WEBVTT - Pete Townshend 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.920 iHeartRadio Live is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:08.440 Welcome to iHeartRadio Icons with Pete Townsend, as with Tommy, 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:13.120 whose Quadrophenia has been reimagined several times, including a new 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:16.119 creative outlet premiering in the United States this weekend in 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.600 New York. Tonight, you'll hear all the details from Pete 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.560 and he'll play a few iconic songs from that album. 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:28.800 Here's your host for iHeartRadio Icons with Pete Townsend, Jim Kerr. 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:35.960 Welcome to iHeartRadio Icons. We are live in New York 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:44.280 City with Pete Townsend and and Pete. We have plenty 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:46.920 to talk about tonight, but I see you brought your guitar, 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:49.920 so the stage is yours. 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:54.319 Okay, thank you. Now my voice isn't his best. I'm 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:59.560 afraid I'll I'll do my best. I did a TV 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:01.520 show and I talked too much. 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:15.080 That of course Pinball was it from Tommy and before that, 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.319 Let My Love Open the Door Here on iHeartRadio Icons. 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:22.600 Is there any truth to the story that there was 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.600 resistance when it came to releasing Let My Love Open 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:28.959 the Door as a single and on your album because 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:32.040 somebody somewhere said doesn't sound like Townsend. 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:34.679 You know, there was resistance. 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.319 It was Doug Morris who was my great supporter at 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:41.240 Atlantic Records. He brought back at Co the label for 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.400 me and Stevie Nick, who was his first two signings. 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.960 Armat Urtigon who founded Atlantic, gave him the job of 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.080 this new label, and he's gone on to great things, 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.960 of course. Doug Morris wonderful, wonderful record guy, wonderful record guy. 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.200 Anyway, he was very supportive. 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:57.680 Of my first album which was with him, which was 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:01.320 Empty Glass, and you know, the first track was a 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:03.480 heavy rock track. The next track was the kind of 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.440 pop track. The next track was a heavy rock truck. 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:07.720 And when it got to let My Love Open the Door, 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:12.520 he said, I think we should leave this off. It's 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:15.840 too much like a sort of a I can't remember 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:17.920 his exact words. I shouldn't put words in his mouth, 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.760 but he felt it was too pop. Anyway, So the 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:25.600 album came out and that was the record that was 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:30.440 the hit, that was the radio play. And when I 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.919 did my second album with him, which was Chinese Eyes, 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:39.200 he I played it to him and he said, Pete, 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:41.320 where's the let my Love Open the Door? 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.120 Well, you were just here in August for three area 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:51.120 shows on the whose North American Farewell Tour The Song 0:02:51.200 --> 0:03:00.680 is Over and whose first American performance was just nearby 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.040 in the neighborhood at the RKO fifty eighth Street Theater 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:08.320 on March twenty fifth, nineteen sixty seven. So there's been 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:12.680 a special bond between the Who Yourself and New York. 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:15.880 Yeah, the whole of the Northeast, I would say, but 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.880 New York in particular. It wasn't just that it was 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.799 the first place that we came. You know, if there 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.400 was really a cultural capital. 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.919 Of the USA, it's got to be New York. You know, 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:33.639 La La is big for the movies. 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.680 You know, Chicago has its own cultural center, and it's 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.480 a wonderful city. And there's great, great, great cities in America. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.600 And I have to say quickly that not just New York, 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.000 but the whole of America has been you know, often 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.920 say to my wife, this is this is the place 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.360 that pays my bills big time, big time. 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:59.480 Well, not only have New York City Concerts Stages embraced 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:04.760 you and the band, but Broadway Stages two with not 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:09.000 one but two productions of timy two different productions of 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:10.280 Timing slightly different. 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:15.720 Yeah, yeah, the last one. The last one got really 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.080 a great start. We were doing in a cup million 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.160 and a half a week at one point, and then 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:24.839 it came to the Tony Awards, and for some reason 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:28.520 we just got tanked by the Tony Awards. Nobody really 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:32.800 understands quite why that happened, but we had I did 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:36.000 get a Tony for ninety three. I'm not being greedy, 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:40.839 but the show slowed down and our producers decided to close. 