:00:03. > :00:13.the BBC about some of the Who's most celebrated music, as they tour the
:00:13. > :00:20.
:00:20. > :00:27.UK performing hits from their peas, British peace, about life in
:00:27. > :00:33.post-war England. -- quintessential British peace, . It is the study of
:00:33. > :00:36.any young man who is struggling. don't want to be the same as anybody
:00:36. > :00:46.else. You've got to be somebody or you might as well jump in the sea
:00:46. > :00:58.
:00:58. > :01:06.Hasek, a 70s concept album with its focus on events a decade before. --
:01:06. > :01:12.a rock classic. The backdrop was Brighton in 1964, and the riots
:01:12. > :01:22.between mods and rockers, but the subject was universal. It was about
:01:22. > :01:23.
:01:23. > :01:33.a young man who saw himself in the four members of the band. What's
:01:33. > :01:35.
:01:35. > :01:45.this rubbish? Red East.Ready Steady Cook? ! The adolescent dilemma is
:01:45. > :01:47.
:01:47. > :01:51.exactly the same. That will make you death, you know. For The Who, it was
:01:51. > :01:59.an instant triumph. Performing this rock opera over the years has been
:01:59. > :02:09.an added challenge. Now, the two surviving members have come up with
:02:09. > :02:19.
:02:19. > :02:23.a new way to present it, and Quadrophenia is touring once more.
:02:23. > :02:33.So what brought Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend to take on
:02:33. > :02:36.
:02:36. > :02:43.Quadrophenia again? That mountain is there, you have two climate. It is
:02:43. > :02:49.one of his best pieces of work, and I love the challenge of it. I never,
:02:49. > :02:53.ever felt, up until this day, that we ever quite got it right on stage.
:02:53. > :03:01.It has always been a battle, right from day one it was a battle to
:03:01. > :03:06.stage. So this was another challenge and it seems to be working. So that
:03:06. > :03:12.is why. Yes, it is tough to sing. Incredibly tough to sing, but
:03:12. > :03:16.incredibly rewarding when you get to the end. I wanted to bring it act,
:03:16. > :03:22.purely because it is something that when I play it, I feel the music
:03:22. > :03:26.flows in such a way. I find it very easy, very natural. But I know I
:03:26. > :03:32.depend very much on Roger to deliver it. It is his piece, to a great
:03:32. > :03:35.extent. When we did it at the Albert Hall a few years ago, I was very
:03:35. > :03:39.happy about it and I went into his dressing room and he was concerned
:03:39. > :03:44.about it and he said, I can't get inside it, the way it is at the
:03:44. > :03:49.moment. I think you have been able to create something that you can get
:03:49. > :03:56.inside, that does allow him as a singer to shine in the most
:03:56. > :04:00.extraordinary way. This is an amazing piece, I think. Are you
:04:00. > :04:03.going to Brighton this weekend? Quadrophenia's protagonist in the
:04:03. > :04:09.music storyline and in the film which followed, Jimmy, rebellious
:04:10. > :04:14.and conflicted. He searches for an identity, first in the characters of
:04:14. > :04:24.The Who, and then as a member of a gang of mods who set off for
:04:24. > :04:34.
:04:35. > :04:42.Brighton in search of fun and groups clashed several times in the
:04:42. > :04:46.summer of 1964. This was the year of the mods and rockers and the
:04:46. > :04:50.hooliganism, vandalism and fighting which often walked with them. In
:04:50. > :04:59.town after town on the south and south-east coasts, the same build-up
:04:59. > :05:07.of endless disorder was repeated. The riots jolted British society and
:05:07. > :05:12.sparked moral panic about the behaviour of disaffected youth.
:05:13. > :05:19.These long-haired, mentally unstable, petty little hoodlums.
:05:19. > :05:24.These sawdust Caesars, who can only find courage, like rats, by hunting
:05:24. > :05:31.impacts, came to Brighton with the avowed intent of interfering with
:05:31. > :05:35.the life and property of its inhabitants. Pete Townshend was
:05:35. > :05:44.already looking back at those times in the 70s, so many years later, can
:05:44. > :05:49.such a story still resonate? It is an obvious question, probably
:05:49. > :05:54.relevant to all pop stuff. Some of it, because it is written primarily
:05:54. > :06:00.for a young audience, a lot of pop music tends to prevail. The
:06:00. > :06:04.interesting thing about Quadrophenia was it was a comment made by a band
:06:04. > :06:11.already in a renaissance in 1973, looking back at our very first
:06:11. > :06:17.audience in the 60s. So, in a way, that avuncular, parent or point of
:06:17. > :06:20.view that we took even then, we were in our 30s, late 20s, early 30s,
:06:20. > :06:25.looking back at the 16 and 17-year-old boys we had been when we
:06:25. > :06:30.started, that is what makes it interesting. The way that we observe
:06:30. > :06:35.the young has transferred up, and Roger's treatment on stage in this
:06:35. > :06:40.particular version, it is one that looks at the whole period in which
:06:40. > :06:45.we grew up, the whole post-war condition, all of the elements of
:06:45. > :06:50.life when the mods and Rockers were meeting on the beaches in Brighton.
