This clip from The Who’s April 27 performance in Tampa, Fla. has surfaced, and it shows Pete Townshend taking a fan to task for yelling out a song request, but then he and Roger Daltrey end up playing the song anyway.
According to Ultimate Classic Rock, the incident happened following technical issues that cut The Who’s performance of “I Can See for Miles” short because Daltrey was unable to hear the band via his in-ear monitor. This led to a short break to resolve the issues. When Daltrey and Townshend returned, they are apparently “a little unsure of which song would be next.” This led to a fan in the front row yelling out for the duo to perform “Naked Eye” from 1974’s Odds and Sods.
And that’s when Townshend went off.
“Alright, just shut up,” begins Townshend. “Just shut the f— up with Naked f—ing Eye! Alright?! We don’t do f—ing requests! However many times I see you, and I love you. You f—ing paid for my Ferrari, I’m sure.”
Townshend then turns to Daltrey and asks, “Rog, what do you want to play?” He then cheekily responds, “Anything you like. ‘Naked Eye’?” Townshend says, “No…you’re gonna get me to play ‘Naked Eye’ after all that?” Daltrey yells back, “Yeah!”
And then they do playing “Naked Eye,” and it was rather great.
WARNING: NSFW language ahead, obviously.