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.360 They never really wanted us to bring it to Broadway 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.279 in the first place. It started in Chicago at the 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.720 Goodman Theater and it did eight weeks. Every seat was 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.240 sold out, great reviews, so we thought we'd bring it 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:55.080 to Broadway. Maybe we shouldn't have, maybe we should have 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:57.680 taken it on tour. But it's going on tour and 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.400 when it comes on tour, everybody around America we'll be 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.080 able to see. It's a great production. 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.279 But how your artistry has been presented has been so 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:10.200 unique for a rock performer. I mean Tommy of course, 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:15.279 an album, your stage show with the Who, the Broadway productions, 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:20.719 the hit motion picture Quadraphenia. We've got now a ballet 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.480 to talk about right next door here in New York 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:27.040 City at City Center, which is which is a historic 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:32.440 and beautiful theater. Quadraphenia, a rock ballet, is playing at 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:39.320 City Center in Manhattan tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. Now, you're 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.640 no stranger to ballet because you took ballet lessons when 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:42.160 you were a kid. 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:42.720 I did. 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:47.719 Yeah, between the ages of three and a half and five, 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.479 I took ballet lessons and I was the only boy. 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.480 It's a bit, it's a bit like that Billy story. 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:55.960 What was his name, Billy something? 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:57.840 Yeah, And. 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.559 I was the only boy in a class of about 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:02.599 twenty four girls. 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.560 But the boys have to lift the girls, so you 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.080 must have been busy all the time. 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:11.560 No, no, no, we were just learning how to behave. 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:16.640 And apparently I didn't behave because I got the slipper 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.039 on my bare bomb in front of twenty four very 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:25.400 pretty little girls. And I'm amazed it didn't turn me 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:27.880 into a premium pervert. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:28.400 But it was. 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:31.640 And I don't dream about it and I don't ever 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:32.880 want it to happen again. 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.360 Well, speaking of Quadrophenia, you know that that's such a 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:43.680 personal work for you, based on real life observations of 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.560 the social conditions that you grew up in and experienced 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.640 in England in the post war years and in the 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:52.039 fifties and into the sixties. 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:54.200 Could you, ever, when. 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.679 You were composing Quadrophenia have envisioned it as. 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:03.960 You know, I wonder about this kind of question, Jim, 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:08.480 because you know, we never know looking forward what's going 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:10.520 to happen to us. And you know, we never sit 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:12.640 and try to envision our lives, and if we do, 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:15.520 we're wasting our time, you know, I think, you know, 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:21.040 Quadrophenia was written not even with any thoughts of social relevance. 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:24.200 It was written because The Who had lost touch with 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.120 their fans. You know, we absolutely had. We were a 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:32.840 big band, We were playing stadiums, you know. We Keith 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.840 Moon was really not very well. He was taking a 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.760 lot of drugs, drinking a lot. He was great fun still, 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.560 but his playing was starting to fall off, and I 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:46.040 felt that the band had lost touch with its roots. 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:50.480 So Quadraphenia was a way for me to relink The 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:54.160 Who with their roots, with which their original fan base, 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:55.840 which was the Mods. 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:57.480 In nineteen sixty four. 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.280 I wrote a song Cale Can't Explain, and at the 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.520 gold Hawk Club where we did a residency in Shepherd's 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:10.000 Bush where we played every week, a little deputation of 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:12.560 mods and one girl, five boys and one girl. I 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.160 can remember all their names, I could recite them now. 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.440 And they came back and they said, you know, Pete, 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:21.360 we just want to tell you we want you to 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.440 write more songs like this. And I said, well, what 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:26.560 do you mean and they said, we want more songs 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.120 like this one? And I said, what's so special about it? 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.480 And they said, well, it's it's a song about what. 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.760 And I said, well, it's about a boy who falls 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.240 in love and can't explain to this girl. And they went, 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.960 that's it. We can't explain, so we want you to 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:43.760 do it for us. And the next song I wrote 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:44.600 was my Generation. 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:46.840 All right, well. 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.920 You've chosen two songs from Quadrophedia to perform for us. Sorry, 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.319 you chose two songs from Quadrophina I did. 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:02.120 Indeed, yeah, and not easy to play. 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.079 I keep saying this, but this is, this is this 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:07.520 is harder than working with the who I can tell. 