The Who set for first worldwide tour in decades

NEW YORK - Legendary British rock band The Who will launch its first worldwide tour in more than 20 years in September and is set to release its first studio album since 1982, the group announced today.

Singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist/songwriter Pete Townshend, the surviving members of the hard-driving British foursome that burst onto the music scene in 1965, will open the tour on September 12 in Philadelphia and perform across the United States and Canada into December.

Early next year, the group will tour South America for the first time before heading for East Asia and Europe.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members will be joined by John "Rabbit" Bundrick on keyboards, Pino Palladino on bass, Zak Starkey, son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, on drums and Townshend's younger brother, Simon, on guitar and backing vocals.

At a press conference in New York via satellite from Berlin, Daltrey, 62, and Townshend, 61, said they had tried to record and possibly tour in recent years. But plans were derailed in large part by the drug-related death of bass player and original member John Entwistle in 2002.

"When The Who stopped making records in 1982, I felt I just couldn't do it anymore. ... It almost destroyed me. It destroyed one of the members of our band," Townshend said, referring to the 1978 drug- and alcohol-related death of original drummer Keith Moon.

Daltrey said Entwistle's death had altered the band's balance.

"Pete and I were two opposite ends of the globe, if you like, and John was the equator. It doesn't matter that it's taken 25 years -- however long it takes as long as it's good. And it is good."

Townshend, put on a sex offender list in 2003 despite being cleared of internet child pornography charges after visiting a website for research purposes, said the delay in resuming studio recording and touring was not due to a lack of material.

"I could have put material together for what we would have called a Who record at any time," he said. "I've written about 450 songs and produced around 1,400 pieces of music since The Who stopped recording."

Townshend said the long delay stemmed partly from the difficulties of organizing a world tour. But he said the prodding of his teenage son helped keep things moving.

"I had a son in 1989, that's why I'm here. He wants to come and see The Who at rock festivals," he said.

In addition to performing songs from the tentatively titled Who 2 set for release on October 23, the band will draw on decades of hits like Behind Blue Eyes, I Can't Explain and Who Are You.

They are also exploring doing cuts from Wire & Glass, a mini-opera that Townshend said is loosely based on a play he wrote for radio.

While The Who's early songs portrayed the disillusioned youth of the mid- to late 1960s, the most quoted line from their catalogue probably being 'I hope I die before I get old', from 1965's My Generation, Townshend played down the notion that he was a spokesman for his generation.

"We weren't speaking for our audience, our audience was telling us what to say. My songs are your songs," he said, adding that the same holds true today.

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, and that boss is you," Townshend said, referring to the final line of the band's rock anthem Won't Get Fooled Again.

- REUTERS