I have to be honest with you, I kind of find it really, really cold and bizarre that the Who have decided to continue their tour, in only I believe a week (I know of 2 shows that have been cancelled) despite the death of underrated bassist John Entwhistle.
Mrs. Virginslayer pointed out that she beleives perhaps Roger Daltrey, lead singer or guitarist Pete Townsend have invested a lot of money in the tour, and that they would stand to lose a lot of money if they cancelled the tour.
Deep down, knowing the volatile relationship between the Who bandmates, perhaps Roger and Pete didn’t really like John too much. That is speculation on my part, BTW . . .
Nonetheless, it all just seems cold. Then again, if I was running a business, and one of my employees died, would I afford to shut down the business?
Despite all these arguments . . . I still feel it really, really bizarre. I know there are bands that kept on going with their tour despite the death of a bandmate, like ACDC, but they were trying to still make a name for themselves.
The Rolling Stones I do not beleive were on tour when Brian Jones died. Led Zeppelin broke up whenc their drummer died.
Yes, actually, he will be missed quite a lot. He was one of the finest rock bass players ever, universally acknowledged as such by his peers. He was also well-liked by both Townshend and Daltry–those are the two who don’t really get on that well at times.
I already had tickets to their show here in September, and I’m kind of conflicted about it now. It does seem rather abrupt. Oh well, at least I get to see two of 'em, which is more than I can say for any number of other groups I missed back in the day.
Yeah, even apart from his easily-identifiable bass style (his parts sound deceptively simple but are in fact often tremendously complex), he was a critical part of the vocal harmonies, too. The Who don’t get nearly enough credit for their harmonies, and Entwistle was a big part of that. Entwistle was like the Dennis Wilson of the Who; people might not have realized how crucial his contributions were, but they’ll notice them now that he’s gone.
My guess is they will have to get both a new bass player and at least one additional backup vocalist to tour; Entwistle can’t be replaced with one person. (Unless they get Geddy Lee or something.) But who’s gonna sing “Boris the Spider?”
Yes, it’s cold. But the band became primarily a business a long time ago, and, like most of their contemporaries, is simply cashing in by recycling their 30+ year old stuff. The cover illustration for “The Who Sell Out” should be a tip about their attitude, which is different only in being honest.
With nothing new or original required, they can find one of many other bassists who can imitate Entwistle’s riffs, and still get people to pay to listen to 'em. I’d rather listen to people who still have something to say, actually.
They’re replacing him with Pino Palladino, who did bass for David Gilmour. Still, it would’ve been cool to see John Paul Jones there considering Robert Plant is already touring with them. I guess now he’ll do Entwistle’s vocals.
And don’t forget The Who only have one lead - The Ox filled a whole lot of space with those bass lines.
Plus, he kept his head while all about were off theirs - I saw a little footage yesterday of Pete bashing hell out of his guitar while Moonie was standing up hitting anything and everything as hard as he could…some of them were even drums. Mayhem yet with a really great hand on the tiller.
There’s a more pragmatic reason why The Who might continue touring - Both Entwhistle and Daltry relied on touring for their sole income, because Townsend wrote almost all the Who’s songs, and therefore gets the only songwriting royalties. The reason they kept retiring and then touring again was simply because Entwhistle and Daltrey needed the money.
For all we know, Entwhistle’s family will still get his share of the remaining box office take, which means that The Who could essentially be continuing the tour to help out his family.
http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=19&zone=diary
"…For my part I am not attempting to deliberately establish any sense of memorial or tribute to John. Unlike others I entirely respect (including many of John’s friends and family) I don’t feel I know for certain that John would have wanted us to go on. I simply believe we have a duty to go on, to ourselves, ticket buyers, staff, promoters, big and little people. I also have a duty to myself and my dependent family and friends. I also want to help guide Roger and the rest of the band at this time, all of whom have been shaken by John’s death.
Roger left entirely to me the decision as to whether or not to go on with the tour. I think he hoped in his heart it would not be over so suddenly.
My immediate mission is to complete this tour in good heart, and to remember John in my quiet and private times. It is easy for me to smile when I remember John. I loved him unconditionally. I will try hard not to fall into any of my usual mini-depressions on this tour. Pino is determined to enjoy the music, and so am I.
We are musicians, entertainers. We can do it. We have the right tools. No worries. "
Incidentally, the “Pino” mentioned in the article is legendary bassist, Pino Palladino. If anyone is interested in his credentials, here is a discography. It is quite impressive.
I can’t fault them for continuing. The family wanted them to do it and it isn’t logistically easy to back out of a tour. A lot of people are depending on that work. Let em play some music.
I think they should have waited longer before they started touring.
I say merge the remaining Who, and the remaining Beatles. Maybe “Who are the Beatles?” could be the name. I think that their roles (instrument-wise) in the band all correspond to what the other band needs. That would be good.
You can be cynical and say that they need the money. The Who are already wealthy. If they really wanted money, they would have been pumping our records for the past 20 years.
As mentioned earlier, Daltry and Townsend were the ones who got into fist fights and they all got along with Entwistle.
Maybe Aha can come in here. These guys are musicians that love to play live. It’s not like they can set up a monster tour at the drop of the hat.
And there is an entire economy based on this tour that would go down the drain. There are probably contractual agreements that also need to be fulfilled or have big financial penalties.
Just to set the record straight regarding the money issue:
The whole reason The Who have reformed and are touring is because they are trying to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust in the UK.
Maybe they feel that the best reaction to John’s death is to try to help save the lives of kids with cancer.
Daltrey and Townshend are rich enough, they don’t need your money. They aren’t touring to make money for themselves.
I heard an interview with Daltrey on the radio recently in which he talked passionately about this cancer charity. The aim is to build 20 recreational units for teenagers with cancer. So far they’ve built 4. They need a lot more money to build these units and that’s why they’re touring.
In any case, bands the size of The Who don’t make much money out of touring. Putting on a Who show costs a lot of money. Bands make their money out of cd sales not touring.
So if you’re lucky enough to have a Who ticket then go and see them and enjoy it. Fuck everything else, it’s The Who.
I’m no expert in this area, but I am fairly sure that the real money is in merchandise, which I guess includes CD sales, but I would guess that it is more in the way of T-Shirts.
