(4 / 5)
Since 2002 when Cornwall’s Eden Project was opened, it has hosted some of the world’s top artists in a stunning setting. Pulp kickstarted the musical trend with nature there and everyone from Oasis to Elton John has graced the beautiful surroundings.
In 2023 hot off of the back of The Who Hits Back tour, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, alongside band regulars Simon Townshend and Zak Starkey came to the Eden Project to play a historic show with a full orchestra.
For longtime fans, “Live at the Eden Project” feels less like a routine live release and more like a reunion with an old friend — one that still has plenty left to say. From the moment the opening chords ring out across the Cornish night air, there’s a sense of history, survival, and defiance running through the performance.
The Who have always been a band built on raw energy and controlled chaos, but here that power is mixed with something deeper: reflection. Roger Daltrey sings these songs with the weight of experience etched into every line, while Pete Townshend still attacks his guitar with flashes of the fire that made generations fall in love with this band in the first place.
More than half a century after redefining rock music, The Who continue to prove that age has done little to dull their ambition. “Live at the Eden Project” is less an exercise in nostalgia than a reminder of how massive — and emotional — their music can still feel when given room to breathe.
Recorded during the band’s July 2023 performance at Cornwall’s Eden Project alongside the Heart of England Philharmonic Orchestra, the 24-track album captures a version of The Who that is grander, more reflective, and occasionally surprisingly intimate.
The orchestral arrangements could easily have overwhelmed these songs, but instead they deepen them. Finale “Baba O’Riley” swells with cinematic force, while “Behind Blue Eyes” gains a fragile melancholy that suits Daltrey’s older, rougher voice. Townshend’s guitar work remains sharp and aggressive when it needs to be, giving the album enough edge to avoid becoming overly polished.
What makes this release especially worthwhile is the setlist. The expected classics are here: “Pinball Wizard,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “My Generation”, but the inclusion of deeper cuts like “Cry If You Want” and “The Rock” gives longtime fans something richer than a standard greatest hits run through.
There’s also something fitting about this performance being captured at the Eden Project rather than a giant arena. The atmosphere feels warmer and more human than many modern live albums. You can hear a band reflecting on its legacy without sounding trapped by it.
Not every moment hits perfectly. At times the pacing drifts, and the orchestration occasionally smooths over the raw chaos that once made The Who dangerous. But even those moments underline the central truth of the album: this is no longer a young band trying to explode rock music from the inside. It’s a legendary band learning how to reinterpret its power, and remarkably, much of that power remains intact.
This follows their last live offering: “The Who With Orchestra Live At Wembley”, which was recorded at Wembley Stadium in July 2019 and released in March 2023, just four months before this concert was captured in Cornwall.
“Live at the Eden Project” may not replace “Live at Leeds” in the pantheon of great Who live records, but it was never trying to. Instead, it stands as a moving late-career document from a band still capable of thunder, vulnerability, and grandeur in equal measure.
- This 24 track album is available as a double ‘Digipak’ CD, a three-LP gatefold and limited edition three-LP gatefold version, and via streaming and digital download.
By David Bronstein
(1 / 5) ‘Dull Zone’
(2 / 5) ‘OK Zone’
(3 / 5) ‘Decent Zone’
(4 / 5) ‘Super Zone’
(5 / 5) ‘Awesome Zone’
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