The legendary frontman brings one of The Who’s legendary albums: TOMMY to the U.S. and Canada starting September 2011.What’s different between Roger Daltrey's version of the tale depicting blind, deaf and dumb Tommy Walker and The Who’s 1989 tour featuring the 1969 album? As with the U.K. tour, the North American run is being described as the first start-to-finish performance of the rock opera. While The Who presented Tommy several times since the late 1960s, the band was known to leave out a song or two, most notably “Welcome” which was not included in the 1989 tour.
Daltrey and his band premiered their rendition of TOMMY at the March 25 Teenage Cancer Trust at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Since then, fans have been lusting for a full-blown TOMMY tour. For North American fans, this news was Christmas seven months early.
Daltrey also played the lead in the multi-award winning 1975 Ken Russell film adaptation of TOMMY, alongside: Ann-Margret, Jack Nicholson, Oliver Reed as well as Elton John, Eric Clapton, John Entwistle, Keith Moon and Tina Turner.
The AEG Live-produced tour launches at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida on September 13 and wraps in Winnipeg, Manitoba at the MTS Centre November 2. Stops in between include Boston at the Agganis Arena September 17; Philadelphia at the Mann Center September 21; Uniondale, NY, at Nassau Coliseum September 23; Montreal at Place Des Arts September 27; Ottawa, Ontario, at Scotiabank Place September 28 and Toronto at Sony Centre For The Performing Arts September 30.
Who has the chops to back Daltrey in this TOMMY undertaking? That would be guitarist Frank Simes, drummer Scott Deavours, bassist Jon Button and keyboardist Loren Gold. Also backing Daltrey on guitar will be Pete Townshend’s brother Simon, who has also played with The Who on the band’s recent tours.
“TOMMY, an album that tells a story about a ‘deaf, dumb and blind boy’ who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, will always be seen as a turning point for the band,” Daltrey said. “Within it, I found the new voice of The Who and the band found its stride in making that music, adjusting it, using all that knowledge that we had from jazz and the blues into making it work in a rock way.”
Roger Daltrey performs The Who’s TOMMY will be at the Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida on Tuesday September 13, 2011.