:06:50. > :06:55.What caused those strange tensions in the young. Those tensions are
:06:55. > :07:02.still there, as well, aren't they? We had the summariser 's. That is
:07:02. > :07:12.the point. The adolescent dilemma is exactly the same as it ever was. In
:07:12. > :07:22.
:07:22. > :07:25.that sense, it is timeless. It was based on the personalities of
:07:25. > :07:31.the four original members of the band. Is it more difficult to
:07:31. > :07:39.perform it, now that there are two, rather than four, albeit drafting in
:07:39. > :07:45.extremely talented people? Does it provide... . It is actually easier
:07:45. > :07:49.because we can hear ourselves. It has freed it up. When we lost John,
:07:49. > :07:52.it was a tragedy but something changed in the mechanic tween us and
:07:52. > :07:59.we were freed from being abandoned, and we were able to do something
:07:59. > :08:02.else. I found it very hard as a guitar player to complete the free
:08:02. > :08:08.myself on the idea of being in a band. I think it was easier for
:08:08. > :08:13.Roger. But we are definitely free from the idea of being in a band
:08:13. > :08:18.now. As artists, coming to Quadrophenia, we are able to return
:08:18. > :08:26.to it as singers and performers. We are actor-singers in some sense, in
:08:26. > :08:29.this piece. I think it is a completely different way of
:08:29. > :08:34.approaching it. You mentioned that it was about the members of the
:08:34. > :08:40.band. In fact, it was a flip of that. It was about a young man who
:08:40. > :08:46.saw himself in the four members of the band, trying to tell his story.
:08:46. > :08:50.The Who dropped out of the story very early in the play. The song
:08:50. > :08:56.called punk and the Godfather, from then on, they are history. This is a
:08:56. > :09:03.study of any young man who is struggling. It has been said that
:09:03. > :09:06.Quadrophenia was very much your production. But the one person, you
:09:06. > :09:14.could not imagine anybody better on this planet to bring it alive than
:09:14. > :09:18.the man sitting next to you. What happened in the recording was that I
:09:18. > :09:23.did a lot of work. It was almost discovered, the weight came
:09:23. > :09:27.together. Halfway through writing the music for it, I was shut away,
:09:27. > :09:33.pretty much on my own, and the band were patiently waiting, as they
:09:33. > :09:40.often did, for a bunch of songs from me. When we got into the studio, I
:09:40. > :09:43.realised that we were at our peak as musicians and performers. Roger's
:09:43. > :09:48.performances surprised me and blew me away, because some of the songs I
:09:48. > :09:53.had intended to be leaked and poignant and painful and shy, like
:09:53. > :09:58.Love, Reign O'er Me, Roger performed with immense passion and yet still
:09:58. > :10:02.delivered the next -- the same poignancy and vulnerability that I
:10:02. > :10:07.thought would not be possible with such a review of performance. I
:10:07. > :10:17.learnt a hell of a lot about this piece. I am very proud of it but I
:10:17. > :10:41.
:10:41. > :10:51.am proud that it is a piece that # Kissed by the sea
:10:51. > :11:00.
:11:00. > :11:06.# Reign over me # Love, Reign O'er Me. #
:11:06. > :11:12.The Who were such an energetic band. Is it daunting, the thought of
:11:12. > :11:16.emulating your past on stage? it daunting because I could not do
:11:16. > :11:20.the running around that are used to do as a young man, driven by the
:11:20. > :11:25.adrenaline and the power of the music and the way the band operated.
:11:25. > :11:28.I did not think about it. In the middle of The Who's career, I
:11:28. > :11:33.started to realise this was something I could not do forever.
:11:33. > :11:37.There are a couple of moments when I leap in the air, and those are the
:11:37. > :11:43.moments when I get photographed. You get photographs of me like this,
:11:43. > :11:49.with a grimace, as I leapt in the air. They are waiting for me to leap
:11:49. > :11:54.and they do the photo. Will we see the Windmill move? I still do that,
:11:54. > :12:00.yes. Not because it has any function, but it is a cheap shot. I
:12:00. > :12:09.go like that, and the crowd go mad. If it is getting quiet, I swing my
:12:09. > :12:14.arm. If Roger needs help, I swing my arm. Does it worry you that you will
:12:14. > :12:21.have to stop singing it? It does not worry me, and I have always said
:12:21. > :12:25.about music, you joke -- you do not give it up. It gives you up. One
:12:25. > :12:29.day, I am sure. You talk about energy. I think a lot of what I used
:12:29. > :12:37.to do in the early days, I did it because I did not trust the power of
:12:37. > :12:42.music in some ways. Now, I totally trust it. In some way 's, I think
:12:42. > :12:48.our show is better for it, without the jumping around, leaping about.
