The Who

[Malcolm]

The Who will tour again, according to founding guitarist Pete Townshend, who verified rumors that the band would tour in 2006 in a Christmas Eve posting on his website.
 
 Townshend offered few details about a potential Who tour, aside from confirming that the legendary British rockers would tour sometime next year in support of an album of new Who material, the groups first since 1982's "It's Hard."

Word had previously spread among Who fans that Townshend was considering bringing his semi-retired band out of the pasture for a tour and album in 2005, developments that failed to appear mainly because of Townshend's insistence on not touring without new material to play. Current Who drummer Zak Starkey's commitment to touring with Oasis this year prevented the Who from recording new tracks.

"I have said many times, repeated up until a few days ago, that I am reticent about committing to a tour without a completed new Who album under my belt" Townshend wrote in his online diary.

Townshend revealed that the new Who album will likely not be released in traditional LP form, though not the exact nature of it. "Who manager Bill Curbishley has come up with a great scheme that may circumvent the need for a CD full of Green Day and White Stripes impersonations. No, it is not an 'EP.' It is a truly inspired idea," Townshend wrote.

More importantly for fans of the group, Townshend seems to have recaptured the desire to play loud rock music onstage. "What I care about is that [singer] Roger Daltrey feels comfortable with the songs I write so he can sing a few of them on stage--while I lunge around looking gorgeous and playing show-off guitar like a kid in a music shop. After forty-five years of this crap I've just started to enjoy it," he wrote.

The posting also mentions the possibility of the entire tour being webcast online, with a mixture of free and pay shows.

The Who last toured in 2004, shortly after the death of bassist John Entwistle.

[Kujo]

I last saw them in 1982 at Shea Stadium at what was supposed to be their last concert in the U.S.A.

I would definitely go see them again. My only concern is if Daltrey still has the voice for live shows, a couple performances that I heard from their last tour left quite a bit to be desired. He sounded great on the song he did with Anthrax "Taking the Music Back" but that was a studio recording and who knows how much "cleaning up" was done on the vocals.

[Izzy]

Why is it that bands lose a member then just give up?

Zeppelin and the Who lost a drummer and just disappeared

Would their departed members really have wanted that? - the show must go on.

[Mr. Dick Purple]

Well I think it has pro and con, cause look at Queen case, Freddie died, but of course no one can replace the guy, even though this year started a tour with Paul rodger with a lot of polemics, people didnt want that.
On the other hand AC/DC died bon scott and Brian Johnson took over his place and did a pretty well job, and people did acept the guy.
so it's all about looks and points of view.
If Zep and Who would've continue to exist perhaps, who knows they couldn't make a better album, but thats just hipotesis 

[Genesis]

Zeppelin and the Who lost a drummer and just disappeared

The reason that Zep stopped was 'coz Page and Plant decided that Bonham's unique style of drumming which was instrumental to the band's sound, could not be found in any other drummer. Maybe they decided to go out in a blaze of glory rather than just fade away...

[Malcolm]

Ive never seen The Who before and im not a huge fan.Dont own any albums but i do own a live DVd and i love Petes style of guitar and love all there hits..but i really wanna see them if they coem to Toronto

[Jonathan]

They were awesome at Live 8.

[Izzy]

Zeppelin and the Who lost a drummer and just disappeared

The reason that Zep stopped was 'coz Page and Plant decided that Bonham's unique style of drumming which was instrumental to the band's sound, could not be found in any other drummer. Maybe they decided to go out in a blaze of glory rather than just fade away...

But their later stuff is really weak - they did fade away

They could still be going strong with another 2 decades worth of albums behind them - i can only imagine what treats and terrors their attempts to fit in with the hair metal scene would have brought

[Thorazine Shuffle]

Zeppelin and the Who lost a drummer and just disappeared

The reason that Zep stopped was 'coz Page and Plant decided that Bonham's unique style of drumming which was instrumental to the band's sound, could not be found in any other drummer. Maybe they decided to go out in a blaze of glory rather than just fade away...

