There are four names always on or near the top of the list of all time great Rock ‘n’ Roll bands: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Who.

The Who were formed by sheet-metal worker Roger Daltrey in 1963. The line up, after a couple of adjustments, established itself with Daltrey on lead vocals, Keith Moon on drums, John Entwistle on bass and Pete Townshend on guitar. Townshend, honouring his art student credentials, wrote (and still writes) music famous for having an ‘edge’, complemented by the wildly creative performance techniques of each member of the band.

The Who are the most exciting live band on the planet, with their Live at Leeds album (1970) hailed as the greatest live album of all time. The compositional skills of Townshend have always been way beyond the conventional, as is proven not only in classic songs like ‘My Generation’ and ‘Baba O’Riley’ but also in his two great rock operas (a form he more or less invented single-handed) Tommy and Quadrophenia.

Today, despite the deaths of Keith Moon and John Entwistle, The Who remain a potent force on the rock music scene. Their Concert for New York City appearance after the tragedy of 9/11 was a classic, as have been their annual performances at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. In 2006, Pete Townshend wrote The Who’s first studio album for the new millennium, Endless Wire and the band toured Europe and the U.S. during 2006 and 2007, 2013 with Quadrophenia and on their current The Who Hits 50! tour.

In 2014 The Who began their anniversary tour, The Who Hits 50! which saw them tour the US twice plus dates in Europe and Mexico. 2017 saw an acoustic version of Tommy with the band performing at the 100th concert for the Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

In January 2019 Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey announced a new North American tour and a studio album of new material.