:12:48. > :12:58.It did this tract a lot of attention. You need the inner
:12:58. > :13:09.
:13:09. > :13:13.energy, but that is all that has brought more immediacy to
:13:13. > :13:19.Quadrophenia. They have also found a way to integrate videos of the band
:13:19. > :13:29.members who died, Keith Moon and John Entwistle. After trying out the
:13:29. > :13:29.
:13:29. > :13:34.show on American audiences, they are ready to bring it back home.
:13:34. > :13:40.wanted to play in my home country. It is a quintessential English
:13:40. > :13:44.piece, British piece, about life in post-war England. It is about a
:13:44. > :13:50.young man who comes from our neighbourhood. I wanted to be able,
:13:50. > :13:56.because it is so great, Roger has put together this concert, this
:13:56. > :13:59.dramatic scenario. And I had very little to do with it. Roger had a
:13:59. > :14:03.free hand and did it with his creative team and it is
:14:03. > :14:08.extraordinary to be on the stage. I cannot see what is going on behind
:14:08. > :14:12.me all of the time, but to get the feeling of the audience rolling for
:14:12. > :14:15.the first time completely with the music, rather than with the story
:14:15. > :14:21.and the nuance and the politics and sociology, although I understand it
:14:21. > :14:30.is all up there. Is it enhanced as a live spectacle, do you think?
:14:30. > :14:36.Compared to the album? I think it is. I don't know. When you listen to
:14:36. > :14:42.an album, it is like a radio play. Yours will be won, and mine will be
:14:42. > :14:47.another. It is subjective. The way you have done it, it leaves room for
:14:47. > :14:51.the audience to assert themselves. I have always said what makes a great
:14:51. > :14:57.rock band, rock performer, rock music is that it leaves space for
:14:57. > :15:03.the listener to insert themselves into the story. Some of the greatest
:15:03. > :15:07.pop legends of the world have been fairly empty characters, in whom we
:15:07. > :15:14.have been able to place ourselves. I am not saying that is true of Roger
:15:14. > :15:17.or me, but certainly of our best work. We have pulled off songs in
:15:17. > :15:21.which our audience have appropriated the music and put themselves in it.
:15:21. > :15:25.I am very aware that when I am performing, they are getting
:15:25. > :15:33.something from it that I am not giving them. They are doing it, and
:15:33. > :15:37.I think Roger has created something. When we did it in 96, we had a
:15:37. > :15:43.narrator. That was the fifth element. For me, that was stopping
:15:43. > :15:53.it working. You take that out, and leave it to the music, and the
:15:53. > :16:04.
:16:04. > :16:09.audience. This is very different and I think Roger has hit on something
:16:09. > :16:17.very important which is making the audience the deed in character. It
:16:17. > :16:22.is a really skilful... I did not know he was going to do this. I was
:16:22. > :16:28.doing PR, trying to edit my book. We did the Olympics and then we were
:16:28. > :16:33.straight into rehearsals. Roger had thrown a few ideas passed me but I
:16:33. > :16:39.thought they were so all day shifts. As soon as we performed it, I
:16:39. > :16:48.realised it would work rush macro they were so audacious.
:16:48. > :16:56.It certainly does not reject the role of Keith Moon. They are a part
:16:56. > :17:06.of the way the open turned out. When Pete does his demos, he did give an
:17:06. > :17:13.indication of what he was doing. It is nice to bring them back. We are
:17:13. > :17:20.playing live with them so it is not like we are miming it. John takes
:17:20. > :17:25.over the base for a little bit. And Keith sings in the Bell Boy
:17:25. > :17:29.character. You really get something coming from Keith Moon that I think
:17:29. > :17:38.most people overlook because most people think he is a madman, a
:17:38. > :17:42.clown. When you see him singing Bell Boy, the joy in his eyes that he has
:17:42. > :17:52.been allowed to sing. All he wanted to be was a singer in the Beach
:17:52. > :18:02.
:18:02. > :18:07.Boys. # You know how I feel # Always running at someone's heels. # There
:18:07. > :18:15.is the joy in his eyes and the pathos of the song and it is
:18:15. > :18:20.emotional to watch it. Equally, there is an incredible disdain for
:18:20. > :18:23.performance from John were occasionally he will be playing an
:18:23. > :18:29.incredible loquacious baseline and you can almost imagine him stopping
:18:29. > :18:38.to rub his nose. And then continuing. Every now and then, he
:18:38. > :18:45.gets a bit bored. Astonishing playing. Ridiculous playing as well.
