The Who - Live in Hyde Park (2015)

IN THE LAST FIVE decades The Who have released 11 studio albums, the first of which, My Generation, emerged in December 1965. Alongside bassist John Entwistle's 'theme tune', "The Ox", a brace of Daltrey-approved James Brown cover versions ("Please, Please, Please" and "I Don't Mind") and Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man" (a requisite of the time), the album features eight Pete Townshend originals including the immortal title track and the paean to the band's fans, "The Kids Are Alright".

If the album itself is flawed in places, its energy is undeniable, enshrining the band's celebrated maxim of 'Maximum ROB' perfectly. David Wedgebury's iconic cover photograph of Entwistle (and his Union Jack jacket slung over his shoulder), Townshend, Keith Moon and Daltrey all looking up and challenging the camera also captures the band's in-built sense of defiance, and remains one of the Mod movement's most enduring images.

"We were sharp," nods Daltrey, "But I've looked at that album cover a lot of times and I think it's more to do with what's in the eyes than any of the fashion that we're wearing. There's an attitude there, and that's what comes through more than anything," he says.

If the My Generation album was a spirited first step, then the next two LPs -A Quick One (released December 1966) and The Who Sell Out (December 1967) - showcase Townshend's ever-developing conceptualism. The former boasts his first attempt at rock opera in its final track," A Quick One (While He's Away)", a nine-minute suite in six parts that narrates a scabrous tale of infidelity. The Who Sell Out, meanwhile, is a rumination on the commercialization of culture as a whole and the overt power of advertising. Both albums are arguably largely products of their composer's love of studio work, combined with wide-ranging lyrical scope. Already affected at the time by Townshend's more introspective songwriting on singles like "I'm A Boy" and "Happy Jack", Daltrey readily admits that initially he struggled with the band's move away from his favoured hard-hitting R&B roots and their principal composer's increasingly progressive output. It was the band's fourth album, Tommy - the complex 1969 rock opera revolving around a deaf, dumb and blind boy and his relationship with love, life and the world - that finally restored Daltrey's confidence as a frontman.

"Tommy gave me my voice," says Daltrey. "The initial root of it, to find the real voice and the real character of me, came from the mini-opera, A Quick One. Once we started playing that on stage - and it was no longer just a piece of music, there were characters within it - I realized I was a singer of many parts, and I learnt not to worry about it. But during Tommy it all fitted together and I just let myself roar again."

As Roger rose magnificently to the challenge of singing complex material, Tommy also provided The Who with their first multi-million selling album in the US, leading to a string of albums that would follow suit including Who's Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973) and The Who By Numbers (1975).

"THE STAGE FOR US used to be a warzone basically. We used to be determined to drive music through the people, to the back wall," says Roger, explaining The Who's modus operandi. "We just wanted to get louder and louder. We were incredibly aggressive in our attack of the music. It was all done with aggression, but then there was this other side of us where we could switch and be exactly the opposite."

As Daltrey and Townshend step out on the Hyde Park stage to lead The Who through a career-spanning set, the band are clearly in "attack" mode.

The clarion call of "I Can't Explain" is full of teenage frustration followed by the nihilistic, Sex Pistols-inspired "Who Are You" - the title track of the band's 1978 final album prior to Moon's death, which poignantly comes with visuals of both Keith and John Entwistle. This leads into a frenetic version of "The Kids Are Alright", both tracks suggesting general malaise in very different ways.

Then comes a triumvirate of classic '60s tunes from the days when The Who released a string of irrepressible 45s in the UK. "Pictures Of Lily" (dedicated to ardent fan Paul Weller; "He requested it... by email," remarks Townshend) is wonderfully raw; "I Can See For Miles" meanwhile still delivers its blend of hard-hitting rhythm and hazed, psychedelic lyrics. "This next one's for people of any age, anytime, anywhere," says Townshend, and then comes a feral version of "My Generation", which sounds fresh and renewed in equal parts.

THE WHO'S SETS HAVE always been carefully constructed. Indeed, Daltrey describes them as "a three-act play." If the '60s hits loosely define Act One, then the Second Act starts with a brace of tunes from the band's landmark 1971 album, Who's Next. "Behind Blue Eyes" exemplifies the light and shade dynamics that define the band's approach, while "Bargain" (featuring a wry stage introduction by Townshend) is altogether more rapacious. Of the band's later material, 1982's "It's Hard" is represented by the slick prog-funk of Townshend-favourite "Eminence Front"; its predecessor, "Face Dances", meanwhile is marked by the radio-friendly anthem "You Better You Bet". But as the set builds to Act Three, special attention is reserved for material from Quadrophenia and Tommy.

The Quadrophenia pairing of "I'm One" and "Love Reign O'er Me" are emotional highpoints, the latter track in particular boasting a remarkable set of sparring performances from both Daltrey and Townshend. Meanwhile, the descending darkness provides the perfect environment for the band to present a slice of Tommy to wondrous emotional effect, "Amazing Journey" seguing into the evocative instrumental "Sparks" and on to "Pinball Wizard" and the emotional-push-and-pull of "See Me, Feel Me".

The finale sees a return to Who's Next and the delivery of two of rock's most heroic and iconic tunes: a remarkable reading of "Baba O'Riley" and a thunderous closer of "Won't Get Fooled Again" which bring down the curtain on what has been a genuinely triumphant set.

- Phil Alexander