THE Who will perform their iconic 1973 double album Quadrophenia in its entirety at the Motorpoint Sheffield Arena on Tuesday, June 18.
Tickets for their one Yorkshire show are on sale at 9am, priced at £70, £65 and £60, subject to a booking fee, on 0114 256 5656 or online at motorpointarenasheffield.co.uk Founder members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend will complete a hat-trick of shows at the Arena, having played there in 2000 and 2007.
The band will forever be associated with Yorkshire on account of their first live album, Live At Leeds, being recorded in the refectory at Leeds University in 1970.
The British tour of “Quadrophenia with a selection of Who classics” follows American dates that were greeted enthusiastically by Rolling Stone magazine, whose reviewer wrote: “Quadrophenia is their boldest and most fully realised album, but it’s never quite gotten the live show it deserves – until now”.
Quadrophenia was The Who’s second rock opera, following Tommy, and it raised the bar for rock albums as an art form.
The album’s title is a variation on the popular usage of the medical diagnostic term “schizophrenia” and exemplifies the four personalities of the band members who created the album, Daltrey, Townshend and the late drummer and bass player, Keith Moon and John Entwistle.
The “angry young man” film version, directed by Franc Roddam in 1979, starred Phil Daniels, Ray Winstone, Lesley Ash and a young Sting.
Roger Daltrey directs the new concert presentation, focusing on the original album and replacing the narrative used in previous stage versions with imagery projected on massive screens.
Vocalist Daltrey and guitarist Townshend will be joined by Zak Starkey on drums, Pino Palladino on bass, Simon Townshend on guitar and John Corey, Loren Gold and musical director Frank Simes on keyboards.
Asked why the music and themes of Quadrophenia resonate so strongly today, Townshend says: “In 1972 I was 28, writing about London and Brighton in 1963 and 1964 when the band was just starting. I was still young enough to remember how it felt to be 16 or 17 and at war with my parents, bosses and authority.
“I could still remember that feeling of struggling to fit in, something that happened to me when I was even younger, around 14, and everyone around me seemed to have got their lives on track. This is such a universal experience for young people that it has echoed.”
Rather than picking out any song from Quadrophenia as his favourite to perform, Townshend “really loves playing all of it”. “It’s a unique piece for me in that,” he says.
But he adds that the real high point remains the final song, Love Reign O’er Me. “Roger and I now stand almost alone together, representing not only the original band, but also its Mod audience, and of course all our other early fans.
“We’re connected by it, in what is the most clear-cut prayer for redemption, and it feels like an acknowledgment that rock music has managed to deal with the highest emotional challenge: spiritual desperation.”
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