Who news round up

On November 10th Roger Daltrey attended a special screening of the concert film The Who: At Kilburn 1977 at the Arclight Cinema, Sherman Oaks in Los Angeles. Daltrey participated in a Q&A beforehand, and then went on to introduce the film.

The Who: Kilburn 1977 will be released on November 18th as a Blu-ray DVD. The disc will feature two legendary shows, including the band's concerts from December 14th, 1969 at the London Coliseum, and from December 15th, 1977 at Kilburn State Gaumont, which was drummer Keith Moon's second-to-last performance with the band prior to his death in 1978.

Daltrey says that although it's too early to be booking studios, Pete Townshend is working on new music: "Well, Pete's writing, and when he's writing we don't discuss because he never knows what he's writing 'till he's written it. We love playing music, and I love playing his music -- old, new, whatever. And we've got no intention of stopping and I think Pete's got every intention of, hopefully, writing new Who stuff -- but he hates to say that until he's actually written it. (Laughs) 'Cause it's in the lap of the god, isn't it? I wish I could write it 'cause we'd be doing it tomorrow, but sadly I'm not the writer that Townshend is."

The Who wrapped up their 10-date North American tour on Sunday night (November 9th) at L.A.'s Nokia Theatre, with Roger Daltrey suffering noticeable vocal problems for the early part of the set. The show featured the band closing the main part of their set with the rarely-performed 1970 fan favorite "Naked Eye."

One of the highlights of each of the tour's gigs has been the inclusion of the band's 2004 song "Real Good Looking Boy," which references Elvis Presley. Pete Townshend says that he wishes the band's nightly presentation of the song could delve further into Presley's state of mind: "The tragedy of Elvis and the tragedy perhaps of the way that it's being presented onstage by the Who, which is, it's the tragedy that's being presented. Which is that there's this beautiful, beautiful man and if we wanted to carry it to its conclusion, what we should be doing is we should be looking at whether or not Elvis ever had any pleasure, or fun, or serenity, or contentment in the last couple of years of his life. But the appearance is that he didn't."

On Friday (November 7th) Pete Townshend and Rachel Fuller hosted their latest Attic Jam, at L.A.'s Troubadour club featuring performances from Jakob Dylan with the Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell, Mark Everett from the Eels, She And Him, and Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard, and others.

Townshend sat in with each act performing one of his Who or solo classics, playing "Sunrise" with Rachel Fuller; "Blue, Red & Grey" with She And Him; "The Kids Are Alright" with Jakob Dylan; "Let My Love Open The Door" with Mark Everett and Ben Gibbard; and "Mary Anne With The Shaky Hands" with Gibbard alone.

Townshend's solo set included "The Acid Queen," "Drowned," and "Won't Get Fooled Again," and the customary Attic Jam ensemble finale of "I'm One."

Prior to performing "Won't Get Fooled Again," Townshend referenced President-elect Barack Obama's victory over Senator John McCain, calling it "the most wonderful result." During the portion of "Won't Get Fooled Again " which features the lines "meet the old boss/same as the old boss," Townshend added "...maybe not."
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