The Who Tour 1982

History

Aside from two warm-up shows in Birmingham, the tour took place entirely in the United States and Canada. During the first Birmingham show, Pete Townshend announced the group's intention to do a proper British tour the following year, but they later decided against this and to make the 1982 tour their last. Though this ultimately would not be the case, it would be their last tour until 1989.

The set list included a number of new songs from It's Hard. "Dangerous", "It's Hard", "Eminence Front", and "Cry If You Want" were performed nightly, while "Athena" and "A Man Is a Man" were also played several times each. "Cooks County", which Townshend had written after seeing a television documentary on Chicago's Cook County Hospital, was fittingly played during one of the band's October shows in Rosemont, Illinois. Meanwhile, only "The Quiet One" was retained from Face Dances, though they had played a number of other songs from that album on the previous tour. Besides "Eminence Front", which has been featured in the band's act off and on since 1982, "Cry If You Want" is the only It's Hard track the band has played since these tours, having appeared a few times in the group's first shows of 2006 and as part of a medley following "My Generation" from 2006 to 2009; it was also briefly included at the start of The Who Hits 50! tour in late 2014.

"My Generation", a staple in the group's live act since 1965, did not appear until the 14th show of the year, and did not lead into long jams as it had since the late 1960s; it also served as the show-opener for the first time in the band's career. Meanwhile, a number of songs were reintroduced to the act after long absences, such as "Love Reign O'er Me", "Squeeze Box", "Love Ain't for Keeping", and "Doctor Jimmy".

After letting keyboard player John "Rabbit" Bundrick go following the 1981 tour, the group filled this role with Tim Gorman, who had also played on It's Hard. Despite this, Bundrick would again join the band when they reunited for Live Aid in 1985 and remained their keyboard player until 2011.

Live Releases

Live material from 1982 has appeared on a number of different releases:

The Who's Last live album was compiled entirely from 1982 performances, mainly from the show on 14 December at Richfield's Richfield Coliseum; four songs come from different sources (verified by meticulous comparison with soundboard and audience recordings and videos from that tour). "Behind Blue Eyes" is from the 10th October show at Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford; "Magic Bus" and "Summertime Blues" are from the 20th October show at the Kingdome in Seattle; and "Substitute" is from the 27th October show at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

The versions of "I Can't Explain", "Substitute", "My Generation", "A Man Is a Man", and "5.15" included as bonus material on the Live at Shea Stadium Blu-ray and DVD come from the first night at Shea Stadium in New York City on 12 October; the show from the following night is the main feature of the release.

The version of "Twist and Shout" on the Thirty Years of Maximum R&B box set comes from the penultimate night of the tour at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens on 16 December (mislabelled in the liner notes as coming from the CNE Stadium show in Toronto on 9 October).

The versions of "Love Reign O'er Me" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" on the Thirty Years of Maximum R&B Live video and DVD come from the second night at Shea Stadium in New York City on 13 October – "Won't Get Fooled Again" was only included on the 2009 re-release.

The live version of "The Quiet One" on the Face Dances reissue also comes from the Shea Stadium show from 13 October.

The entire Shea Stadium show (minus "5.15") from 13 October was released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2015 as Live at Shea Stadium, with several songs (listed above) from the October 12th show as bonus material.

The tour's final show at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens on 17 December was released on VHS as The Who Rocks America in 1983 and on DVD as Live from Toronto in 2006, albeit in edited form and missing some songs.

The live versions of "It's Hard", "Eminence Front", "Dangerous", and "Cry If You Want" on the It's Hard reissue also come from the Toronto show on 17 December.

The Clash's support set at Shea Stadium on 13 October became a popular bootleg, eventually being officially released as Live at Shea Stadium in 2008.

Tour band

Roger Daltrey - lead vocals, harmonica, rhythm guitar on "It's Hard" and "Eminence Front"

Pete Townshend - lead guitar, vocals

John Entwistle - bass guitar, vocals

Kenney Jones - drums

with

Tim Gorman - keyboards, piano, backing vocals

UK Warm-up shows

The band played two warm-up shows at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England shortly before travelling to North America. While Townshend's announcement during the first show that they planned to do "a proper British tour next year" was met with loud cheers, this ultimately did not occur. The following is the set list from both dates (only the encores differed). All songs written by Pete Townshend unless otherwise specified.

1. "Substitute"
2. "I Can't Explain"
3. "Dangerous" (John Entwistle)
4. "Sister Disco"
5. "The Quiet One"
6. "It's Hard"
7. "Eminence Front"
8. "Behind Blue Eyes"
9. "Baba O'Riley"
10. "I'm One"
11. "The Punk and the Godfather"
12. "Drowned"
13. "A Man Is a Man"
14. "Cry If You Want"
15. "Who Are You"
16. "Pinball Wizard"
17. "See Me, Feel Me"
18. "5.15"
19. "Love Reign O'er Me"
20. "Long Live Rock"
21. "Naked Eye" (only on 11 September)
22. "Won't Get Fooled Again"

Encores:

"Twist and Shout" (Phil Medley, Bert Russell)

Performed on 10 and 11 September.

"Shakin' All Over" (Johnny Kidd)

Performed on 11 September.

"Summertime Blues" (Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capehart)

Performed on 11 September.