That and the fact that they said it just woulnd'nt "feel" right with someone else behind the kit.  They we're really close.

[Cornell]

Anyone here watch CSI?  They use a Who song at the beginning and I had 3 people at work argue with me over it.  They all thought that song was was the CSI theme song written just for the show!  I kept telling them that it's an old Who song.   Finally I got them to watch the credits and now they believe me.  Where have these people been??

[Acquiesce]

I would definitely go see them again. My only concern is if Daltrey still has the voice for live shows, a couple performances that I heard from their last tour left quite a bit to be desired. He sounded great on the song he did with Anthrax "Taking the Music Back" but that was a studio recording and who knows how much "cleaning up" was done on the vocals.

Roger still has the voice for live shows. His voice is in great shape considering he is about to turn 62. I thought he was amazing at Live 8.

Why is it that bands lose a member then just give up?

Zeppelin and the Who lost a drummer and just disappeared

Would their departed members really have wanted that? - the show must go on.

The Who didn't just give up after Keith died. They released two albums after his death before they broke up.

Anyone here watch CSI?? They use a Who song at the beginning and I had 3 people at work argue with me over it.? They all thought that song was was the CSI theme song written just for the show!? I kept telling them that it's an old Who song.? ?Finally I got them to watch the credits and now they believe me.? Where have these people been??

HAHAHA! Do they live under a rock? Who Are You is one of their most popular songs on the radio. It has been around since '78.

[Malcolm]

Pete Townshend used his online diary to address rumors that previously stated plans for a Who tour and album in 2006 had gone awry, asserting that the band would indeed roll out a world tour and new recording later this year.

 "There will be a tour," Townshend wrote on his website. "We already have European Festival dates slotted in June and July." These would be the first festival-style performances from the band since 1979, when eleven fans at the band's Cincinnati concert were trampled to death in a rush for seats.

"The American part of the tour, probably in three--or even four--legs, happens from September to December. We go on to the rest of the world in 2007," Townshend continued, adding that work continues on the band's first full-length album of new material since 1982's "It's Hard."

"There will be a new CD sometime in the early summer. I know I've cried wolf a few times, but this time I have committed because I have about enough music for a new CD, and I'm still producing."

The Who  last toured in 2004, shortly after the death of bassist John Entwistle

[Malcolm]

The Who is gearing up for a round of summer concerts - mostly at festivals, so far - that will mark its first tour since traveling the world in 2004.
The band is confirmed to top the bill at the U.K.'s Wireless Festival June 25, followed by co-headlining slots with the Red Hot Chili Peppers at T In The Park and Ireland's Oxegen Festival in July.
That same month, The Who will do two gigs at the 4,000-seat Liverpool Summer Pops before venturing to Germany and Austria for a series of gigs including the Lovely Days Festival.
The Who's Live 8 set in London last July was its only performance of 2005. The band's last world tour wrapped in August 2004.
Founding members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey will once again be accompanied by Zak Starkey on drums and Pino Palladino on bass.

[Acquiesce]

They are going to be making DVDs of all of their shows. 

Wish they would get rid of Pino Palladino, though.

[axl_rose_700]

I'm going to see them on June 25th I think at Harewood House in Leeds!!

[Malcolm]

Another huge summer concert revealed for the capital.

The Who and Roger Waters will head up two days of live music in London's Hyde Park this summer.

Announced yesterday evening at a press call, Hyde Park Calling will bring together a host of rock acts over two days in early July, with The Who sure to replicate their spectacular live show (last seen a year previously - on the same stage - at Live and Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters to perform the band's landmark "Dark Side Of The Moon" in its entirety.

Held over the weekend of Saturday July 1st and Sunday July 2nd, the mini-festival will also see Texas, Starsailor performing on the first night with Dave Gilmour, while the second day sees supporting performances from Razorlight and Primal Scream.

