The Who on Quadrophenia

the BBC about some of the Who's most celebrated music, as they tour the

UK performing hits from their peas, British peace, about life in

post-war England. -- quintessential British peace, . It is the study of

any young man who is struggling. don't want to be the same as anybody

else. You've got to be somebody or you might as well jump in the sea

Hasek, a 70s concept album with its focus on events a decade before. --

a rock classic. The backdrop was Brighton in 1964, and the riots

between mods and rockers, but the subject was universal. It was about

a young man who saw himself in the four members of the band. What's

this rubbish? Red East.Ready Steady Cook? ! The adolescent dilemma is

exactly the same. That will make you death, you know. For The Who, it was

an instant triumph. Performing this rock opera over the years has been

an added challenge. Now, the two surviving members have come up with

a new way to present it, and Quadrophenia is touring once more.

So what brought Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend to take on

Quadrophenia again? That mountain is there, you have two climate. It is

one of his best pieces of work, and I love the challenge of it. I never,

ever felt, up until this day, that we ever quite got it right on stage.

It has always been a battle, right from day one it was a battle to

stage. So this was another challenge and it seems to be working. So that

is why. Yes, it is tough to sing. Incredibly tough to sing, but

incredibly rewarding when you get to the end. I wanted to bring it act,

purely because it is something that when I play it, I feel the music

flows in such a way. I find it very easy, very natural. But I know I

depend very much on Roger to deliver it. It is his piece, to a great

extent. When we did it at the Albert Hall a few years ago, I was very

happy about it and I went into his dressing room and he was concerned

about it and he said, I can't get inside it, the way it is at the

moment. I think you have been able to create something that you can get

inside, that does allow him as a singer to shine in the most

extraordinary way. This is an amazing piece, I think. Are you

going to Brighton this weekend? Quadrophenia's protagonist in the

music storyline and in the film which followed, Jimmy, rebellious

and conflicted. He searches for an identity, first in the characters of

The Who, and then as a member of a gang of mods who set off for

Brighton in search of fun and groups clashed several times in the

summer of 1964. This was the year of the mods and rockers and the

hooliganism, vandalism and fighting which often walked with them. In

town after town on the south and south-east coasts, the same build-up

of endless disorder was repeated. The riots jolted British society and

sparked moral panic about the behaviour of disaffected youth.

These long-haired, mentally unstable, petty little hoodlums.

These sawdust Caesars, who can only find courage, like rats, by hunting

impacts, came to Brighton with the avowed intent of interfering with

the life and property of its inhabitants. Pete Townshend was

already looking back at those times in the 70s, so many years later, can

such a story still resonate? It is an obvious question, probably

relevant to all pop stuff. Some of it, because it is written primarily

for a young audience, a lot of pop music tends to prevail. The

interesting thing about Quadrophenia was it was a comment made by a band

already in a renaissance in 1973, looking back at our very first

audience in the 60s. So, in a way, that avuncular, parent or point of

view that we took even then, we were in our 30s, late 20s, early 30s,

looking back at the 16 and 17-year-old boys we had been when we

started, that is what makes it interesting. The way that we observe

the young has transferred up, and Roger's treatment on stage in this

particular version, it is one that looks at the whole period in which

we grew up, the whole post-war condition, all of the elements of

life when the mods and Rockers were meeting on the beaches in Brighton.

What caused those strange tensions in the young. Those tensions are

still there, as well, aren't they? We had the summariser 's. That is

the point. The adolescent dilemma is exactly the same as it ever was. In

that sense, it is timeless. It was based on the personalities of

the four original members of the band. Is it more difficult to

perform it, now that there are two, rather than four, albeit drafting in

extremely talented people? Does it provide... . It is actually easier

because we can hear ourselves. It has freed it up. When we lost John,

it was a tragedy but something changed in the mechanic tween us and

we were freed from being abandoned, and we were able to do something

else. I found it very hard as a guitar player to complete the free

myself on the idea of being in a band. I think it was easier for

Roger. But we are definitely free from the idea of being in a band

now. As artists, coming to Quadrophenia, we are able to return

to it as singers and performers. We are actor-singers in some sense, in

this piece. I think it is a completely different way of

approaching it. You mentioned that it was about the members of the

band. In fact, it was a flip of that. It was about a young man who

saw himself in the four members of the band, trying to tell his story.

