26 Mar 2025

Teenage Cancer Trust Shows: Rehearsals: 26 March 2025

26 Mar 2025 – London, England

Rehearsals done.

We were in this new location, basically a big warehouse with huge curtains around to knock down the sound a bit. The first day (Thursday) was “tech day” – where the crew work to set up and wire everything, fix and clean whatever’s been in storage for a year, things like that. It’s good – and needed – to have this time. Some tours, the time/money crunch means we have to do it on the same day that the band will be coming in – so much more of a rush and things never get done properly on those days. But there’s a lot riding on these particular shows being good, so we were given the time to do things as well as possible. As always, our team is good, hard-working, and funny. Good to be back.

After tech-day, we have two days with the band and just Pete. This is to work on instrument sounds (drums, guitar, etc have new setups to deal with) just things that would be a waste of time for Roger.

Pete is in with an update; a new knee has been installed! About a month back, he’d had the replacement surgery, which is quite common now – one of our sound guys has also just done it. Pete admits it was long overdue, and explains that for the past few years, he’s been onstage playing through some pain. However, the results are great, his PT (Pete Townshend/Physical Therapy) has been great and he moves about just as normal. Still, there’s some medication to get through it, which he’s says can affect his focus a bit. Regardless, this first day is not about being a stellar performer, we have a big job to do . . .

Pete explains the need for these rehearsals; we’ve done five years with orchestra. Initially he wasn’t keen on the idea, but he found it different and somewhat interesting (I suppose after nearly 60 years of the same music, these changes are fresh and intriguing.) Now, he says, we’ve grown accustomed to some of those sounds, arrangements, parts of the orchestra,  and we must do without. In essence, to go back to the old Who sounds is now unusual and strange. It’s even weird for me to setup and not worry about cellos in the way. So today they start with a simple essence, to work on backing vocal parts. Jon Hogg is a superb singer, easily as good as any famous frontman you know, so his parts are really helping the sound. Pete had missed the bright edge that he and Entwistle used to have when young, and this brings some of that back.

Then, into the instruments, and there are more changes: For the orchestra, we started using an electric drum kit to keep the levels down – it looks like a regular set from the side, as the shells and hardware are made by Drum Workshop/DW, who have endorsed and made Zak’s kits for many years. The basic electronics and cymbals are by Roland, and all are triggering a set of sounds in the “brain” master unit. Because of volume issues (trying to keep the onstage volume down) we’re staying with the kit past the orchestra situation. If we had acoustic drums again, they get loud OR you have to put all the plexiglass/perspex walls around the drummer, and Zak hates that stuff. Plus it makes the drums sound weird – fixing one problem but adding another. The new drum sounds take hours to sort out. Ask our crew. I think we heard about four hours total of loud drumming while we connected cables and polished guitars.

Pete has his own changes – and a lot of them! The Stratocaster guitars themselves are about the only thing that is the same. They have new pickups, new fret sizes installed, and different string gauges than he’s ever used. A new pedalboard, the first in 20 years, and new amps! But Simon Law (guitar tech) and Pete worked out their new choices over the recent weeks, trying everything out at volume in the studio before this. However, when Pete starts to play with the band he doesn’t like it. It doesn’t cut through as much, sounds a bit boxy. The first thing he asks is to change the amp back to the Fender he’s used for three decades or more. And it sounds better . . . “sound more like you, Pete” is what Robert Collins (the PA mixer) tells him. So those Fender amps come back. Next, the pedals on the new board just aren’t changing the sound enough for Pete, so he asks for the old pedals back and they work as hoped. Different string gauges are tried with varying results, but he does like the newer choices in this case. It takes time to do these things, some with the band waiting/watching, some that Simon and Pete do on their own before/after rehearsals. Lots of guitar soloing, which is fun to hear.

Next, our big situation: Roger’s been doing very well with his solo tours, and has another coming up soon. There hasn’t been any Who touring planned, but these two shows for charity will be a “test bed” to see if things for the Who v6.7 will be any good. Will we have more shows like this, sans orchestra, at 80+ years for Rog and Pete? By our second rehearsal, Pete is ripping on guitar, the sound is back, it makes him comfortable, and things are sounding very solid. We run through quite a few of the classics with Jon Hogg singing lead in Roger’s place when possible – he’s stunningly great. Yes, it’s a bit rusty here and there, but this is always the case after any break.

