds up his phone camera as Daltrey crouches while guitarist Simon Townshend thrashes out the hard acoustic strumming that opens "Pinball Wizard," which will pair with "See Me, Feel Me."
The Who's songs – musically ambitious and theatrical-minded – resonate with lyrical depth, something that some fans say separated the band from their '60s peers.
"It's the connection," said Zavatsky, who has seen all but one concert stop on this current run. "The music is deeper. The lyrics connect with people on so many levels."
As Daltrey's husky vocals brim with feeling during "Behind Blue Eyes," which sounds robust and settled since the band's opening show in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in August; the union between fan and musician is palpable.
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who performed 32 songs in more than two hours at the opening night of The Song Is Over North America Farewell Tour at The Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, Aug. 16, 2025.The Who 'is a punk band'
Along with his three decades with The Who, lighting director Kenny has worked with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and David Bowie, among other music greats.
But even for him, The Who has always felt a little different, a tad edgier.
"They're a punk band," Kenny says before the show. "Everything is raw. Nothing is planned. But the music is as modern as anything out there."
Singer Roger Daltrey, left, and guitarist Pete Townshend of The Who perform on the first night of the band's residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on July 29, 2017, in Las Vegas.
Townshend confirms The Who's authenticity a few hours later when he tells the crowd that if he seems overly dour, it's because he is mourning the loss of two friends who died of cancer last week.
"I try to smile and be cheerful," Townshend said on stage. "But if it looks like I'm grieving, it's because I am."
That vulnerability Townshend expresses is tucked away as he, Daltrey and the band – Simon Townshend, bassist Jon Button, keyboardist Loren Gold, drummer Scott Devours, percussionist Jody Linscott and backing vocalist John Hogg – steamroll into the apt-for-the-occasion "Long Live Rock."
"We can still do it pretty good," Daltrey, 81, quipped after the song. "Not like Mick Jagger, but who really needs to do all of that?"
Rock band The Who, from left: Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, Keith Moon and Roger Daltrey posing for a group photo at the London Coliseum, Dec. 14, 1969.
As The Who prepares to take its final bows in the U.S. and Daltrey shriek-bellows during "Won't Get Fooled Again" for the last times, the reality of the finality extends from fans to band to crew.
Of all the elements to warrant a tough goodbye – the music, the travel, the backstage shenanigans – Kenny is quick to respond with what he'll miss the most.
"The audience," he says. "Every night when the houselights go out."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Who farewell tour wraps up in US
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