LEGENDARY British rock band The Who are to play in the North East on their upcoming tour.
The band, who have become one of the most iconic music acts of all time, will play at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle on their upcoming Quadrophenia tour this summer.
The tickets for the Newcastle gig, which will take place on June 20, will go on general sale at 9am this Friday.
The tour comes on the back of a successful series of dates in the US.
The band will perform their iconic 1973 double-album in its entirety, along with a selection of other Who classics.
The performance of Quadrophenia – a story that involved social, musical and psychological happenings from an English teen perspective set in London and Brighton in 1965 – will incorporate flashes of the spin-off 1979 film, which featured Wallend-born Sting in the part of Ace Face.
Quadrophenia helped shape the cultural landscape of the UK, influencing the likes of musicians Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher, fashion designer Paul Smith and Tour de France champion Sir Bradley Wiggins.
The critically-acclaimed Quadrophenia was the British band’s second rock opera (after Tommy) and raised the bar for rock albums as an art form, hitting No.2 on the UK album chart.
The album’s title is a variation on the popular usage of the medical diagnostic term schizophrenia and exemplifies the four varying personalities of the band members who created the album.
It features classic Who songs The Real Me, 5:15 and Love Reign o’er Me.
The band, which was founded in 1964, brought together four very different personalities.
Londoners Pete Townshend on guitar, John Entwistle on bass, Roger Daltrey on vocals and Keith Moon on drums formed the group in 1964.
Rolling Stone magazine said of the US leg of the tour: “Quadrophenia is their boldest and most fully realised album, but it’s never quite gotten the live show it deserves – until now.”
For the gig founding members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend will be joined by Zak Starkey (drums), Pino Palladino (bass), Simon Townshend (guitar/backing vocals), John Corey (keyboards), Loren Gold (keyboards/backing vocals) and Frank Simes (musical director, keyboards/backing vocals).
This will not be the first time The Who have played to huge crowds in the North East.
Back in 1973, their North East fans were delighted when they discovered the group would play the 3,000-capacity Newcastle Odeon Cinema.
After the tickets were released, city streets were filled with thousands of teenage fans eager to get their hands on them.
The death of drummer Keith Moon in 1978 looked like it would mean the end of the band, but the decision was taken to carry on with Kenney Jones, who’d formerly played with The Small Faces and The Faces.
North East fans missed out on the chance to witness their new line-up as their appearance at Newcastle City Hall in 1979 was cancelled.
But in 1981, the rockers made a triumphant return to the region at Newcastle City Hall.
Then in 1999, Townshend, Daltrey and Entwistle played at a sold-out Newcastle Arena now featuring Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr) on drums.
That show was the last time the band appeared in the region, and Entwistle died in 2002.
