The Who to tour in 2006

The Who's Pete Townshend has posted a message on his official web site, petetownshend.com, about the group's planned 2006 tour. The guitarist wrote that the Who will make a "very, very cool" surprise announcement in June and promised that all of the shows will be webcast online as well as recorded for download and mail order purchases. He added, "I have high hopes for the whole tour to be shared to a wide audience at home in a mixture of pay-per-view and free special web casts," and said that some of the proceeds will go to charity.

Townshend's message also promised that some sort of new Who music will be released by the start of the tour, but he stopped short of calling it a formal album.

The Who tour will begin in the summer, with shows in North and South America, Europe, Japan and Australia.

In addition to surviving members Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey, the Who's touring ensemble will include longtime keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick, Townhend's younger brother Simon on guitar, Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey on drums, and bassist Pino Palladino, who replaced Entwistle at the last minute in 2002.