Latest news with #PeteTownshend
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'60s Rock Icon, 81, Makes Bold Admission About 'Funny' Relationship With Fellow Band Member
'60s Rock Icon, 81, Makes Bold Admission About 'Funny' Relationship With Fellow Band Member originally appeared on Parade. '60s rock icons The Who, featuring original members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, are hitting the road for a farewell tour. Daltrey, 81, and Townshend, 80, had a famously tense relationship through much of the band's historic tenure, but the two became closer following the death of bandmate John Entwistle in 2002. As the band sets off on its summer tour, a spry Daltrey is giving new insight into the legendary rockers' 'funny friendship.'In an interview with AP Entertainment, the ageless Daltrey said, 'Pete and I, it's a funny friendship. We don't mix socially at all. We only see each other to work. He likes boats — I hate boats. I've got my feet on the ground... I like my feet in the mud. He likes fashion — I don't give a (expletive). I hate new clothes, you know, so we're total opposites. But it works. I don't question it. There's a chemistry that happens with the way he writes his songs, and the way I join him. There's something special there, and we should treasure it — which indeed we are.' On a post of the interview shared to social media, fans compared Daltrey and Townshend to Rolling Stones rockers Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, writing, 'Kind of like Mick and Keith,' while another added, 'Like brothers.'The Who are currently on tour through September 28, 2025. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 '60s Rock Icon, 81, Makes Bold Admission About 'Funny' Relationship With Fellow Band Member first appeared on Parade on Jul 22, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 22, 2025, where it first appeared. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Who Launch Post-Zak Starkey Era at ‘Song Is Over' Tour Launch
The Who kicked off their Song Is Over farewell tour Sunday night at the Anfiteatro Camerini in Piazzola sul Brenta, Italy. It was their first gig since firing longtime drummer Zak Starkey and replacing him with Scott Devours, their first regular tour show without an orchestra since 2017, and the official unveiling of new background singer John Hogg after giving him a test run earlier this year at the Royal Albert Hall. The setlist stuck largely to the standards, but they did break out the Who's Next deep cut 'Love Ain't For Keepin'.' Prior to the Royal Albert Hall gigs in March, they hadn't touched it since 2004. Also noteworthy was the inclusion of 'I've Had Enough' in a segment of Quadrophenia songs that also included 'The Real Me,' '5:15,' and 'Love, Reign O'er Me.' It was essentially the first time they've ever done 'I've Had Enough' outside of complete performances of Quadrophenia. More from Rolling Stone Pete Townshend on the Who's Split With Zak Starkey: 'It's Been a Mess' Zak Starkey on Being Fired, Rehired, and Fired Again by the Who: 'These Guys are F-ckin' Insane' Roger Daltrey Receives Knighthood for Contributions to Music and Charity: 'It's a Wonderful Honor' We say 'essentially' because there was a lone 'I've Had Enough' at the launch of the original Quadrophenia tour on October 28, 1973, at Trentham Gardens in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It's a show that looms large in Who lore since they attempted to play practically all of Quadrophenia that night, leaving out the title track and 'Cut My Hair.' They cut 'The Dirty Jobs,' 'Is It In My Head,' and 'I've Had Enough' by the second show so they'd have more time to devote to older material. When the tour hit Newcastle, England, a week later, the primitive analog tape machine the band used to play the complex Quadrophenia songs malfunctioned. A frustrated Pete Townshend had a meltdown in response, tossing sound man Bobby Pridden to the side and lunging at the board. 'Townshend began pulling at the sound board, yanking out wires, demolishing many of the prerecorded tapes it had taken so many weeks' work to piece together,' Dave Marsh wrote in his 1983 book Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who. 'The rest of the band watched in a daze.' (The Who wouldn't devote a substantial amount of their show to new material again until the start of the Endless Wire tour in 2006.) It's significantly easier for the Who to play complex songs like 'Love, Reign O'er Me' these days since they've added a keyboardist to their live band along with several other musicians. On this new tour, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are joined by Devours, Hogg, guitarist Simon Townshend, bassist Jon Button, and keyboardist Loren Gold. In a new interview with Pollstar, Daltrey said this was a 'back to basics' tour after all the recent outings with orchestras. 'We are trying to just make it more like what we were in the '70s, make it raw,' he said. 'Let me explain something: the problem with modern rock concerts is that, in some way or the other, people expect too much in a visual way, which involves screens and lights and all that stuff. And to keep all that stuff on the same page as the music and what the band's putting out, you have to have a set list.' 'I fucking hate set lists!' he continued. 