it was performed occasionally on the who's 1979 tour with entwistle on eight-string and townshend playing one of entwistle's alembic basses used on the 1975-1976 tours. it made its return to the setlist in 1989, with townshend originally on electric guitar on the two toronto dates in june and acoustic guitar for the rest of the tour. it was disliked by roger daltrey, who thought that although it had clever lyrics, it was too long. on the original recording and in its 1979/1980 performances, daltrey sang the lead vocal; in 1989 entwistle sang it. "trick of the light" was included in the two-disc edition of "the who hits 50!".