Monday, August 3, 2009
Cream Calendar Roger Daltrey to Play The Ryman Oct. 30
Posted by Adam Gold on Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 4:02 PM
Guess who's coming to The Ryman? No, not the Guess Who, and definitely not Daughtry, but The Who's Roger Daltrey. Daltrey, 65, will swing his microphone high enough to puncture the stained glass windows of the Mother Church on Oct. 30. It's worth noting that his current Use It or Lose It tour is his first sans-Townshend outing since 1985--however, Townshend's brother Simon, who is The Who's touring second guitarist, is a member of Daltrey's back-up band. According to the press release received by the Scene, the man with the pipers of power had this to say:
I thought it'd be nice to play smaller, more intimate venues...I look forward to getting back to that. I want to give people a good night out. The economic situation being what it is these days, I think that's what they want: to go out and feel they've had a good jolly-up.
Did you read that in a Cockney accent? If not, go back and try again, it's fun. I find it interesting that he brings up our tumultuous economic state, being that it is probably his impetus to tour solo without a record to promote. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm happy to have all living legends who are able to perform, performing. At least those who are still competent--Bob Dylan I'm looking in your general direction.
At Bonnaroo I attended a press conference in which one of the participants was Robyn Hitchcock. He said that with the music business the way it is every rocker he knows, regardless of status or age, is out there on the road as it is the only way to earn a solid income through merch, guarantees etc. While you'd think rock stars of the highest echelon of success wouldn't need to work so hard, just consider the cost of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, or better yet the expenses of the bourgeois rock vetern versus diminishing returns on royalties. Once Sting stopped selling records he had to suck it up and go through with a Police reunion tour to pay the costs of maintaining his many estates. While Daltrey's expenses are probably nowhere near as ostentatious as Sting's, nearly all of the Who catalogue was composed by Townshend. So it's reasonable to assume that Pete (a.k.a. Tommy) is worth far more than his near-lifelong cohort. For that reason you can expect Daltrey, along with many more of the rock 'n' roll pantheon, to "use or lose it."
For those of you who don't want to shell out the dough it would cost to see all of rock's touring godfathers, Daltrey's show is sort of a catch-all as, according to the Cleveland Leader, he "...will be playing classic Who songs mixed in with some covers of classic hits by bands such as Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Queen." Did someone say Springsteen? Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. on Fri. and range in price from $59.50-$89.50, acquire them through Ticketmaster.
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