The Who
The song Is over - The Italian Farewell

A few months ago, as soon as the news broke about the presale of the concert tickets, I told my friend and former coworker Nicola quite clearly that I was unsure whether to go see The Who in Milan. But he, a connoisseur of good music like myself and also an ardent fan of the British band, eventually convinced me of the value of the idea. Personally, I have attended many concerts by various musicians, both foreign and Italian, but for several years now, I've gotten lazier and prefer to watch past concerts available online or perhaps DVDs dedicated to historic performances by major rock bands. However, considering the fact that The Who had only performed at the Palalido in Milan way back in February 1967, I decided to make an exception, overcome a certain laziness and try to see the concert by the surviving Who members at the Parco della Musica in Segrate, a town near Milan, last Tuesday, July 22nd.

Since it was an open-air concert on a beautiful summer evening, my precaution was to cover myself in the providential Autan, just to enjoy the event to its fullest. An undeniably brilliant idea, also noticing that part of the audience (estimated at about 10,000) ended up slapping themselves during the show to ward off the annoying mosquitos thirsting for sweet human blood (de gustibus...). The show was not preceded by any support bands, but to pass the time, images of The Who's happy days played on the screen above the stage, when they were a four-piece including not only Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, but also the late Keith Moon and John Entwistle. Needless to say, I too felt a certain nostalgia for that historic period rich with good vibes.

But into this atmosphere, right on cue at 10:00 p.m., came the start of the concert and the entire audience, including a good percentage of young people from recent generations, cheered for the remaining members of the glorious Who. Besides the surviving Roger Daltrey (still fairly fit) and Pete Townshend (more bald than graced with his thick youthful mane), there were Scott Devours (drums), Simon Townshend (guitars), Jon Button (bass), Loren Gold (keyboards), Jody Linscott (percussion) and John Hogg (backing vocals). A sizeable ensemble that immediately hit its stride with a warm dedication to another recently-deceased rock hero, none other than Ozzy Osbourne, founder of Black Sabbath. The opening song, "I can't explain," one of The Who's first hits, was dedicated to him with a heartfelt "for Ozzy, God bless him."

The show then continued as a review of the best compositions from a long career. Without playing songs from the albums "Endless Wire" or "Who," the band held nothing back. It must be said that, while not taking anything away from the professionalism of the above-mentioned musicians, the heart of the sound was delivered by the two octogenarians, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend. The former still occasionally twirled the microphone but was more restrained in his gestures, mustering a still-roaring vocal delivery (in my opinion, he has always been one of the best on the rock scene, together with Robert Plant). Case in point: just listen to him sing staples like "Baba O' Riley," "Who are you?", "My generation," all the way to "Won't get fooled again" with its spine-tingling final scream. Not bad at all for a singer who only a few years ago had to undergo throat surgery to remove an early-stage cancer.

Good old Pete, on the other hand, maintains an elegant stage presence, now free of his youthful acrobatics (compared to which the Italian footballer Paolo Rossi looked like an awkward athlete), but still matched by a robust guitar technique, as confirmed at this Milan concert, where Townshend every now and then flashed that original way of strumming known as the "windmill."

The concert came to an end after almost two hours, amid general enthusiasm, with the rousing song "The song is over," sealing the closing of a beautiful musical story that started in the mid-'60s in what was then Swingin' London and spread throughout the world.

After such an intense performance, not without its limits due to the proximity of the Park to Linate airport (the acoustics weren't always perfect), seeing these two sprightly rockers on stage together again won't be easy. I can't hide the thought of how memorable the original Who concerts must have been (and if you want proof of this, just rewatch their performance at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival, still available on YouTube). But I will certainly always carry with me the memory of an evening lived under the sign of an ever-valid slogan: "Long live rock!" Maybe that's just the elixir of perpetual youth...