The Who dropped out of the story very early in the play. The song

called punk and the Godfather, from then on, they are history. This is a

study of any young man who is struggling. It has been said that

Quadrophenia was very much your production. But the one person, you

could not imagine anybody better on this planet to bring it alive than

the man sitting next to you. What happened in the recording was that I

did a lot of work. It was almost discovered, the weight came

together. Halfway through writing the music for it, I was shut away,

pretty much on my own, and the band were patiently waiting, as they

often did, for a bunch of songs from me. When we got into the studio, I

realised that we were at our peak as musicians and performers. Roger's

performances surprised me and blew me away, because some of the songs I

had intended to be leaked and poignant and painful and shy, like

Love, Reign O'er Me, Roger performed with immense passion and yet still

delivered the next -- the same poignancy and vulnerability that I

thought would not be possible with such a review of performance. I

learnt a hell of a lot about this piece. I am very proud of it but I

am proud that it is a piece that # Kissed by the sea

# Reign over me # Love, Reign O'er Me. #

The Who were such an energetic band. Is it daunting, the thought of

emulating your past on stage? it daunting because I could not do

the running around that are used to do as a young man, driven by the

adrenaline and the power of the music and the way the band operated.

I did not think about it. In the middle of The Who's career, I

started to realise this was something I could not do forever.

There are a couple of moments when I leap in the air, and those are the

moments when I get photographed. You get photographs of me like this,

with a grimace, as I leapt in the air. They are waiting for me to leap

and they do the photo. Will we see the Windmill move? I still do that,

yes. Not because it has any function, but it is a cheap shot. I

go like that, and the crowd go mad. If it is getting quiet, I swing my

arm. If Roger needs help, I swing my arm. Does it worry you that you will

have to stop singing it? It does not worry me, and I have always said

about music, you joke -- you do not give it up. It gives you up. One

day, I am sure. You talk about energy. I think a lot of what I used

to do in the early days, I did it because I did not trust the power of

music in some ways. Now, I totally trust it. In some way 's, I think

our show is better for it, without the jumping around, leaping about.

It did this tract a lot of attention. You need the inner

energy, but that is all that has brought more immediacy to

Quadrophenia. They have also found a way to integrate videos of the band

members who died, Keith Moon and John Entwistle. After trying out the

show on American audiences, they are ready to bring it back home.

wanted to play in my home country. It is a quintessential English

piece, British piece, about life in post-war England. It is about a

young man who comes from our neighbourhood. I wanted to be able,

because it is so great, Roger has put together this concert, this

dramatic scenario. And I had very little to do with it. Roger had a

free hand and did it with his creative team and it is

extraordinary to be on the stage. I cannot see what is going on behind

me all of the time, but to get the feeling of the audience rolling for

the first time completely with the music, rather than with the story

and the nuance and the politics and sociology, although I understand it

is all up there. Is it enhanced as a live spectacle, do you think?

Compared to the album? I think it is. I don't know. When you listen to

an album, it is like a radio play. Yours will be won, and mine will be

another. It is subjective. The way you have done it, it leaves room for

the audience to assert themselves. I have always said what makes a great

rock band, rock performer, rock music is that it leaves space for

the listener to insert themselves into the story. Some of the greatest

pop legends of the world have been fairly empty characters, in whom we

have been able to place ourselves. I am not saying that is true of Roger

or me, but certainly of our best work. We have pulled off songs in

which our audience have appropriated the music and put themselves in it.

I am very aware that when I am performing, they are getting

something from it that I am not giving them. They are doing it, and

I think Roger has created something. When we did it in 96, we had a

narrator. That was the fifth element. For me, that was stopping

it working. You take that out, and leave it to the music, and the

audience. This is very different and I think Roger has hit on something

very important which is making the audience the deed in character. It

is a really skilful... I did not know he was going to do this. I was

doing PR, trying to edit my book. We did the Olympics and then we were

straight into rehearsals. Roger had thrown a few ideas passed me but I

thought they were so all day shifts. As soon as we performed it, I

realised it would work rush macro they were so audacious.

