On Friday, Pete Townshend and renowned tenor Alfie Boe teamed up with the world famous Roots crew on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon for a performance of The Who’s 1973 classic “Love Reign O’er Me.”
Pete Townshend Announces “Classic Quadrophenia” Run With Billy Idol, Full Orchestra
Boe’s Tony-winning vocals fill in for Roger Daltrey‘s original lines on the theatrical rendition of the Quadrophenia closing number, while the guitarist himself handles the second verse as a small orchestra and the Roots lift “Love Reign O’er Me” to soaring heights, soundly fulfilling their duties as the best band in late night TV.
You can watch the performance below, via the Tonight Show YouTube page:
Townshend’s Classic Quadrophenia, which debuted in London in 2015, reinterprets the Who’s classic 1973 double-LP with help from the London Symphony Orchestra, Boe (singing Daltrey’s parts), Billy Idol, Quadrophenia actor Phil Daniels, and more. The arrangement of the song performed on The Tonight Show features into Townshend’s symphonic Classic Quadrophenia project, a live and studio reimagining of the lauded 1973 song-cycle. Townshend’s brief U.S. Classic Quadrophenia run will hold its second of two New York performances tonight, September 10th, before heading to the West Coast for a performance at L.A.’s Greek Theater next weekend.
[h/t – Rolling Stone]