The Shout - Pete Townshend

The Shout - Pete Townshend

Many Who fans have been asking what is next for The Two after last month's performance of Quadrophenia at the Albert Hall. Roger Daltrey has some solo dates coming up and Pete is hard at work on a musical. Still, nothing has been said about a future tour. For me, although I would love to see them again live, I also wish Pete would release some more stuff from his archives. For example, the great 1975 concert in Houston which is on YouTube.

That may be a pipe dream so I will gladly accept another Scoop-style album, which were a series of albums that Townshend put out which were made up of demos that for one reason or another did not make it onto Who albums. “The Shout” is from Another Scoop and is one of those highly emotive songs that is a Townshend trademark. I think it would have fit in pretty well on The Who's By Numbers album or Townshend's solo album, Empty Glass.

Night School - Pete Townshend

Recently I came across White City on YouTube. White City: A Novel was a solo concept album released by Pete Townshend in 1985 and is somewhat autobiographical. The basic premise of the story is about someone that becomes successful and returns back to the city they grew up in and found it to be run-down and filled with racial tension. I vividly remember buying this CD, however, I never got to see the one-hour film until just recently. The album featured David Gilmour, Pino Palladino, Simon Phillips, Mark Brzezicki, John "Rabbit" Bundrick and the man, myth and legend, Chucho Merchan. Pete’s daughter Emma also provided backing vocals for “Night School.” The above video is a much different version than what appeared on the album.

Getting Ready for Halftime

This is a pretty cool video of the crew setting up for The Who's Super Bowl halftime show. Approximately 600 people set everything up and then broke it all down. Amazing how they are able to put this type of stuff together and got it all done without any sort of serious panic.

The Who at The Royal Albert Hall

The Who last night wrapped up this year's series of Teenage Cancer Trust charity shows at London's Royal Albert Hall with a performance of the album, Quadrophenia. Here is a link to all of the songs which were posted on YouTube. Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder was a surprise guest at the show, as was Kasabian singer Tom Meighan. Additionally, there was a brass and string section.

This is the 1oth anniversary of the benefit, which is headed up by Roger Daltrey, and so there were 10 shows. The Who did the final show, but the other concerts featured some good performers as well, such as Noel Gallagher and Them Crooked Vultures, among others.

So far the Quadrophenia concert has received favorable reviews. The U.K.'s Times Online had this to say:

"Daltrey sang with his emphatic touch, while Townshend played acoustic and electric guitar with a combination of finesse and aggression."

Meanwhile, Rolling Stone raved about Townshend in their review:

"His playing was virtuosic, moving, on “5:15″ between bluesy licks, shredding solos and savage power chords, but also, more crucially, fueled by an enduring rage. The climactic one-two punch of “The Rock” and “Love Reign O’er Me” was drama worthy of this storied, 19th century venue."

Going into last night there was talk of the band touring Quadrophenia this fall. We'll see. The main issue is Pete's hearing. As you can see from the photo below, drummer Zak Starkey's set is enclosed by plexiglass, however, that was done during Roger's solo tour, as well. Incidentally, Starkey isn't using the cool bullseye cymbals he used at the Super Bowl, perhaps the N.F.L. trademarked them? Anyway, Pete was reportedly going to test out a new device last night for his hearing. Hopefully, things worked out fine. But I think Townshend had an idea ahead of time that it was not going to be an issue. I suspect the band will be announcing a tour similar to what they did in 2002; 20-25 dates in the U.S. in late summer and early fall. I don't think Pete wants to do a long tour like they did in 2006-2007.

Pete Townshend Interview in Premier Guitar Magazine

Always a great interview, Pete Townshend doesn't disappoint in Premier Guitar Magazine here, or does he? When asked about the future Townshend states that there are no plans for a tour at the moment and also discusses his latest project:

"Floss is not a new Who album. It is a musical play. Some of the music might work for Roger and me; I am still working on it. I reckon I have another year to go writing."

Townshend also talks about his hearing:

"I don’t use in-ears on stage. Not yet. I have just been introduced to a new microprocessor- controlled system with three transducers in each ear. They sound amazing. But the Chinese might hack into my gig… I have started wearing hearing aids in the past months. The new ones are incredible. Tiny. The only way to protect my hearing would be to stop playing music. I get the most problems from long periods of studio work, which is how I compose. So I am nervous about the future right now."

For me, Pete has given more than enough already and anything he does going forward is gravy. What's most important is that he takes care of his hearing, which he appears to be doing.

Pete Townshend and The Grateful Dead

I came across this video recently of Pete Townshend jamming in 1981 on a couple of songs with the Grateful Dead.

This reminds me of a story Roger Daltrey told once of a jam session that broke out under the stage at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Daltrey claims that Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Mama Cass, George Harrison, Pete Townshend, Keith Moon and Janis Joplin - he mentioned a few others but I can't remember who at the moment - were jamming away to an extended version of "Sgt. Pepper."

Pete denied the session ever took place. Perhaps he really doesn’t remember due to some drugs taken that weekend or maybe it’s because Townshend loves to needle Roger. If such a session did take place, what a shame that there is no film of it.

The Who Live In Boston DVD

I recently used a gift card that I got for Christmas to pick up The Who Live in Boston DVD. This was the final show of their 2002 summer tour in which the band played about 20 or so concerts. On the eve of the tour, bassist John Entwistle died at the age of 57. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey made the difficult decision to go on with the tour. The DVD includes interviews with both Pete and Roger.

Daltrey explains that one of the main reasons they decided to go on with the tour was because it was completely sold out and when they began thinking about all of the people that were working on the tour, it numbered in the hundreds.

Townshend talked about his relationship with Entwistle which dated back to when they were 11 years old. He also compared and contrasted Keith Moon and Zak Starkey.

The DVD also includes some of Entwistle’s drawings of Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, Elton John and others. Now onto the concert...

Pino Palladino (picture far left) was tapped to play bass. Pino had played with Townshend on many of his solo shows and also is part of the John Mayer Trio. His bass playing is good, but very different from the great Entwistle. Zak Starkey manned the drums; Pete's kid brother Simon (pictured next to Pino) played extra guitar and sung backing vocals; while John "Rabbit" Bundrick (pictured to the left of Pete) was on keyboard.

Interesting, when Keith Moon died, The Who brought in a new drummer and added a keyboardist. When "The Ox" passed, the band had to not only bring in a bass player but an extra guitar. No doubt a testament to the greatness of Moon and 'Wistle.

The band played a setlist that touched all of their albums and put on a blistering performance of "Amazing Journey/Sparks" which has to rival anything they did during their halcyon years. Daltrey also delivered an incredibly potent and emotional rendition of "Love Reign O’er Me."

This DVD reminded me of when I saw the band on that tour in August 2002 at Madison Square Garden, where incidentally I ran into Lenny Kravitz in the audience (I never realized how tall he was). I still have the t-shirt from that tour.

Anyway, I heard about this DVD on The Who’s message board and I’m glad I did. Definitely two thumbs up.

Here is the setlist:
•I Can't Explain
•Substitute
•Anyway Anyhow Anywhere
•Who Are You
•Another Tricky Day
•Relay
•Bargain
•Baba O'Riley
•Sea and Sand
•5:15
•Love Reign O'er Me
•Eminence Front
•Behind Blue Eyes
•You Better You Bet
•The Kids Are Alright
•My Generation
•Won't Get Fooled Again
•Pinball Wizard
•Amazing Journey/Sparks
•See Me Feel Me
•Listening to You