'I hate them because, to me, the next song should follow the energy of what you've created to the previous one. And you don't know that until you go out there doing it. In the old days, before we had screens, we used to mix the sound from the front of the stage and the lights from the front of the stage, we used to just do it all on the stage. You could make the set list up as you went along, and that was fabulous. It was freedom. But now, of course, it's impossible, because you've got to work with a team. It's like a military operation.' It's a military operation led by two men in their early eighties. And on opening night in Italy, Daltrey sang 'See Me, Feel Me 'while kneeling down since he was suffering from leg cramps. 'The Song is Over' was listed as the final song, which makes sense considering that's the name of the tour, but it was cut, quite possibly due to Daltrey's leg cramps. The tour continues Tuesday night at the Parco della Musica di Milano in Segrate, Italy. The U.S. leg begins August 16 in Sunrise, Florida. It wraps up September 28 in Las Vegas, but more shows will likely be added before they wrap this thing up. The Who's setlist at Anfiteatro Camerini in Piazzola sul Brenta, Italy: 'I Can't Explain''Substitute''Who Are You''Love Ain't for Keepin'''Bargain''The Seeker''Pinball Wizard''Behind Blue Eyes''The Real Me''5:15''I'm One''I've Had Enough''Love, Reign O'er Me''Eminence Front''My Generation''Cry If You Want' (Snippet)'See Me, Feel Me''You Better You Bet''Baba O'Riley''Won't Get Fooled Again' Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Classic Rock Legend, 88, Makes Rare Appearance With Iconic 60s 'It Girl', 75
Classic Rock Legend, 88, Makes Rare Appearance With Iconic 60s 'It Girl', 75 originally appeared on Parade. Classic rock legend Bill Wyman was recently photographed in a rare appearance alongside the iconic 60s supermodel and 'It Girl' Twiggy at a VIP screening of her upcoming documentary in London on July 3. The Rolling Stones bassist, 88, looked to be in great spirits as he posed with the former model, 75, as well as his wife, Suzanne Wyman, and Twiggy's husband, Leigh Lawson, at the Twiggy screening, which was held at The Cinema at Selfridges. Wyman was last seen at an awards ceremony for a photography event back in January, but before that, the musician was keeping an even lower profile than he has so far this year. He was only seen out publicly once in 2024, when he made an appearance at the Just For One Day: The Live Aid Musical press night in February of that year. Prior to that, he was last seen stepping out for the world premiere of The Great Escaper at the BFI Southbank in London in September 2023. Needless to say, the rock star doesn't make too many appearances these days. For her part, Twiggy — whose real name is DameLesley Lawson — was last seen at the Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet press night recently alongside another classic rock icon: none other than Pete Townshend, the legendary guitarist for The Who. They were also photographed alongside Sadie Frost, director of Twiggy, who attended the event as well. The Rolling Stones were formed in London in 1962. Though Wyman wasn't in their initial lineup, he is still the band's first official bassist. They initially formed without one — though founding member Dick Taylor would switch from guitar to bass often — with several guitarists in the group, and then auditioned for a bass player in late 1962. Wyman was asked to join the band then, and he stayed with the group until his 1993 departure. Classic Rock Legend, 88, Makes Rare Appearance With Iconic 60s 'It Girl', 75 first appeared on Parade on Jul 4, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
Spectator
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Depressingly corny: Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet, reviewed
It's all very well for people like me to sneer at dance makers for drawing on classic rock as a quick way of pulling in the punters, but the trick clearly does the business. Sadler's Wells was pretty well full on the night I saw Pete Townshend's Quadrophenia, a concept album that has endured several iterations and rewrites since the recording was first released on vinyl by the Who in 1973. An audience of all shapes and ages seemed to be having a good time, but although there's nothing disgraceful about the show that director Rob Ashford has overseen, it seemed to me depressingly corny and laboured – a bumpy ride hitched to a creaky old bandwagon. You may recall the premise: searching for a focus to his banal adolescent existence, Jimmy is a disaffected, angsty mod of the early 1960s with something by Camus in his coat pocket. Tormented by his four conflicted inner selves, he rejects the values of his suburban parents and gets caught up in the seaside war with the rockers. Love and friendship let him down; the drugs don't work. He ends up isolated in disillusion and misery as the waves break thunderously on Brighton beach. The score has been 'symphonically' orchestrated by Townshend's wife Rachel Fuller: excised of his lyrics, it loses whatever acerbic critical edge it originally had and becomes a relentless noise, monotonously pitched, painfully over-amplified and devoid of light and shade. But the staging is super-slick. Both Christopher Oram's sets (leaning heavily on projections and