The Who frontman Roger Daltrey celebrated his final appearance as curator of the annual Teenage Cancer Trust concerts after 24 years on Sunday night, capping off the nearly quarter-century run with an epic, all-star performance of one of his best-loved songs his band.
The “Ovation” concert at London's Royal Albert Hall ended with Daltrey singing the show-closing 1971 epic “Baba O'Riley,” with the band's frontman alongside Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Robert Plant, Glen Hansard, the Stereophonics. Brother of Kelly Jones and Who guitarist Pete Townshend, Simon Townshend.
In fan videosThe 80-year-old Daltrey takes the lead, with Vedder, Plant, Jones, Hansard and Townshend leaning in to add group vocals. Pete Townshend played with the Who earlier in the series and was scheduled to be in the “Ovation” lineup, but had to miss Sunday's show to be in New York for the revamped opening. Tommy on Broadway.
Although Daltrey is stepping down, after the encore he told the crowd: “I'm not leaving the Teenage Cancer Trust. I have completed the work I set out to do. We will ask curators to do one year instead of 20 years. Talk about nervousness. But I have other work to do for the charity which is somewhat more important because we live in a day where our NHS [National Health Service] everyone knows that even survival is highly questionable. We are part of that service, although we are a charity… If the NHS goes down, I want to make sure that this charity doesn't go down.'
The final show also featured Weller bringing on Daltrey for a rendition of the Who's 1966 song “So Sad About Us,” as well as Vedder performing “Porch” and “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town.” by PJ and Swell Season “Falling Slowly” with Hansard. In a touching moment, Vader also brought out his daughter, Olivia, to sing their song “My Father's Daughter.”
In addition to his band Saving Grace's traditional folk songs 'Gospel Plow', 'And We Bid You Tonight' and 'As I Roved Out', Plant released a Led Zeppelin song, the Led Zeppelin III track “Friends”. Last week's Cancer Trust show also featured performances from Noel Gallagher, Young Fathers and the Chemical Brothers.
Daltrey has hosted and curated the fundraising shows since 2000, raising more than $40 million to date, which the organization said has paid for more than one million hours of skilled care by TCT nurses or 13 TCT hospice care units. TCT said it plans to work with a series of guest curators from next year. Over the years, TCT shows have included sets from Paul McCartney, Wet Leg, Underworld, Ed Sheeran, Liam Gallagher, Kasabian, Def Leppard, Pet Shop Boys, Olly Murs, Suede, Arctic Monkeys, New Order, Primal Scream, Noel Gallagher, Florence Welch, Joan Armatrading, Kaiser Chiefs, The Cure and more.
Check out photos from Sunday night's show below.
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