The Who forced to scrap concert after Daltrey falls ill during opening song

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The band was less than a minute into 'I Can't Explain' when 63-year-old Daltrey suddenly stopped and walked off the stage with having even sung a note.

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The Who were less than a minute into 'I Can't Explain' when 63-year-old Daltrey suddenly stopped and walked off the stage with having even sung a note

Guitarist Pete Townshend waved the band to stop playing and quickly followed Daltrey in an attempt to discover what was wrong.

Ironically, as the band tried to play 'I Can't Explain,' black-and-white images of the young band members in their 1965 heyday flashed on a video screen behind them.

Several minutes after Daltrey's departure from the stage of the packed Ford Amphitheatre, Townshend returned to the stage and announced that the show had been cancelled.

He told the disappointed crowd that Daltrey had bronchitis.

Townshend, 61, said: "I just talked to Roger and he can barely speak. I tried to get him to come out here, but he's really, really sick. We're going to have to cancel."

The 9,000 people at the show were obviously disappointed but cheered when Townshend told them the concert would be held later in the month to make it up to them.

It was the first show The Who have cancelled like this in 40 years, according to Simon Townshend, Pete's brother, who also plays in the band.

As fans of the band wandered out of the venue, there were scattered boos and other dejected sounds, but for the most part, the crowd appeared to collectively understand, according to witnesses.

"Twenty five years ago, we would have had a riot," said Joe Backes, 45, a Who fan attending the show. "We're older and more mellow now."

Another fan said cynically: "Go figure. The Who famously sang about hoping to 'die before I get old.' They never said anything about hoping for bronchitis."

Who fan Leslie Stallings had brought his two young sons, Britt, 13, and Brock, 11, to see their dad's idols for the first time.

"We're disappointed but we understand," Stallings said as the crowd began leaving.