Several more bands are still to be announced.

Tickets for the event are priced at ?42.50 for either day, while weekend tickets go for ?80. They go on sale 09:00 GMT tomorrow (March 10).

[Malcolm]

The Who to release EP in June

While the Who might not have its full-length album ready this summer, the group is releasing "The Glass Household" EP this June, a "Mini-Opera" inspired in part from guitarist Pete Townshend's online novella "The Boy Who Heard Music."

"I decided I would like to release a record prior to the European shows, even if only on the Internet," Townshend wrote on his Web site Mar. 18. "However, Polydor has agreed in principle to release something plastic prior to the main album."

The approximately 11-minute release will contain six songs and is being delivered to Polydor at the end of March. No song titles have been revealed.

Singer Roger Daltrey began recording vocals on Mar. 20 on the project, engineered by Bob Pridden and Myles Clarke. The songs originated from an idea Townshend had in early January and were to be "the backbone for some kind of large theatrical music event."

Daltrey, however, declined to be a part of that particular project. "So the principle focus of my creative output seemed closed to me when it came to writing music for the Who album," Townshend writes. "I managed a few songs that stood alone, but even those seemed to have sprung from whatever was going on in my heart as I worked on TBWHM."

A meeting with Eel Pie manager Nick Goderson changed the idea from a "Magnum-Opus" into a "Mini-Opera" with Townshend creating roughly seven or eight lyrical poems. "I did a couple of quick demos and by January 17th I knew I had about 30 minutes of music that would create a vigorous backbone for the Who album, but allow me to continue to draw on the bloodline of 'The Boy Who Heard Music,'" Towshend says.
   

After completing ten songs, including two full-length numbers and the remainder being "shorter, punchier or simple and ballad-like," Townshend began working with musicians at his Oceanic studio in late February. The musicians include bassist Pino Palladino, John "Rabbit" Bundrick on keyboards and Simon Townshend and Billy Nicholls on backing vocals. Drummer Peter Huntington, from Townshend's girlfriend Rachel Fuller's band, stood in for Zak Starkey who was wrapping up dates with Oasis.

The release will be the first of entirely new material since the band's last studio album "It's Hard" in 1982. The group will mount a series of European festival shows June 25 at the Wireless Festival in Leeds, England.

[Acquiesce]

I'm glad to see they are putting something out because I was doubting the album would be finished.

[Backslash]

Sweet!

What will they name the tour?  "Who's Left?"   

I'm all for The Who, but the heart and soul of the group were Keith Moon and John Entwistle.  It's just not the same without them.

[Malcolm]

With venue details still to be confirmed for the US part of the tour, the band will be gigging Stateside between 7th September - 10th October & 5th November - 5th December. More info on the venues as it comes in.
A couple of additional dates have been added to the European leg of the tour
and the definitive schedule is now:

JUNE
17 Leeds University
18 Brighton Centre
25 Wireless Festival - Leeds
28 Ashton Gate Football Stadium, Bristol
30 Werchter Festival - Belgium

JULY
2 Hyde Park Calling Festival - London Hyde Park
3 Beaulieu Motor Museum ? Hampshire, England
5 Liverpool Docks
6 Liverpool Docks
8 Oxygen Festival ? Naas, Eire
9 T-in-the-Park Festival, Kinross, Scotland
11 Bonn Museumplatz, Germany
12 Berlin Wuhleide, Germany
14 Locarno Moon & Stars, Switzerland
15 Sporting Club, Monte Carlo
17 Vienne Theatre,Antique(near Lyon),France
18 Metz Amneville Arena, France
20 Paleo Festival, Nyon, Switzerland
22 Lovely Days Festival, St Polten, Austria
23 Munsterplatz, Ulm, Germany
26 Palau St Jordi, Barcelona, Spain
27 Sports Palace, Madrid, Spain
29 Pabellon Principe Felipe, Zaragoza, Spain