Confusion Reigns on First Night of The Who Tour as Pete Townshend Walks off Stage (Photos)

"Where's Pete gone?" Confusion reigned on the first night of The Who's tour

The first night of The Who's tour in America got off to a shaky start in Sunrise, Florida last night (November 1, 2012) after guitarist Pete Townshend walked off stage, forcing the legendary rockers to curtail their encore. The night was the first of 36 planned dates and saw the group play all of their seminal 1973 album Quadrophenia as well as classic songs Pinball Wizard, Behind Blue Eyes and Who Are You.

Pete Townshend on stage in Sunset, Florida last night, but he wasn't there all night...

However, according to WPTV, trouble occurred during track You Better You Bet with Townshend walking off the stage midway through the song. The guitarist has long suffered problems with his hearing, and was seen to be yelling that his monitors were "too loud" before walking off the stage. He didn't tell the rest of his band though, and the set ended in confusion as they played one more track - Baba O' Reilly - before leaving as well. 

Townshend seemed in happier spirits earlier on in the set

Later on Twitter, Simon Townshend confirmed that his brother had walked off stage due to sound issues; he wrote "pete walked off tonight because it was too loud. was a good show but had some technical problems." So let this be a lesson for sound engineers working with The Who over the next 30-odd dates; monitors turned up too loud? Townshend won't be sticking around. 

The tireless Roger Daltry had been having a good evening up until an encore which left his entire band confused

Taking a leaf from his band mate's book, Daltry decides to windmill his microphone