The Who go grander with full orchestra for Nashville show

Matthew Leimkuehler

Nashville Tennessean USA TODAY NETWORK – TENNESSEE

Fifty years since putting a permanent stamp on rock ’n’ roll with double-disc opus “Tommy,” The Who still finds a way to be epic.

The British rock group — led by remaining living members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey — returned Thursday night to Bridgestone Arena. It marked the band’s first stop in Music City since a 50th anniversary tour stop in 2015 and fifth on the 28-city “Moving On!” tour.

Oh, and they didn’t come alone.

A 48-piece orchestra, comprised mostly of local players, backed The Who — adding immense layers to a band already known for offering grandiose listens.

“It’s a pleasure to be back in Nashville, where almost everybody in the audience is a better guitar player than I am,” Townshend said.

So, how’d it work? The band built Thursday’s set in three acts, mostly leaning on 1969 rock opera “Tommy” and its 1973 counterpart, “Quadrophenia.” A windmill-posing Townshend, 73, and microphone-tossing Daltrey, 75, spent the night’s first act digging into sections of “Tommy.”

The orchestra didn’t overpower or outshine Townshend’s chords or Daltrey’s familiar bellow, but added a new spectacle for Who faithful who’ve come to celebrate these songs for five decades.

Highlights included the first kick into “Pinball Wizard,” a detailed instrumental in “Sparks” and the larger-than-life “Who Are You” (because, yes, it’s actually possible to make that song sound bigger).

The middle section saw a simpler, orchestra-free look into the Who, with the group’s co-founders exploring deeper into the discography. The band went as far back as 1966’s “Substitute” before Daltrey and Townshend played an acoustic take of “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” arguably the night’s biggest crowd-pleaser.

Roots act Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real opened the show, offering a half-hour set of soulful and swampy rock.

“This is one of the great honors of our lives,” Nelson, son of outlaw country great Willie Nelson, said,” opening for The Who.”

The Who delivered its final act in Nashville with a full orchestral swing, bringing together the bombastic sounds of “Quadrophenia.” The orchestra felt firmly in its place with this album, supporting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act on the likes of five-minute epic “Drowned” and seven-minute instrumental “The Rock.”

The group kicked it back to 1971 and career-shaping, windmill-ready anthem “Baba O’Riley” for the night’s close.

Skipping an encore, Townshend, Daltrey and company wrapped the 130-minute show by praising the orchestra and thanking their audience a final time.

“Maybe one day we’ll be back here again,” Townshend said. “Doing something different … ukuleles, or something.”

The Who perform at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville Thursday. ANDREW NELLES / TENNESSEAN.COM