:18:45. > :18:48.I have heard a few bass players say, John Entwistle, what? ! It is not he
:18:48. > :18:58.is the greatest bass player in the world, they do not understand what
:18:58. > :19:12.
:19:12. > :19:17.days was a strange mixture of styles. I was forced into the
:19:17. > :19:21.role... I never developed as an electric guitar player because I was
:19:21. > :19:26.trying to keep the band in time. John Entwistle was like the lead
:19:26. > :19:34.guitar player. Again, I had my fingers crossed. The interesting
:19:34. > :19:44.thing about what Keith did with Bell Boy was that it was never meant to
:19:44. > :19:45.
:19:45. > :19:49.be... The Bell Boy is the same guy. He is the hero brought down to size.
:19:49. > :19:56.He is not being funny. He is in pain. He has crashed and lost his
:19:56. > :20:01.lustre. Keith manages to pull that off. There is almost a moment where
:20:01. > :20:06.you see him doing stuff and moving his earphones and it is almost like
:20:06. > :20:12.there is a hint of a tear. Quite extraordinary. He was a good actor.
:20:12. > :20:22.Brilliant. He was not disciplined enough to be won. He could do it
:20:22. > :20:26.
:20:26. > :20:36.once, but take two would be a complete disaster. # You know how I
:20:36. > :20:39.
:20:39. > :20:46.feel # Always running at someone's heel. # With its character acting
:20:46. > :20:52.and interwoven themes, The Who's Quadrophenia of a concept album are
:20:52. > :20:59.obvious. Could something similar be made today? It is such a big
:20:59. > :21:08.question. There is an enormous problem with music. Because of
:21:08. > :21:11.things like iTunes. You used to buy an album and play one side and then
:21:11. > :21:14.played the other side. There would be certain tracks that on first
:21:14. > :21:21.listening you would say, I don't like that one. You would probably
:21:21. > :21:25.skip it. But then you would go back and like it a little bit more.
:21:25. > :21:35.Within ten listens, it would become your favourite track. The trouble
:21:35. > :21:37.
:21:37. > :21:42.with iTunes, people tend to just listen to the ones they like. That I
:21:42. > :21:49.think means a lot of good music is going missing. It is out there, but
:21:49. > :21:53.it is whether it gets found. It is not so much the media download
:21:53. > :21:59.system or the way people search for music on the Internet, it is the
:21:59. > :22:05.fact that radio was not what it was. There used to be 200 or 300 stations
:22:05. > :22:15.in the US that played our album in its in Thai retreat to premiere at
:22:15. > :22:15.
:22:15. > :22:23.late at night. The same thing happened to Quadrophenia -- in its
:22:23. > :22:28.entirety. Recordings have always been tightly controlled. You can go
:22:28. > :22:33.off on adventures and take chances. You can edit it out. Live
:22:33. > :22:38.performance is much trickier. Today the gulf between the creative
:22:38. > :22:45.process in the studio and live performance is enormous. Somebody
:22:45. > :22:51.mentioned to me yesterday, I was at an awards ceremony, he said, do you
:22:51. > :23:00.like Muse? He said, have you seen them live? I said, no. He said that
:23:00. > :23:03.it was an extraordinary spectacle. In a sense, today, Muse are one of
:23:03. > :23:07.the most successful bands in the world and they have come out of
:23:07. > :23:13.nowhere and you have to see bands like that live. That is true of this
:23:13. > :23:17.show. Quadrophenia is a live spectacle. It may appear on film one
:23:17. > :23:27.day but if you want to enjoy this music and the experience, you have
:23:27. > :23:29.
:23:29. > :23:37.to show up. Those who are showing up today are of all ages. 70 down two
:23:37. > :23:44.grandchildren. Six-year-olds in the front row. With earplugs. Thank God.
:23:44. > :23:49.It is extraordinary. The amount of young people. But then again, when I
:23:49. > :23:58.think back to when we started, we were watching old blues players that
:23:59. > :24:04.probably then work 45, 50, they seemed ancient. People like BB King
:24:04. > :24:08.are still out there macro doing it. He is still great. There was a lot
:24:08. > :24:15.of stuff in the past about a tense relationship between you. What is
:24:15. > :24:22.the relationship between you now? still is. We are just waiting for
:24:22. > :24:31.each other to die! Week like to think there is still some banks. We
:24:31. > :24:41.have had raised voices even lately. -- still some anxious to. We are
:24:41. > :24:41.
:24:41. > :24:45.both pushing 70 and we have got right music and we can gather a band
:24:45. > :24:50.around us, whoever we take on the stage with us, we are so lucky. We
:24:50. > :24:55.are lucky to be friends in having roughly the same direction in