On the morning of August 17th, 1969,The Who performed selections from Tommy atWoodstock. At the time, the rock opera didn't make any impact on the world outside rock.
49 years later, in the summer of 2018,Roger Daltrey returned to the site of that historic festival in Bethel, New York, accompanied by an orchestra, and sang the double-album in its entirety.Tommy, when released in 1969, peaked at number-four on the Billboard 200.
The album Daltrey made from that show,The Who's Tommy Orchestral, is currently number-one on the Billboard Classical Album Chart. It entered the chart above Andrea Bocelli’s Si and Luciano Pavarotti’s Music From the Soundtrack: Pavarotti.
Roger Daltrey on Tommy:
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Daltrey's work with the orchestra worked out so well that he convinced Pete Townshend to have The Who tour with one this year. The next Who show is Saturday at Wembley Stadium in London, followed by more U.S. dates starting September 1st in New York City.