THE WHO RELEASE FIRST ALBUM IN THIRTEEN YEARS AND REVEAL TOUR DATES FOR 2020
The Who is quite possibly one of the finest rock bands in the world. Certainly they’re one of the all-time great live bands. They have sold over 100 million records worldwide including 9 US & 10 UK top ten albums and 14 UK top ten singles in a career spanning six decades.
Fifty five years after making their first recordings and thirteen years since their last album was released, THE WHO are back with a new album. The album, entitled WHO will be released on the 22nd November 2019
The lead single from the album is BALL AND CHAIN. Listen to it here:
Singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend are joined on the album by long-time Who drummer Zak Starkey, bassist Pino Palladino along with contributions from Simon Townshend, Benmont Tench, Carla Azar, Joey Waronker and Gordon Giltrap.
The artwork for WHO was unveiled last night in New York at the opening of the brand new eight-storey Pace contemporary art gallery where the band also performed a short acoustic set. The album cover has been created by famed pop artist, Sir Peter Blake who first met the band in 1964 at a taping of the legendary TV show Ready Steady Go. Sir Peter designed and contributed a painting to the sleeve of The Who’s album Face Dances in 1981.
The songs on WHO cover a myriad of subjects including the Grenfell Tower fire, musical theft, spirituality, reincarnation, the power of memory and ‘an old rock star that has lost his marbles’. Singer Roger Daltrey rates it amongst their strongest “I think we’ve made our best album since Quadrophenia in 1973, Pete hasn’t lost it, he’s still a fabulous songwriter, and he’s still got that cutting edge”.
Pete Townshend states “This album is almost all new songs written last year, with just two exceptions. There is no theme, no concept, no story, just a set of songs that I (and my brother Simon) wrote to give Roger Daltrey some inspiration, challenges and scope for his newly revived singing voice. Roger and I are both old men now, by any measure, so I’ve tried to stay away from romance, but also from nostalgia if I can. I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Memories are OK, and some of the songs refer to the explosive state of things today. I made new home studio demos of all these songs in the summer of 2018 using a wide collection of instruments old and new. We started recording as The Who in March 2019, and have finished now in late August just in time to make some vinyl………maybe even some cassettes……ready for release in November”.
The Who are also embarking on a full UK Arena Tour in March/April 2020.
THE WHO UK TOUR 2020
16 March 2020 Manchester, U.K. Manchester Arena
18 March 2020 Dublin, U.K. 3 Arena
21 March 2020 Newcastle, U.K. Utilita Arena
23 March 2020 Glasgow, U.K. The SSE Hydro
25 March 2020 Leeds, U.K. First Direct Arena
30 March 2020 Cardiff, U.K. Motorpoint Arena
01 April 2020 Birmingham, U.K. Resorts World Arena
03 April 2020 Nottingham, U.K. Motorpoint Arena
06 April 2020 Liverpool, U.K. M&S Bank Arena
07 April 2020 London, U.K. The SSE Wembley Arena Tickets go on sale 10am 20th September at https://www.livenation.co.uk/artist/the-who-tickets
