The Who add Quadrophenia songs to European setlist

For the first time in nearly a year, the Who have included songs from their 1973 album Quadrophenia in their setlist. During the kick-off date to their European tour on Wednesday night (May 16th) in Lisbon, Portugal, the Who performed "The Real Me," "Drowned," and "5:15." Pete Townshend had previously gone on record stating that Roger Daltrey decided to cut the album's songs from their setlists when he found them to be too taxing on his voice while performing material from the band's recent Endless Wire album.

The Lisbon show marked the first time in nearly three years that the band had played "5:15," and it's been over five years since "The Real Me" was included in their shows.

During his recent keynote address at this year's South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Townshend explained why Quadrophenia is one of his most multi-dimensional song cycles: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "Quadrophenia is music, it's angry music, it never lets up, it's full of energy. But it's also simply a story of a kid who has a bad day. It rains and he goes and sits on a rock. And he contemplates the future and the present, and he decides to do something that he's never done before -- he prays."

The Who will perform on Saturday, May 19th, which happens to be Pete Townshend's 62nd birthday, in Bilbao, Spain.
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