Who Continued from Page 15A

the orchestra rocked with The Who for most of the two-hour, 10-minute OKC concert.

“We’re so lucky to get such great musicians to work with us on the road. Everywhere we work we have a slightly different group with us, and always wonderful,” Townshend said.

“They’re new every show, so they have to get up early in the morning to get here. They start their rehearsing at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, and they’re here all day. … It’s great to present them to you, since, in fact, they are your local musicians.”

The ensemble featured several Oklahoma City Philharmonic members, including violinists Marat Gabdullin, Densi Rushing, Angelica Pereira, Deborah McDonald and Sophia Ro; violists Royce McLarry and Steve Waddell; cellist Angelika Machnik-Jones; oboe players Rachel Maczko and Katherine McLemore; trombonist Philip Martinson; trumpeter Jay Wilkinson; horn players Kate Pritchett and Mirella Gable; percussionists Patrick Womack and Roger Owens; flutists Parthena Owens and Nancy Stizza-Ortega; clarinetists Bradford Behn and James Meiller; and bassoonist Larry Moore.

Lead violinist Katie Jacoby and lead cellist Audrey Snyder typically play with the band on this tour, but with the latter out sick with COVID-19, OKC Philharmonic cellist Valorie Tatge was spotlighted alongside Jacoby on The Who’s performance of “Behind Blue Eyes,” which was especially lovely with the orchestral backing.

Tatge got to take a special bow with the band and Jacoby at the end of the show.

2. Stars have COVID on the brain

Given the circumstances behind the scenes at the OKC concert, it’s not surprising that the rockers had COVID-19 on the brain.

“We’ve had some COVID in our crew, so our crew have had to work extra hard,” Townshend said from the stage.

The title of “The Who Hits Back!” tour actually references the pandemic that shut down the live music industry worldwide in 2020 and has continued to make touring particularly challenging.

“We’re just hitting back at COVID because it stopped us in our tracks,” Daltrey recently told Reuters.

More than once during their OKC show, Townshend expressed gratitude for the chance to return to the road and thanked the fans who filled much of Paycom Center.

“COVID still does seem to be around for a lot of people, and it’s a real battle to keep it away. But we appreciate that it’s your gamble as well to come out — and we really, really appreciate it. We also realize it’s more than a health gamble; it’s a money gamble. If we get a canceled concert, we know it’s not just about the ticket price that you may well get back. It’s about all the other stuff, and we’re fully, fully, fully aware of it — and so is everybody in show business. Don’t ever think that a musician wants to walk away from a concert under any circumstances,” he said to appreciative cheers.

“We feel so lucky to be here tonight, that all you guys have taken the trouble and set aside cash to come and see us. … We love you for it, so much.”

3. Oklahoma audience sees and feels ‘Tommy’

Fittingly, The Who opened their OKC show with songs from their beloved rock opera “Tommy,” starting with the appropriately grandiose “Overture.” Not surprisingly, the selections from the 1969 concept album — including “1921,” “Amazing Journey,” “Sparks” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It”/“See Me, Feel Me” — were even more stunning with the orchestral backing.

And it wasn’t exactly a twist that the bouncy hit “Pinball Wizard” had practically the entire audience wailing along.

4. Orchestra enhances familiar rock anthems

The Who didn’t just have the orchestra around to tell Tommy’s tale. Instead, the rockers used the might of so many assembled musicians to enhance their jubilant classic “Join Together,” evocative live staple “Eminence Front” and new rock ode “Ball and Chain,” from their 2019 album “Who.”

The crowd exploded as the more than 50 players blasted into the familiar epic “Who Are You,” with Daltrey conducting the crowd through a frenzied sing-along even as Levenson led the stalwart symphony.

5. Backing band shines in mid-set spotlight

During the orchestra’s mid-show break, the stellar band backing Daltrey and Townshend seized the spotlight to really shine.

Along with the superstar duo, “The Who Hits Back!” touring lineup includes guitarist and backup singer Simon Townshend (the younger brother of Pete Townshend), keyboardists Loren Gold and Emily Marshall, bassist Jon Button and backing vocalist Billy Nicholls. Drummer Zak Starkey — son of Beatle Ringo Starr — brought the appropriately manic energy and unhinged skill needed to power their iconic smash “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

They kept the show rocking with the bluesy “The Seekers,” the funky “Relay” and the playful ballad “You Better You Bet” before the orchestra returned to accompany them on “Behind Blue Eyes.”

6. The Who takes OKC back to the opera with ‘Quadrophenia’

With the symphony back on stage, The Who took OKC back to the rock opera with a selection of songs from 1973’s “Quadrophenia.” Again, it’s hard to overstate how much the addition of the orchestra elevated the live potency of tracks like “The Real Me,” “I’m One” and “5:15.”

The concept album’s powerful instrumental “The Rock” was accompanied by video clips chronicling the action-packed history of the world since The Who formed in 1964. The montage also included poignant tributes to The Who bassist and singer John Entwistle, who died in 2002, and drummer Keith Moon, who died in 1978.

7. Daltrey and Townshend maintain their star power

They may be the last surviving members of The Who’s classic lineup, but age and time haven’t caused Daltrey and Townshend’s star power to fade away.

If there were any lingering doubts about their continued vitality, those were blown away by the show’s grand finale, the powerhouse one-two punch of the epic ballad “Love, Reign O’er Me” and the iconic anthem “Baba O’Riley.” (Like fellow hitmakers Journey, who visited OKC in March, The Who skipped the false formality of an encore, and if this is a new trend, I welcome it wholeheartedly.)

Dressed in blue jeans, white sneakers and a pale button-down shirt that was gaping open by the end of the night, Daltrey nailed his signature rock god screams and pulled off his old trick of wildly swinging his microphone on its wire.

Townshend, who wore black jeans and a white T-shirt, often delighted the enthusiastic audience with his trademark windmill guitar stroke and overall proved again his mastery of the instrument.

He and Daltrey seemed sincerely thankful to be back on stage, and it showed in strong performances, jocular attitudes and, in Townshend’s case, quirky wisecracks that didn’t always land with the OKC crowd.

“My jokes don’t seem to be going down very well in Oklahoma,” he said at one point, which didn’t stop him from playfully pondering where the orchestra members went when they left the stage for their mid-show break.

“When they leave the stage, of course, I do know where they go — I’ve put trackers on all of them,” Townshend joked.

8. Rock gods make long-awaited Oklahoma return

Although The Who played multiple sold-out dates two years ago on their “Moving On! Tour,” Sooner State fans had waited much longer for the Kennedy Center Honorees to again reign o’er Oklahoma.

Prior to Tuesday’s show, The Who had last performed in Tulsa in 2013 at the BOK Center, and Daltrey shared the bill with fellow rock icon Eric Clapton in 2010 at the Tulsa arena.

Daltrey also gave a memorable OKC master class in 2009 at the then-fledgling Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma ahead of a solo show at Thackerville’s WinStar World Casino.

The last time the hitmakers had hit OKC in concert before this week was March 23, 2007, at the Paycom Center, which was then known as the Ford Center.

Although the rockers performed a storied show at the long-gone Wedgewood Village Amusement Park in northwest Oklahoma City on Aug. 23, 1968 — Moon’s 22nd birthday — the 2007 concert was the one and only time The Who had played the downtown OKC arena prior to Tuesday’s rock ‘n’ roll love fest.

Despite the long wait, the rock gods reigned in their OKC return.