First North American leg

The band returned to North America for the first time in over two years, beginning this leg on 22 September at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland and ending on 31 October at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. The show on 13 October at Shea Stadium in New York City featured a rare performance of "I Saw Her Standing There" and closed with "Twist and Shout", both songs recorded by The Beatles and both sung by John Entwistle. Here is a fairly typical set list (all songs written by Pete Townshend unless otherwise specified):

1. "Substitute" (also appeared later in the set during several shows when "My Generation" served as the opener)
2. "I Can't Explain" (opened the show on 6 October)
3. "Dangerous" (John Entwistle)
4. "Sister Disco"
5. "The Quiet One"
6. "It's Hard" (replaced with "Cooks County" on 6 October)
7. "Eminence Front"
8. "Behind Blue Eyes"
9. "Baba O'Riley"
10. "My Generation" (starting 7 October; also opened a number of shows)
11. "I'm One" (not played every night; dropped after 13 October)
12. "The Punk and the Godfather" (not played every night; dropped after 13 October)
13. "Drowned"
14. "A Man Is a Man" (not played every night)
15. "Cry If You Want" (sometimes including teases of "Another Tricky Day")
16. "Who Are You"
17. "Pinball Wizard"
18. "See Me, Feel Me"
19. "5.15"
20. "Love Reign O'er Me"
21. "Long Live Rock"
22. "Won't Get Fooled Again"

Encores (variations of the following list):

"Twist and Shout" (Phil Medley, Bert Russell)

Performed on 22, 25, 26, 28 and 30 September; and 2, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29 and 31 October.

"Magic Bus"

Performed on 22, 25 and 30 September; and 3, 5, 9, 12, 15, 20, 23 and 29 October.

"Young Man Blues" (Mose Allison)

Performed on 23 September; and 13, 25 and 31 October.

"Naked Eye"

Performed on 23, 26, 28 (not as encore) and 29 September; and 2, 6, 13, 17, 21, 23, 25, 29 and 31 October.

"Summertime Blues" (Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capehart)

Performed on 26, 28, 29 and 30 September; and 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 20, 21, 25, 27, 29 and 31 October.

"Athena"

Performed on 28, 29 (not as encore) and 30 (not as encore) September; and 5, 6 (not as encore), 7, 9, 10, 12 and 25 October.

"I Saw Her Standing There" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)

Performed on 13 October.

"Let's See Action"

Performed on 23 October.

There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour. Some other songs were played which are not in the above lists:

"Happy Jack"

Performed as a tease on 29 September.

"Cooks County"

Performed on 6 October.

"Tattoo"

Performed on 13, 15, 25, 27, 29 and 31 October.

"I Can See for Miles"

Performed on 30 September 20, 21, 23, 29 and 31 October.

Second North American leg

The band returned after a four-week break for the second leg of the tour, which began on 27 November at the Orlando Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Townshend announced at the second show in Richfield, Ohio on 14 December that they were playing "their last concert in the U.S.A." (as heard on the live album Who's Last), as was obviously intended at the time. The tour concluded with two shows at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, the second of which was made available via pay-per-view and radio broadcasts throughout North America, as it was thought to be the last performance of their final tour. The group would of course subsequently reunite for various events (the first being Live Aid in 1985) and tours.

"Doctor Jimmy", "Boris the Spider", "Love Ain't For Keeping", and "Squeeze Box" were reintroduced to the set on this leg after long absences. Here is a fairly typical set list (all songs written by Pete Townshend unless otherwise specified):

1. "My Generation" (also appeared later in the set during several shows, when "Substitute" served as the show-opener)
2. "I Can't Explain" (not on 4 December)
3. "Dangerous" (John Entwistle)
4. "Sister Disco"
5. "The Quiet One"
6. "It's Hard"
7. "Eminence Front"
8. "Behind Blue Eyes"
9. "Baba O'Riley"
10. "I Can See for Miles" (replaced with "Doctor Jimmy" starting 6 December)
11. "Boris the Spider" (John Entwistle) (starting 6 December)
12. "Drowned"
13. "Tattoo" (performed on 27, 29 and 30 November; and 4 December)
14. "Cry If You Want" (not performed on 6 December)
15. "Who Are You"
16. "Pinball Wizard"
17. "See Me, Feel Me"
18. "Love Ain't For Keeping" (starting 1 December; sometimes appeared elsewhere in the set)
19. "5.15"
20. "Love Reign O'er Me"
21. "Long Live Rock"
22. "Won't Get Fooled Again"

Encores

"Magic Bus"

Performed on 27 and 29 November; and 4 and 11 December.

"Squeeze Box"

Performed on 27, 29 and 30 November; and 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 16 and 17 December.

"Twist and Shout" (Phil Medley, Bert Russell)

Performed on 29 and 30 November; and 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16 and 17 December.

"Naked Eye"

Performed on 29 and 30 November; and 3 (not as encore), 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 16 and 17 December.

"Young Man Blues" (Mose Allison)

Performed on 1, 11, 14 and 17 December.

"Summertime Blues" (Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capehart)

Performed on 1 and 4 December.

"Join Together"

Performed (loosely) on 11 December.

There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour. Another song was played which is not in the above lists:

"Substitute"

Performed on 29 November; and 1, 3, 4 and 6 December.