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Zak Starkey's work with: |
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Were all sort of keen to do it for a laugh, itll be fun to do it because we enjoy playing together.
A lot of it I would do just to play with Zak, he is such a great guy, like Keiths little sorcerers apprentice, a little Mickey Mouse at Keiths heel really. Zaks brought a new energy. It might be good to go into the studio and see what happens. But ultimately we might also find that our record audience like fans of so many other artists that have got mature may not wanna go out and buy our new CDs. - Pete Townshend - The Sun Feb 7, 2002
"Daltrey and Who mates Pete Townshend and John Entwistle have had their differences in the last couple of decades, but a steadying factor, according to Daltrey, has been the talent of touring drummer Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr). The band will never fill the void left by deceased drummer Keith Moon, but Daltrey admits that Starkey has done a better job than '80s fill-in Kenney Jones.
"The chemistry wasn't right until Zak came in," says Daltrey. "He's done a fantastic job. He's an animal on the drums." - Look Who is leading this season's new British invasion, Steve Morse, Boston Globe - 6/2/2002
Early on it seemed that 2002 held great promise for Who fans! With the release of the Concert for NY on DVD, the January and February UK concerts and the announcement of a US Summer Tour, the continuing statements that the band will again try to enter the studio to record actually sounded believable!!
But on the eve of the start of the US tour, the Who were dealt another crashing blow ...
JOHN ENTWISTLE passed away Thurs June 27, 2002 at the Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas, having suffered a heart attack in his sleep. He was 57 years old.
There
was no better format for the Who's music than live. Seeing them live was like
experiencing an epiphany - it all came together, it all made sense, it was incredibly
powerful, at times jaw-dropping, and managed to transcended the performer -
audience barrier. You were not listening to The Who, you were fully experiencing
them. (warts and all - which made it so incredibly real!)
It would be very hard to name many other musicians in John's league who were as gracious, friendly and generous towards their fans.
He was a brilliant musician, a sweet man and a funny guy, and will be sorely missed!
Since the death announcement, reports were conflicting as to the fate of the tour. Some reports stated it was canceled, while others were using the term 'on hold'.
On Friday afternoon, June 28, the first official tour news was posted on petetownshend.com
Matt Kent posted in the news section that the tour will proceed and that Pino Palladino had the enormous task of playing bass for the band. The Tour would resume with the Monday Hollywood Bowl show, and the Vegas and Shoreline dates would be rescheduled.
Later that day, Roger Daltrey posted a beautiful statement in the diary of the Who's section on Pete's site. It is well worth reading in it's entirety, but it closes with:
"My feeling about where Pete and I are left now is my belief that our music goes beyond and before us, transcending everything we do. If John had it his way we would probably have been on the road 365 days a year - no, make that 351 as he would have still wanted to have his two weeks fishing! John lived his life for the road and to play live on stage and I'm sure he would want us to be doing this as I know his family does."
"My reason for doing what we are doing now, and it is going to take a lot of strength from everybody, is to celebrate John's life. It seems to me the best way is to play our music - the music he helped to create. The spirit of John Entwistle is intrinsically woven into every song we play. By playing our music I believe we can help ourselves and our fans grieve and begin to come to terms with our loss, huge as it is."
[snip]" ... I have always believed - that music, of any kind, has the power to lift people out of their grief and earthly problems. I truly believe that.
I just hope that God has got his earplugs ready. Whatever happens he'll have to reinvent thunder as it simply won't be loud enough any more!" - Roger Daltrey LA 28 June 2002
The Concert For New York CD was issued in the SACD format this year, as was
the DVD of the live broadcast of the event. The biggest surprise came just prior
to the start of the third leg of the US Tour, when Eel Pie / Trinifold announced
that they will be making soundboard recordings from the 2002 Tour available
to the public on CD through TheMusic.com!
- complete release details
Announced on Dec 20, 2002 - A double CD of the 2000 Royal Albert Hall Teenage Cancer Trust Who concert will be released in March 2003. This will ALSO include a bonus 4 track CD with songs from the above 2002 RAH shows: I'm Free, Young Man Blues, I Don't Even Know Myself and Summertime Blues.
- of course there is the continuous rumor of the band "planning" to enter the studio that has been perpetuated by various band members for over 2 years now!
- even after the death of John, there seems to still be talk that the current configuration may enter the studio, but as 'The Who' ? ...
Pete Townshend announced in his website diary entry for Dec 23rd, 2001 - that
The Who would be doing a handful of warm-up shows prior to the Teenage Cancer
Trust shows in February. He also mentioned a US SUMMER 2002 TOUR as well as
a UK FALL 2002 tour!! A few days later his diary entry was removed from his
site without comment. An official announcement for the warm-up gigs was posted
Jan 10th and tickets for the three shows went on sale Jan 11th and sold out
very quickly!
Details for January 2002 shows
A week long series of concerts will take place Feb 2 - 9th to benefit The Teenage
Cancer Trust - which is dedicated to improving the environment of the teenage
cancer sufferer, and their families - through building teen cancer wings and
other support systems. The Who raised quite a bit of cash for the trust in 2000
and are back again this year for two shows during the week long series.
Details for Royal Albert Hall Feb 2002
Rehearsals took place June 10 - 14th at Pete's Oceanic Studios, West London.
Rumors surfaced around Jan 24th 2002 that The Who would be playing the Glastonbury Festival, which was scheduled to take place June 28,29,30th 2002. However, since this fell smack in the middle of their US tour schedule, it was never valid.
There were also rumors of fall UK dates, prior to John's death. Afterwards, there were continued rumors that the band would play at the Teenage Cancer Trust shows in early 2003, but those too seem to be false.
|See
The Who 2002 - Releases|
|See
The Who 2002 - Live |
Other
Who related sections on Kathy's Zak Starkey Site:
Quad Hyde Park and MSG * Quad
USA '96 * Quad Europe '97 *
Quad USA '97
Who's Serious? * Daltrey
Sings Townshend * Who convention '95
Pete's Olivier Award Party * John
Entwistle's The Rock * Pete's 98 solo
gigs
* Who 1999 shows * The
Who 2000 * Tony Ashton Testimonial Show
* The Who 2001 * The
Who 2002 * The Who 2003 * The
Who 2004 *
* The Who 2005 * The
Who 2006 *The
Who 2007 *
* The
Who 2008 *The
Who 2009 *The
Who 2010 *The Who 2011*
* Kathy's Simon
Townshend Pages *
Related Links:
** Note that the original incarnation of
Pete's Official Website (launched Oct 1999) was shut down by Pete on Jan 28,
2002.His
retail site - Eelpie.com
remained up and running and assumed some of the announcement duties.
www.petetownshend.co.uk (.com) was re-launched on June 10, 2002, with a WHO
section in his "projects" area of the site, and once again became
the official outlet for Who Tour and Release info, stories, pictures, sounds
and video. At this time, most all of the "Pete's official site" content referenced
on my pages for 2000 through early 2002, cannot be viewed at eelpie.com or the
new petetownshend/who
site , although an archive of former pt.com materials was said to have been
in the works.
Last Updated:
Saturday, February 4, 2006
Created: Dec 3, 2001
Copyright © 2001 -
Kathy VanTassell
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