Check it out, classic rock fans! The Who, or what’s left of them, will dust off Quadrophenia, their other rock opera, for a 36-date tour that launches Nov. 1 in Sunrise, Fla., and comes to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Dec. 2.
This is actually the second time the sexagenarian rockers have taken the 1973 mod saga on a repertory tour. The first was in 1996. I saw that show. I was 15 years old. The band performed the album in its entirety while an onscreen narrator, posing as Quadrophenia’s central character Jimmy, told the story of a disaffected English mod struggling against amphetamines, unemployment, riots with rockers and his own multiple personalities. Billy Idol played and sang the role of Ace Face and Gary Glitter played and sang the role of The Godfather. It was great.
In the (excellent) 2007 documentary Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey said that the impetus to reunite The Who for the ’96 Quadrophenia Tour was to throw out a lifeline to bassist John Entwistle, who was starved for another taste of life on the road and had gone broke living the rock 'n' roll lifestyle at home. And so spawned an every-few-years-or-so string of reunion jaunts. June 27 of this year, just a few weeks back, marked the 10th anniversary of Entwistle’s death. He died of a cocaine-induced heart attack in a Vegas hotel room on the eve of a world tour, his body discovered by a stripper. I’d like to think that’s the way The Ox would’ve wanted to go. And I know that a part of me kinda wishes the band had died with him. But it didn’t.
