The Who close England's Glastonbury

The Who closed Britain's legendary Glastonbury festival last night (Sunday, June 24th) by playing a selection of their greatest hits to nearly 180,000 audience members standing in the pouring rain. The show was part of the Who's current European tour and featured classics from throughout the band's 42 year-career, including such concert staples as "I Can't Explain," "The Seeker," "Baba O'Riley," "Pinball Wizard," "Who Are You," "You Better, You Bet," "Won't Get Fooled Again," and many more.

The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts took place all weekend from Friday to Sunday (June 22nd to June 24th) in Pilton.

On Friday night John Fogerty played his second UK concert in 35 years, performing a 16-song set featuring nearly all Creedence Clearwater Revival hits, including "Bad Moon Rising," "Born On The Bayou," "Sweet Hitchhiker," "Keep On Chooglin'," "Have You Ever Seen The Rain," and many more.

Other notable acts appearing over the course of the festival were the Killers, the Stooges, Shirley Bassey, Paul Weller, Manic Street Preachers, Bjork, Rufus Wainwright, Nick Lowe, Steve Forbert, and Fat Boy Slim, among others.

Over the years the festival has featured such acts as Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Al Green, Tom Jones, Joan Baez, David Bowie, Joe Cocker, Isaac Hayes, Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, and others.

During his recent keynote address at this year's South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Pete Townshend said that despite modern technology separating and isolating people, music festivals still serve a crucial human need: "We do want to be together. I think that's what we want. I think the human race multiplies, music is about congregation, it's about gathering, it's about sharing -- and it's about knowing who you're not like."

The Who perform their final British dates of the year on Tuesday and Wednesday (June 26th and 27th) at London's Wembley Arena. After that, the band will hit Ireland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark before wrapping up the tour on July 9th with their first Finnish concert in 40 years.
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