Pete tells us the last time he remembers an exceptional/traditional Who show was at Desert Trip in the Coachella Valley, the desert shows in California. We pull up that setlist to reference, and it’s a stock Who show, the one you’re probably seen a lot, all the usual bits. I’d mentioned on the last blog some surprises  but at this moment, it’s decided that newness can only come after getting the band to sound good, to play well together, and these basic Who classic will need to be in the show; so we’re going to focus on them.

Yes, a few new things are tried too. A few weeks ago, I talked to Pete about some now approaches – how to play long powerful shows at age 80, and make it sustainable, make it a show that Roger will enjoy throughout, maybe some newness in ideas. Pete had even said he’d like to try keyboards, as he sometimes had done a piano song or two in solo shows. With these brief days of rehearsal, some of those creative thoughts have been put on-hold ’til we get the ship sailing true and straight first. I’d say about four to five older songs (ones not usually in any Who setlist in the last 20 years) have been tried, and one even that I know has never been played live before. I think it may stay. (Stay tuned; it’s still rough, but with practice on the soundcheck at the Albert Hall, it may come together.)

We have had sound issues for Roger, and our longtime monitors man (Simon Higgs) is gone, so we have instead John Switzer, who’s been on our sound crew for years; He’s been doing monitors on Roger’s solo tour (admittedly a different band, but the concepts are the same.) Switzer is young, eager, and doing well so far in what is usually the toughest role in the crew, the onstage sound mix. Some of our pre-Roger rehearsal was to get the stage volume down so Roger can have a clearer choice of blends in his “ears” – the earbud monitors most musicians use. Pete and Robert Collins try to understand how the sound in the audience bounces back and affects what Roger is hearing, trying to keep it clear and balanced; it’s a tricky game, because it all mixes together in different ways, in different rooms, on different parts of the stage. Pete is the only one who doesn’t use the in-ear monitors; he uses the “wedges” slanted speaker boxes that sit onstage. I may have told you about his setup, which IS unique to him, and quite brilliant. He stands in the middle of a box of four wedge monitors. In the two speakers in front of him, he hears his and the band’s vocals, plus his own acoustic guitar signal. Behind him on the left, is the playback of the tracks like ‘Baba O’Riley’ and ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ – his own synth/organ tapes from countless Who shows. And in the rear/right monitor speaker (between himself and the drums) he has the sound of the drums and bass, so when he’s looking at Zak, he hears the drums from that same direction. During rehearsals this weekend, Roger kept hearing “too much drums” despite the lack of any REAL drums onstage (Zak’s pads are rubber/plastic and don’t really make much noise.) Eventually it was determined that Rog was hearing too much of Pete’s rear/right wedge, which is somewhat near him. But Pete needs the drums/bass to drive him, always. We did a lot of moving things and baffles so the drum speaker can still be loud enough for Pete, but it blocks any sound of that speaker from Roger, who has his own drum mix. These are significant changes that won’t be noticible by anyone watching the show, but it may make a huge difference in the feeling and outcome for the musicians onstage. This is why we rehearse!

100% Roger is astounding. He’s in such good shape and sound. All of us are noticing it. His entire generation of singers is done, basically. We know their names,  even the ones from the ’70s and 80s bands are losing it, or already lost. But here is the one left who could (a) ever sing like this and (b) still be doing it like he is 20. Amazing. And I hope you can see how good he is in-person, where it always sounds better!

At one point, Pete mentions that it’s hard to keep track of various versions of songs. ‘My Generation’ (you may have heard of it, it’s 60 years-old!) was rehearsed for over an hour! Because of the variations between the record, the single, the 1969 versions, the 2004 version, the Roger solo tour version, etc etc. And it’s slightly an odd structure, lots of key changes (depending on which version) and drum breaks and extra measures. So Pete suggests having a Musical Director to keep everyone on-track. Jon Button is elected: he’s always strong at memory and details of chords and endings. Musical Director role is usually to keep notes on a pad or iPad, to be able to call up old set lists from shows, or which songs are available to play. Even this week, Jon was the sole person to notice that we’d rehearsed ‘Pinball Wizard’ transitioning into ‘See Me Feel Me’, and also rehearsed ‘Amazing Journey/Sparks’ into ‘See Me Feel Me’. You see the problem? Old versions we’re used to playing for an old set list. So Jon is now our M.D. (Often a “Musical Director” is either a pompous annoying friend of the diva pop singer OR it’s an established/accomplished musician who everyone respects for the reliable nature. Luckily, Jon is the latter!)

