Pete Townshend speaking at SXSW Austin
Photo by Ros O'Gorman

Pete Townshend Endorses Roger Daltrey Solo Tommy Tour

By Paul Cashmere

Fri, 13 May 2011 12:22:07 +1000

The Who’s Pete Townshend is right behind Roger Daltrey’s solo tour where he will perform the entire The Who rock opera ‘Tommy’ from start to finish.

"Great to see Roger performing TOMMY with his band in 2011,” Pete says in a statement. “I will be there in spirit. Roger has my complete and most loving support. Roger is touring his unique concert version of TOMMY using his faithful presentation of the original work as the backbone for a set of wider material. It is wonderful to hear the way Roger and his new band re-interpret the old Who songs."

Daltrey premiered the show on March 25 at the Royal Albert Hall in London and will now tour the show across America staring in Hollywood on September 13.

Pete’s younger brother Simon will play guitar in the show. The band will also feature Frank Simes (guitar), Scott Deavours (drums), Jon Button (bass) and Loren Gold (keyboards).

Daltrey says it is "A Tommy Show for today's audience from a different perspective."

"Tommy, an album that tells a story about a 'deaf, dumb, and blind boy' who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, will always be seen as a turning point for the band," he says. "Within it, I found the new voice of The Who and the band found its stride in making that music, adjusting it, using all that knowledge that we had from jazz and the blues into making it work in a rock way."

Townshend wrote ‘Tommy’, the world’s first rock opera, in 1968. It was The Who’s forth album, released in May, 1969.

Tour dates are:

DATE	CITY	VENUE
9/13	Hollywood, FL	Seminole Hard Rock
9/15	Alpharetta, GA	Verizon Wireless Pavilion
9/17	Boston, MA	Agganis Arena
9/18	Newark, NJ	Prudential Center
9/21	Philadelphia, PA	MANN Center
9/23	Uniondale, NY	Nassau Coliseum
9/24	Hartford, CT	XL Center
**9/27	Montreal, QC	Place Des Arts
**9/28	Ottawa, ON	Scotiabank Place
**9/30	Toronto, ON	Sony Centre For The Performing Arts
10/1	Windsor, ON	The Coliseum at Caesars Windsor
10/5	Minneapolis, MN	U.S. Bank Theater at Target Center
10/7	Hammond, IN	Venue at Horseshoe Casino
10/8	St. Louis, MO	Peabody Opera House
10/11	Cedar Park, TX	Cedar Park Center
10/12	Grand Prairie, TX	Verizon Theatre
10/14	Kansas City, MO	The Midland by AMC
10/16	Broomfield, CO	1STBANK Center
10/19	Los Angeles, CA	NOKIA Theatre
10/21	San Jose, CA	San Jose Civic
10/22	Las Vegas, NV	The Joint
10/24	Portland, OR	Rose Quarter-Theatre of the Clouds
10/25	Seattle, WA	KeyArena at Seattle Center
**10/27	Vancouver, BC	Rogers Arena
**10/29	Edmonton, AB	Rexall Place
**10/30	Calgary, AB	Scotiabank Saddledome
**11/1	Saskatoon, SK	Credit Union Centre
**11/2	Winnipeg, MB	MTS Centre