The Who to tour in 2006 - Townshend Wednesday December 28, 09:10 PM    



TORONTO/NEW YORK (Billboard) - The Who will return to the stage next year following "a very, very cool" surprise announcement in June, according to guitarist Pete Townshend.

Under a Christmas Eve online diary post (http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/) titled "I will go on tour...," the band's driving creative force said all of the shows may be viewable online.

"I have high hopes for the whole tour to be shared to a wide audience at home in a mixture of pay-per-view and free special Web casts," Townshend wrote. "Some of the proceeds will go to charity, of course."
No dates have been confirmed, but Townshend said he expected to unveil some new material on the road.

He had originally hoped to release the first Who studio album since 1982's "It's Hard" this year, but in March relayed news that it had fallen behind schedule due to the studio process and other projects. No new album and drummer Zak Starkey's commitment to touring with Oasis scotched thoughts of a tour in 2005.

"I have said many times... that I am reticent about committing to a tour without a completed new Who album under my belt," Townshend said. "As things stand I am still pushing to produce some more songs. So the announcement (of a 2006 tour) may seem premature. It is not."

While a traditional album is not expected, Townshend said new music will emerge, although it was unknown if it would be in a physical or digital format. "No, it is not an 'EP,'" he says. "It is a truly inspired idea."

"Who manager Bill Curbishley has come up with a great scheme," he said. "What his brilliant idea means is that if I don't have a full 30 tracks ready to go, we can settle on what I do have. So I can commit."

With his London office closed for the holiday season, Curbishley was unreachable for comment about the release of the new music or tour plans.

Townshend denied rumors that his girlfriend and sometime collaborator, Rachel Fuller, would open shows, instead suggesting that his brother Simon Townshend's band, Casbah Club, would be a better fit. "Who fans would love them."

Of his own new music, Townshend says, "I certainly don't give a flying f--- whether anything I write is a hit, or will get played on my beloved rock radio, or sell a million."

"What I care about is that 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," he said. "After 45 years of this crap I've just started to enjoy it."

Reuters/Billboard

I was thrilled when I first heard it. I'm not too keen on watching old bands live as they seem to lose a lot of their intensity along with their hair, but after Live 8 I still think they can put on a powerful performance. They're on my to-go list, definetly. Not too mention they're probably one of the few acts I won't have to beg my friends to follow me to.

They were great at The Isle of Wight festival year before last.

I would love to see The Who. Cant wait for more information to be released.

So what do you think the "very cool surprise "is????