What song have The Who played live the most?
Look at stalwarts in the music industry and the Who must come close to the top of the list, alive and well – in some incarnation – ever since 1964. During that over six-decade tenure, it’s fair to say they’ll have seen more than a few stages and dressing rooms and torn through a gargantuan number of setlists, all in the name of stealing the hearts of adoring rock fans – not that it took much convincing.
Monster tunes like ‘Baba O’Riley’ and ‘I Can’t Explain’ captured a rock imagination that saw punters turn out in their millions to witness core members Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon – along with the slew of other musicians who have been and gone from their ranks since – to make the Who one of the most popular touring acts in history.
As part of that titan of tours, it goes without saying that the big hitters get first priority when deciding which songs to play, while others, roundly detested by various band members, get left to fall by the wayside. But could you imagine a Who gig without hearing the thrash of ‘My Generation’ or the opening melancholic strum of ‘Behind Blue Eyes’?
In the vast majority of cases, you can’t because both tunes have amassed a whopping over 800 turns apiece across the course of the band’s concert career – but even they don’t quite top the list of songs that the Who have churned out the most times on stage.
Which song is played by the Who most often live?
Clocking in at first place with an almost inconceivable 951 plays, it’s fan favourite ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ that takes the golden spot for the song the Who have played the most times live. The rapturous conclusion to the seminal 1971 album Who’s Next?, the Townshend-penned tune shot into the UK top 10 at the time of its release before becoming the band’s enduring sonic legacy in the live realm. In many ways, it’s easy to see why – much like the album it came from, it’s the perfect set-ender, clocking in at eight and a half minutes and the ideal epic finale to a Who superfan’s night.
Closely following ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, however, is the equally electrifying ‘Pinball Wizard’, harkening back to the band’s swinging era given its 1969 rock operatic release with an equally impressive 934 plays apiece.
The longevity of a tune like this is in no small part also owed to its iconic cover status – Elton John’s 1975 version of the song has become just as highly regarded as its original, highly understandable given it has all the hallmarks of a majestic rock and roll masterpiece.
A concert by the Who is like the ultimate greatest hits collection and nostalgia trip that you’ve ever seen. In many ways, it should also be studied as a live execution of the manifestation of the rock genre over the second half of the 20th century because this band has seen through every era and even built the foundations all the other starlet rockers worshipped. If there’s ever a need for reassurance to its members, they’re never going to slide down into the graveyard of fallen rock greats, and thus, we can thankfully avoid the mind-bending question for generations to come: who were the Who?
