Roger Daltrey Opens ‘A Great Night Out’ Solo Tour in Mesa With 19-Song Set

Roger Daltrey, the longtime frontman of The Who, opened his solo tour titled ‘A Great Night Out’ on Sunday, August 23, 2026, at Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona. The show featured a 19-song set that combined Who staples, tracks from Daltrey’s own catalog and covers of other artists’ material.

Daltrey performed with a nine-piece touring band for the Mesa date, a lineup that includes Simon Townshend, Pete Townshend’s brother, on rhythm guitar. He has described this run as likely to be his final solo tour of the United States.

• The band’s instrumentation includes mandola, violin, keyboard and squeeze box, guitar, drums, bass and Simon Townshend’s rhythm guitar.
• Daltrey says he originally formed the band around 2019, before the pandemic, largely to play charity shows and give work to musician friends who needed it.
• Daltrey recently turned 82 and says his singing voice is “possibly the best it’s ever been.”
• The tour name was changed from Daltrey’s preferred title, ‘A Bloody Great Night Out,’ out of consideration for religious sensitivities in the United States.

What songs is Roger Daltrey playing on the ‘A Great Night Out’ tour?

Daltrey has said the set draws from Who songs, his solo work and material from other artists he admired from the late 1970s and 1980s. He specifically pointed to reworked versions of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Baba O’Riley,” both stripped of synthesizers and tape and rebuilt using only live instruments played by his band.

He also includes his own solo song “Giving It All Away” in the show. Daltrey has said he approaches familiar songs by asking how they might sound differently with his current group’s mix of instruments, rather than simply replicating arrangements from The Who.

Why did Roger Daltrey change the tour’s name?

Daltrey wanted to title the run ‘A Bloody Great Night Out’ but opted against it because of religious sensitivities among American audiences, landing instead on ‘A Great Night Out.’

Is this Roger Daltrey’s last tour with The Who?

Daltrey has stressed that this solo tour marks what he expects to be his last extended American solo run, not the end of The Who. He says the band is not finished “by any means” and that The Who could still play occasional one-off shows in the future, including charity concerts.

That comment follows the conclusion of The Who’s “The Song Is Over” North American Farewell Tour roughly a year earlier, which closed with Daltrey and Pete Townshend performing an unplugged rendition of “Tea & Theatre.” The band’s most recent studio album is 2019’s “Who.” Daltrey’s own 2018 solo album, “As Long As I Have You,” featured Pete Townshend playing guitar on seven of its songs.

More Info

• Roger Daltrey Kicks Off A Great Night Out Tour In Mesa | JamBase
• The Who isn’t done ‘by any means,’ singer says on eve of solo tour | azcentral.com