The Who - "5:15" (Royal Albert Hall 2010)

On March 30, 2010 The Who played Quadrophenia at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the week-long Teenage Cancer Trust benefit shows. The above video is "5.15."

Roger Daltrey - Amazing Journey/Sparks (2011)

This is a much tamer version of "Amazing Journey/Sparks" then what we are accustomed to, but then again this is Roger Daltrey and his solo band. Yes, I like them and yes, they are very good. But there is no Pete Townshend.

Many people (myself included) feel that the way Roger and his band do it is more like the one that appears on the Tommy album, which I have posted below.

By the way, the above concert was at the Royal Albert Hall in March as part of the TCT Benefit concerts. The "Sparks" section begins around 3:24.

John Entwistle's Last "Sparks"

The Who did three warmup gigs for the 2002 Teenage Cancer Trust Concert. Two at Portsmouth Guildhall and one at Watford Colloseum. John died on June 27, 2002.

Favorite Song on Tommy Album

TheWho.com has a poll up asking what is your favorite song on Tommy (1969) and so far the results have "Sparks" in front with "Amazing Journey" and "Pinball Wizard" trailing. Other choices are "1921," "I'm Free" and "The Acid Queen."

The question is being asked as Roger Daltrey prepares to perform Tommy with his solo band at next week's TCT Charity Concert. He'll do a warmup show tomorrow night in Bournemouth, U.K. before the charity event on Thursday March 24.

Polls, brackets, etc. are all rubbish to me and my God have we overdone it lately....but that's for another post and another blog. Still, the poll gave me an excuse (as if one is necessary) for me to post The Who performing "Sparks." This one (audio only) is from a concert on May 31, 1976 in front of 80,000 people at the Charlton Athletic Football Ground in London.

What's Next for The Who?

There's plenty of talk around the various Who message boards about what the band may or may not do next. Roger Daltrey will be playing this Saturday night in Bournemouth, U.K. This will be to warm up for his performance of Tommy on Thursday, March 24 at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concerts.

After that, it's all speculation!

Pete Townshend (pictured above with The Clash) has been very quiet in communicating with the press and the fans on The Who's website. The person that runs the site mentioned that The Who will be touring Quadrophenia in September or that there could be some kind of tour with the band doing Quadrophenia one night, a "greatest hits" show another night and possibly Tommy another night.

As one message board poster wrote, you might want to run that one by Pete.

Roger Daltrey Interview

This is a good, lengthy interview with Roger Daltrey conducted by Dave Gorman of Absolute Radio. Daltrey touches on quite a few topics, most notably the upcoming concerts at the Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust Charity.

Roger Daltrey Playing with Solo Band at TCT

It's now been confirmed through The Who's official website that Roger Daltrey will be using his solo band for next month's performance of Tommy as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust benefit show. That band consists of Simon Townshend on rhythm guitar and vocals, Frank Simes (pictured with Roger above) on lead guitar, Jon Button on bass, Loren Gold on keyboards and Scott Devours on drums. I would imagine there will also be some special guests. I like this band a lot, particularly Simon and Frank Simes.

The Who News: TCT Announces This Year's Lineup, The Who Touring New Version of Quadrophenia?

Teenage Cancer Trust has announced the line-up for its 11th annual week of music and comedy gigs at the Royal Albert Hall:

Monday 21 March: An evening of comedy with John Bishop, Kevin Bridges and Greg Davies
Tuesday 22 March: Squeeze and The Feeling
Wednesday 23 March: Biffy Clyro
Thursday 24 March: Roger Daltrey performs The Who’s Tommy
Friday 25 March: Beady Eye
Saturday 26 March: Editors
Sunday 27 March: Tinie Tempah

By the way, Beady Eye is Liam Gallagher's new band.

What jumps off the page is that Pete Townshend will not be performing. I have no idea who Roger Daltrey will use as his backing group. Will it be The Who's touring band of Zak Starkey, Pino Palladino and co. or will it be the band that Roger used when he toured in the fall of 2009, which featured Frank Simes and Pete's younger brother Simon, or will it be something entirely different?

I'm expecting some sort of combination with special guests. I would love to make the trip to London to see Roger sing Tommy, especially since it is for such a worthwhile cause. But does this mean without Pete Townshend someone else will play "Sparks?" Those are some big shoes to fill, it better be somebody good!

Daltrey said after the Killing Cancer show last month that The Who wouldn't be doing anything for a while. Pete Townshend's battle with tinnitus has been well-documented and reportedly has gotten worse. But then there is the report in the February 2011 issue of MOJO which says that The Who will be touring later this year with a new production of Quadrophenia and that the album is going to be re-released in expanded form this summer.

Some people on the message board of the band's website are saying that this might be the 5.1 version of Quadrophenia, but I recall reading in the last year or two that Pete had abandoned that project.

We'll see. I first saw The Who during their 1996 Quadrophenia tour. What great, great memories!

Who Cares

The Who and Teenage Cancert Trust (TCT) have teamed up to launch Who Cares, which is designed to raise money for TCT. The news is here. Basically, it's a new way for the fans to get involved in raising money for the charity.

Incidentally, a fan has an authentic Pete Townshend shirt up for auction on eBay, which comes with an autographed photo of PT wearing a similar shirt. The auctioneer says that all proceeds will go to TCT. The link is here.

The Who News

Two classic London concerts that The Who put on are going to be released as DVDs this September. The performances take place at the Coliseum in 1969 and Kilburn in 1977. Both are, of course, during the Keith Moon era. I don’t know much about the Kilburn one, but I have heard that the Coliseum show is awesome!

In even better news, Roger Daltrey is planning on launching a second unit for teenage cancer patients in Glasgow, Scotland. The first one opened in May 2007. For more on the story click this. Daltrey is a patron for Teenage Cancer Trust. The proceeds from The Who's annual shows at the Royal Albert Hall go to the foundation. This year I've read they are trying to get the surviving members of the Sex Pistols to also perform at the concerts.