With Roger along, we realize that the sound in a big warehouse (curtains or not) is not like a concert hall – it’s tricky to understand how the “stage sound” is gonna be, versus our concrete warehouse. Pete admits it’s a mistake that we rehearse in these places – when much of our time is spent sorting out what chord to play, reminding themselves of endings and transitions and that can be done in a smaller studio room with better acoustics (and for less $$$!) The big rooms we use are mainly good to tech setup, but it’s still a strange not-normal sound until we hit a real stage.

With Roger in for the final two days, things shape up quickly. The band and sounds are set, and aside from the sound adjustments mentioned above, they get quickly to working on songs. Roger’s suggested a bunch of interesting tracks, as Pete and I had discussed trying some new/old things, too. Roger’s got some good ones, and we do run through them at least once or twice. So now – we have all the old Who songs, a few new ones – totalling somewhat over three and a half hours of available music. Except . . . and this is a big one . . . the concept has been that Who shows won’t be sustainable at the current two-plus hours they’ve been doing. The goal this rehearsal is to try editing something out of the standard show, to still make it feel long and full, but without quite two hours of performing; this may be critical at whatever ages they reach, in order to continue touring. Possible touring is on the agenda IF things can be worked out. But they’re trying to be smart, to understand that there isn’t much time left to do shows/tours. It’s partly about earning – they’re not promoting any album or trying to “get famous” by touring now. But they like to work, it pays well, and their crew can always use the work, merchandise companies to sell the shirts – a lot can happen if shows will continue.

So a tighter show that’s still impactful – and maybe something different to wake up the old fans again – this is the core goal this week. At one point, a team of us made up a proposed set list based on the show Pete last-loved. We picked out the classics that need to be in the show, added a couple or three of the new changes, and restructured the remaining. It’s hard to choose, but sometimes it’s length that makes a song get removed, or the difficulty with singing range, or the popularity of something. Most audiences are mixed – a combination of die-hard fans, but many who have several Who albums, but not everything, and even a good portion of each show is just general rock fans who wanna come see the band for the first/last time ever. So, yes, the hits will always be there. And non-hits like ‘The Seeker’ and ‘The Real Me’ are also always welcome – strong album material that hits hard even if you’re a first-timer in the audience.

Unfortunately, some of the songs we’ve done (Like ‘A Quick One’) are supercool to hear if you’re a fan, but maybe a little hard to get through if you’re one of the 2,000 or more casual people there that night. ‘Whisky Man’ is just not going to show up one night, sorry.  The other issue – and everyone is discussing these things constantly – is set structure. Pete was telling the band that this has been one of their strengths (particularly Roger’s) to make a show flow from song to song, certain keys and dynamics, the funny/serious songs and their positioning. A “great ending” moment is needed? ‘Listening to You’ is exactly that. But also so is ‘Baba O’Riley’, but also sp is ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, but also something more emotional and cool like ‘Tea and Theatre’. These are the benefits of a big catalogue like The Who, but how many “endings” can you have? Juggling all these is tough. It’s an art, and almost impossible to do until you’re playing the whole show as a set which Pete points out will take two hours just to try. So it’s usually an educated guess, with tweaks made along the way.

Throughout, everyone is casual, no arguments, just laughs. Crew wanders in/out, the band sit/stand whenever they feel like it. People stop/start songs very commonly, rather than soldier on through if there’s an issue. Some vocals are delivered normally, others with a laugh and a funny voice. It’s things like this casual working atmosphere that makes me love the rehearsal periods a lot. Rehearsals go well, even to the point where they’ve pushed themselves too hard. They start getting sloppy and mistakes are made. Time to go home!

As of today there is no set list. There were suggestions made, then changes made and the show kept getting longer and longer. Looking for sustainable touring options, it must not get as-long as before. But there will be a set list made on the first night. And so  the test-run for any possible future will happen this week at The Royal Albert Hall. We’ll see you there.

Onward . . .