The Who is in my top 3 old time bands, if that makes sense. I have my top 3 bands I grew up listening to as a kid and then I have my top 3 from my teenage to adult years. The Who is in my top 3 bands I grew up listening to. So, when they announced they were coming to Denver I knew this was a must show for me! I went to see them back in 2016 with my dad and uncle. However, at that show I was kicked out for smoking weed! I only got to see about 3 of their songs that night. That was a huge disappointment even though it was my own fault. This time around I knew I wanted to see them, and I wasn’t going to get kicked out again.
The day of the show we headed up around 3 in the afternoon. We didn’t need to leave to early since we had seats. After making a few stops as usual and getting something to eat we got to the venue about 5:30 which was an hour before doors. Since we were there early, I smoked a joint before we decided to head into the venue from the parking lot to see if they had merch outside. Unfortunately, they didn’t but we decided to just get in line so we could get in when doors open and then we could be one of the first to the merch booth. We ended up getting in line and since there are like 8 doors to get in, we lined up at the last door, but we were first in line. Once they opened the doors and we got through security we made our way up to the first floor where the merch booth was. We were like 4th in line so we got in and out pretty quickly. From there we found our way to our seats. We had about 45 minutes before the opening act came out.
The opening act was Mike Campbell and the Dirty knobs. I had found out while we were getting drinks that he was the guitarist for Tom Petty. I didn’t know he had his own band until I saw them that night. I thought the guy sounded a lot like Tom Petty. He played his own songs and he also played a few Tom Petty songs which he sounded just like him in Running Down A Dream. He played his own version/twist of Refugee which was also cool. The crowd seemed to like him. I thought he put on a great set! As good as he was, I was excited and ready for The Who!
Before The Who came on Jess and I went on a search for pretzels and churros. We had to go all the way down to the first floor to get the churros. They only had 1 place in the whole venue that was selling them. Thankfully we got both and made it back to our seats before they started. The Who came on I think at 8:45 which was early but it was cool considering they played until just before 11. It was over a 2 hour set and the set list was amazing!! As they were playing some of their songs it brought me back to some of my childhood memories of me listening to them, singing and dancing along just as I was doing in that moment at the concert! Though the band didn’t have the kind of energy they used to they still kept the crowd pumped up. Pete Townsend did the famous windmill a few times which was cool to see! The band had a full orchestra that played with them for most of the show. However, there were a few songs just the band played without them. With or without the orchestra again I thought they put on an amazing show!! I can now officially cross them off as a bucket list band and without getting kicked out for smoking weed. I did still smoke I was just more discrete about it this time! The lady who was sitting in front of us was probably in her late 60’s was telling me how good the weed smelt! She said she hadn’t smoked since she was a teenager. I offered her a hit, but she said she was too worried about getting covid. All I know is that I enjoyed the night and hope that I get another chance to see The Who live again! Hopefully next time in a much closer seat!
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