18 Sep 2012

Not long now till The Who’s North American arena tour

Not long now till The Who’s North American arena tour where the band will perform their iconic 1973 double album QUADROPHENIA in its entirety, along with a selection of WHO classics. The critically acclaimed QUADROPHENIA marked the British band’s second rock opera (after Tommy), raised the bar for rock albums as an art form and hit #2 on the U.S. Billboard album chart.  Founding members ROGER DALTREY and PETE TOWNSHEND will be joined by Zak Starkey (drums), Pino Palladino (bass), Simon Townshend (guitar/backing vocals), Chris Stainton (keyboards), Loren Gold (keyboards/backing vocals) and Frank Simes (musical director, keyboards/backing vocals).  **See a Q&A with Pete Townshend near the end of the release.

The AEG-promoted 37-date tour, the band’s first North American tour in four years, kicks off November 1 in Sunrise, FL with an initial six-week run. THE WHO will return in late January with more dates commencing January 28 in Anaheim, CA.  Tickets and VIP packages for the tour are now available at www.aeglive.com 

In a four-and-a-half star (out of five) review, Rolling Stone’s David Fricke said: “Quadrophenia, released in 1973, was a superior tale with more-taut songwriting; it was grounded in [Pete] Townshend’s memories of growing up angry, anguished and mod in the early Sixties, and produced with the panoramic tension of ‘Who’s Next.’” 

The Who is an English rock band formed in 1964. Quadrophenia marked the band’s sixth album. The album’s title is a variation on the popular usage of the medical diagnostic term schizophrenia and exemplifies the four varying personalities of the band members who created the album. IGN placed Quadrophenia at No. 1 on its list of the greatest classic rock albums of all time and Q magazine placed Quadrophenia on its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever, It features such classic WHO songs as “The Real Me,” “5:15” and “Love Reign o’er Me.”

PETE TOWNSHEND on “Quadrophenia”

Why do you think the music, the themes of “Quadrophenia”–both the album and film adaptation–resonate so strongly today? 

In 1972 I was twenty-eight, writing about London and Brighton in 1963 and 1964 when the band was just starting. I was still young enough to remember how it felt to be sixteen or seventeen, and at war with my parents, bosses and authority. I could still remember that feeling of struggling to fit in, something that happened to me when I was even younger, around fourteen, and everyone around me seemed to have got their lives on track. This is such a universal experience for young people that it has echoed. 

(It also seems that many of the first fans of the album don’t want to let it go; it connects them now, just as it did the band, with the important emotions and frustrations of growing up, the poignancy of it all. The film took the musical journey into the real world, and gave it flesh. That could have been a problem, but the Mod look is subtle, and cool, and so it doesn’t suffer the way some other youth films have. I’ve come to appreciate that the film has become almost more important than the album in some ways, especially in the visual age we live in.)

–In this singles-driven digital age, there are artists now singing the praises of the album as an art-form and playing their own albums from front-to-back onstage.  Since ‘Quadrophenia’ represents the album aesthetic in its highest form, what are your thoughts about the importance of albums these days for artists and audiences?

Mod was over in the South of England by the spring of 1965, and in a sense the band had changed too. We were less pure, less an R&B band and becoming more of a singles-oriented pop band. So there is an irony in the fact that when I decided we needed to reconnect with that vitally important and colourful period of our career, and our lives as young men trying to pursue a dream of becoming famous and respected, I realised I would need a double album. I’m pleased to hear about artists who uphold the album as an art-form. 

Album. Art. The questioner’s words here, but I have often been ridiculed for using them about  pop music in the past. The digital medium is only just starting to lend itself to long form work. So I expect to see more of it. It was once thought new music fans had a low attention span; but what they reveal is immense commitment to researching what touches them most deeply, and as the internet gets faster they can find what they seek more quickly. Once a connection is made, it can be extremely deep and long-lasting. This is really just another echo: this is how it was back in the ’60s. Singles first, then albums. Maybe the preponderance of singles on the internet has made the album feel special again? Maybe the old way of listening to music – in longer sittings – is finding its way back into vogue? A journey, for example, is an opportunity to listen to something longer, and easy to carry mobile music has made that possible.

–Which are your favorite songs from “Quadrophenia” to perform live and why? 

I really love playing all of it. It’s a unique piece for me in that. Some Who music is nightmarish to perform live. Roger has some very tough songs to sing, and he must have preferences. But for me on guitar everything falls under the fingers. It flows naturally, and I always feel proud of my achievement as the writer, that I put it all together and gave the band a third wind. The real high point for me is always the final song ‘Love Reign O’er Me.’ Roger and I now stand almost alone together, representing not only the original band, but also its Mod audience, and of course all our other early fans. We are connected by it, in what is the most clear cut prayer for redemption, and it feels like an acknowledgment that rock music has managed to deal with the highest emotional challenge: spiritual desperation.

–What else can fans expect to hear on the upcoming tour?

We plan to close the show with a few of the really well-known anthems, and maybe some last minute surprises. These will be as much a surprise to me as to our audience because this is an area I tend to leave to Roger; he’s very good at it.

DATE: CITY: VENUE:

Tue 11/1 Sunrise, FL BankAtlantic Center

Sat 11/3 Orlando, FL Amway Center

Mon 11/5 Duluth, GA The Arena at Gwinnett Center

Thu 11/8 Greenville, SC Bi-Lo Center 

Fri 11/9 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum 

Sun 11/11 Pittsburgh, PA CONSOL Energy Arena

Tue 11/13 Washington, DC Verizon Center

Wed 11/14 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center

Fri 11/16 Boston, MA TD Garden

Tue 11/20 Montreal, QC Bell Centre (on sale 7/28)

Wed 11/21 Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place

Fri 11/23 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre

Sat 11/24 Detroit, MI Joe Louis Arena

Tue 11/27 Minneapolis, MN Target Center

Thu 11/29 Chicago, IL Allstate Arena

Fri 11/30 Chicago, IL Allstate Arena

Sun 12/2 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena

Wed 12/5 New York, NY Madison Square Garden

Thu 12/6 Newark, NJ Prudential Center

Sat 12/8 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center

Sun 12/9 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena (on sale 8/3)

Leg #2

Mon 1/28 Anaheim, CA Honda Center

Wed 1/30 Los Angeles, CA STAPLES Center

Fri 2/1 Oakland, CA Oracle Arena

Sat 2/2 Reno, NV Reno Events Center

Tue 2/5 San Diego, CA Valley View Casino Center

Wed 2/6 Glendale, AZ Jobing.com Arena

Fri 2/8 Las Vegas, NV The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Tue 2/12 Denver, CO Pepsi Center

Thu 2/14 Tulsa, OK BOK Center

Sat 2/16 Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Arena

Sun 2/17 Columbus, OH Schottenstein Center

Tue 2/19 Hamilton, ON Copps Coliseum

Thu 2/21 Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum

Fri 2/22 Atlantic City, NJ Boardwalk Hall

Sun 2/24 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena

Tue 2/26 Providence, RI Dunkin’ Donuts Center

#TheWhoTour

www.www.thewho.com