Yesterday, The Who's Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend hosted a press conference to discuss their upcoming North American Quadrophenia tour, which kicks off in early November in Florida.
The band will perform the entire iconic 1973 double album, along with a selection of other Who classics. You can see the full list of tour dates below.
Check out the complete interview video below, plus a brief Q&A with Townshend that was provided by the band.
Why do you think the music, the themes of Quadrophenia -- both the album and film adaptation -- resonate so strongly today?
In 1972 I was 28, 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 16 or 17, 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 14, 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?
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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 colorful period of our career, and our lives as young men trying to pursue a dream of becoming famous and respected, I realized 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.
Leg #1
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
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
Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