video) and Paul Smith's costumes efficiently evoke the era, while the cast presents a well-drilled, multitasking ensemble, making the most of the mechanically athletic choreography by Paul Roberts. The doe-eyed Paris Fitzpatrick is engagingly vulnerable as the protagonist and Dan Baines is a malign presence as the leader of the mod pack. God knows what satisfaction the Royal Ballet's Matthew Ball extracted from his pointless cameo as a preening pop idol. The women appear as nothing more than silly dolly birds. The master of this genre of narrative ballet is Matthew Bourne: but what he has – and what Quadrophenia fatally lacks – is a light touch that avoids futile gesturing at large philosophical themes. It's this quality that irradiates Bourne's The Midnight Bell, currently revived for the first time since its première in 2021. It's one of Bourne's strongest and most distinctive shows, playing to all his strengths and rooted in his enduring fascination with the seedier aspects of mid-20th century London. Loosely drawing on the novels of Patrick Hamilton (with nods towards Rodney Ackland's play Absolute Hell), it focuses on a dismal Soho pub in the 1930s that serves as a magnet for spivs, cads, tarts and queers, all of them either lonely or desperate. Ten such wounded characters drink their sorrows and dreams away over one sorry night. Although there's not much in the form of plot beyond a series of unsuccessful seductions and emotional disappointments, Bourne manages to create vivid personalities, ingeniously weaving the slim narrative threads and using his (somewhat limited) choreographic language to establish credible psychological detail. It's also sharply funny. Terry Davies provides a period-appropriate score, and at intervals popular songs of an Al Bowlly nature are wittily mimed. Lez Brotherston has designed a richly atmospheric set, beautifully lit by Paule Constable: you can almost taste the gin and smell the woodbine. Running at 90-odd minutes it risks seeming a bit thin and protracted, but a uniformly excellent cast ensures that it holds fast and charms. A national tour continues until October.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Take the World's Hardest Quiz: The Who
These past few weeks have been a very trying time for Who fans. The difficulties started in April when word slipped out they'd fired longtime drummer Zak Starkey, calmed down a bit when Pete Townshend reversed the decision, and then went into overdrive when they announced they were calling it quits after one more tour. (Yes, they said this before in 1982, but they weren't in their eighties back then.) And once the reality that the Who were ending sank in, they announced that Starkey was indeed getting the boot despite all of their early protestations to the contrary. This turmoil was nothing new for fans who've been around since the days of Keith Moon. The Who have been in a state of wonderful chaos from day one. These true OG fans are likely going to do very well on this quiz. For everyone else … good luck. Zero to 30 percent correct: Did you think maybe this was a quiz about the Guess Who? Were you expecting more questions about 'American Woman' and ''These Eyes'? But even if you're familiar with the Who, it's clear you're no expert. But don't feel bad. You just need to take an amazing journey through one of the strongest catalogs in rock. We recommend starting with Live at Leeds and then spending a lot of time with Tommy, Who's Next, and Quadrophenia. If you want to read about their history, track down Dave Marsh's 1983 book Before I Get Ol The Story of the Who. More from Rolling Stone Zak Starkey Says He Was 'Retired' Not 'Fired' From the Who, According to Roger Daltrey New Who Drummer Scott Devours: 'The Weight of This Responsibility Is Enormous' The Who Tap Billy Idol, the Joe Perry Project, and More for Farewell Tour Openers 31 to 60 percent correct: Nice work. We made the questions especially tricky on this one, and you knew quite a few. If you want to take a deeper drive, read Pete Townshend's book Who I Am: A Memoir and Roger Daltrey's unfortunately titled Thanks a Lot Mr Kibblewhite: My Story. These two guys have very different perspectives on just about everything. But if you read both of their books, you'll emerge knowing a lot more about their band. 61 to 100 percent correct: Fantastic. You could probably sing along to every song on Endless Wire and not miss a word. (And don't sleep on 2019's Who. There are good songs on there.) If you want to become even more of an expert, Tony Fletcher's Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend and Pete Rees' The Ox: The Authorized Biography of the Who's John Entwistle will teach you everything you need to learn about rock's greatest rhythm section. We must also say that bootlegs from the band's 1999-2000 tour are stellar. It's their last true golden era. But if you aced this quiz, you certainly know that. Looking for more Rolling Stone ? Try these: The World's Hardest Taylor Swift QuizThe World's Hardest The Office QuizThe World's Hardest Saturday Night Live QuizThe World's Hardest Billy Joel QuizThe World's Hardest Bob Dylan Quiz The World's Hardest Bruce Springsteen QuizThe World's Hardest U2 QuizThe World's Hardest Pink Floyd QuizThe World's Hardest Rolling Stones Quiz Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