It certainly does not reject the role of Keith Moon. They are a part

of the way the open turned out. When Pete does his demos, he did give an

indication of what he was doing. It is nice to bring them back. We are

playing live with them so it is not like we are miming it. John takes

over the base for a little bit. And Keith sings in the Bell Boy

character. You really get something coming from Keith Moon that I think

most people overlook because most people think he is a madman, a

clown. When you see him singing Bell Boy, the joy in his eyes that he has

been allowed to sing. All he wanted to be was a singer in the Beach

Boys. # You know how I feel # Always running at someone's heels. # There

is the joy in his eyes and the pathos of the song and it is

emotional to watch it. Equally, there is an incredible disdain for

performance from John were occasionally he will be playing an

incredible loquacious baseline and you can almost imagine him stopping

to rub his nose. And then continuing. Every now and then, he

gets a bit bored. Astonishing playing. Ridiculous playing as well.

I have heard a few bass players say, John Entwistle, what? ! It is not he

is the greatest bass player in the world, they do not understand what

days was a strange mixture of styles. I was forced into the

role... I never developed as an electric guitar player because I was

trying to keep the band in time. John Entwistle was like the lead

guitar player. Again, I had my fingers crossed. The interesting

thing about what Keith did with Bell Boy was that it was never meant to

be... The Bell Boy is the same guy. He is the hero brought down to size.

He is not being funny. He is in pain. He has crashed and lost his

lustre. Keith manages to pull that off. There is almost a moment where

you see him doing stuff and moving his earphones and it is almost like

there is a hint of a tear. Quite extraordinary. He was a good actor.

Brilliant. He was not disciplined enough to be won. He could do it

once, but take two would be a complete disaster. # You know how I

feel # Always running at someone's heel. # With its character acting

and interwoven themes, The Who's Quadrophenia of a concept album are

obvious. Could something similar be made today? It is such a big

question. There is an enormous problem with music. Because of

things like iTunes. You used to buy an album and play one side and then

played the other side. There would be certain tracks that on first

listening you would say, I don't like that one. You would probably

skip it. But then you would go back and like it a little bit more.

Within ten listens, it would become your favourite track. The trouble

with iTunes, people tend to just listen to the ones they like. That I

think means a lot of good music is going missing. It is out there, but

it is whether it gets found. It is not so much the media download

system or the way people search for music on the Internet, it is the

fact that radio was not what it was. There used to be 200 or 300 stations

in the US that played our album in its in Thai retreat to premiere at

late at night. The same thing happened to Quadrophenia -- in its

entirety. Recordings have always been tightly controlled. You can go

off on adventures and take chances. You can edit it out. Live

performance is much trickier. Today the gulf between the creative

process in the studio and live performance is enormous. Somebody

mentioned to me yesterday, I was at an awards ceremony, he said, do you

like Muse? He said, have you seen them live? I said, no. He said that

it was an extraordinary spectacle. In a sense, today, Muse are one of

the most successful bands in the world and they have come out of

nowhere and you have to see bands like that live. That is true of this

show. Quadrophenia is a live spectacle. It may appear on film one

day but if you want to enjoy this music and the experience, you have

to show up. Those who are showing up today are of all ages. 70 down two

grandchildren. Six-year-olds in the front row. With earplugs. Thank God.

It is extraordinary. The amount of young people. But then again, when I

think back to when we started, we were watching old blues players that

probably then work 45, 50, they seemed ancient. People like BB King

are still out there macro doing it. He is still great. There was a lot

of stuff in the past about a tense relationship between you. What is

the relationship between you now? still is. We are just waiting for

each other to die! Week like to think there is still some banks. We

have had raised voices even lately. -- still some anxious to. We are

both pushing 70 and we have got right music and we can gather a band

around us, whoever we take on the stage with us, we are so lucky. We

are lucky to be friends in having roughly the same direction in