The Who brought their Moving On! orchestral tour to Londons Wembley Stadium on Saturday evening, and they were joined by Eddie Vedder for the Quadrophenia classic The Punk and The Godfather.
Hes going to share this song with me because he knows where it came from, Roger Daltrey told the crowd before turning to Vedder. What one were you? You were also the one with the stutter? No, Vedder replied. Im still the punk.
Vedder has always cited Quadrophenia as one of his favorite albums and hes joined the Who to perform songs from it many times. It saved my life, Vedder once said. It was something I could catch, because for some reason it seemed like I could not relate to anyone in the world. With no one in my school and certainly with no one in my house, and all of a sudden, this London guy named Pete came in who knew everything that was going on in my life.
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Heres The Who playing new track Hero Ground Zero @wembleystadium pic.twitter.com/HL0YoY5AEq
Damian Jones (@damianjones1) July 7, 2019
Saturdays concert was also noteworthy for the inclusion of a new song the Whos upcoming studio album purportedly titled Hero Ground Zero. The album which will be their first since 2006s Endless Wire was written by Pete Townshend over the last year. Roger Daltrey was initially unsure about the songs, but hes since come around to it in a big way.
I took the songs away and I listened to them, and listened to them some more, and I had some ideas, Daltrey recently said. [Pete] let me have a bit of freedom with changing a few things, changing the tenses of songs and other little things. And he gave me complete melodic freedom. And I gotta tell you that after being very skeptical Im now incredibly optimistic. think weve made our best album since Quadrophenia. Pete hasnt lost it, hes still a fabulous songwriter and hes still got that cutting edge, man.
Vedder also served as opening act for the Who at Wembley Stadium, playing a set heavy on Pearl Jam classics like Black, Better Man and Porch. Glen Hansard joined the Pearl Jam singer on Society, Black and a cover of Queens Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Pete Townshends brother Simon joined Vedder for a take on his original song Im The Answer.