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:36.680 I just want our friends in the audience to know. 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.440 I can't even begin to explain how exciting it is 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.640 for me to be standing a few feet away from 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.160 one of the world's greatest artists as he performed. 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:51.640 That a very. 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:57.680 That's available for bar mitzvahs and weddings from Quadrophenia. 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:00.719 That was I'm One, followed by now you're going to 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.160 see something very interesting right now, those of you who 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.640 are here in our studio audience in New York. There's 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:10.000 a big screen behind us, and you are about to 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:16.000 see a scene from Quadraphenia the Rock Ballet, in which 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:19.640 Ace Face and Mod Girl are dancing to an orchestral 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:23.480 version of the song that Pete just performed, Drowned. And 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:25.640 for those of you who are listening on the radio, 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.320 unfortunately you won't be able to see the video, but 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:31.280 you will hear the music from the ballet. 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:51.360 Which was orchestrated by my wife, Rachel Fuller. There we go, Pete. 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.320 Those artists that the audience just saw on the screen, 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:59.360 they're dancing with their bodies while they're acting with their faces. 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.840 It's really pretty incredible. Yeah, to see. Well, that's you know, 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:08.040 great ballet is that way. What's interesting about Cordraphenia the 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.560 Ballet is that it's a hybrid really, you know, it's 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:15.440 we're used to seeing in theater musicals, in Broadway musicals, 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:16.400 we're used to. 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:19.760 Seeing peek kids dance, and you know, when people train 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:24.439 to be actors in musicals, they. 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:25.320 Have to learn to dance. 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:29.120 But most of these kids are trained in ballet, so 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:30.920 the kind of things that they do is Romeo and 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.000 Juliet and stuff like that, you know, so. 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:36.440 This was a different journey for them. 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:40.880 The three boys, the three principal boys, Paris, Dan and Syrian, 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:45.080 were at the very first workshop and they put together 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:51.480 this first little bit with our Sadly, our choreographer Paul Roberts, sweet, sweet, fantastic, 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:55.720 talented guy. He got cancer before the show finished in 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.959 London and died, and we wanted to bring him here to. 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:02.560 New York, but unfortunately we'd have to bring him in spirit. 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:03.760 But we miss him terribly. 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:07.160 But he and this group of three boys created this 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:12.120 fantastic poetic action right at the beginning of the piece, 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.800 and it's lasted. It was what made me feel that 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:19.640 this would work. There's a new poetry in there. It's 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:22.280 rock and roll for sure. You know, this is about 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:24.480 mods and rockers. The rockers don't get much of a 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:28.280 look in, but it's mainly about mod kids, and you know, 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:31.400 sixty two sixty four, that kind of period when we 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.840 were all struggling to find who we were. 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:37.240 Well, for those few people who may not really know 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:41.199 much about Quadraphinia, what would be a quick summary of 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:42.400 the story. 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:45.760 You know, it's about a young boy who as soon 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.160 as the ballet opens you can see that he's in trouble. 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:53.200 He very very quickly finds himself in front of a psychiatrist. 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:56.200 We skipped the preacher from the album. We had a 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.600 preacher on the album, and we skipped him. 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:00.320 And he. 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:05.480 Has a struggle with his mother, he has a struggle 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:09.280 with his dad. He finds it hard to fit in 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.000 with a gang. He falls in love with this beautiful 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:17.000 girl and who is with somebody else, and he has 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.480 his moment with her. She gives him some time, but 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.360 not very much, and slowly but surely, he then finds 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:26.840 that even his favorite band, the Who. 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.520 Let him down. And how do they let him down? 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:34.760 They let him down in just the way we were 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:39.160 letting down our fans in nineteen seventy three. We were bloated, 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:46.800 paid too much money, egoistic, out of control, getting headlines 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:48.400 for dressing up as that Olf Hitler. 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:53.120 All of that stuff rock and roll basically. 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.960 And he recognized that, and so he felt even his 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:00.480 great heroes the who had let him down. So everything 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:02.880 lets him down, and at the end of the story 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.560 he finally loses it. He takes a load of drugs, 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.440 He gets on a plane to Brighton, He goes to 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:12.160 Brighton Beach, He hangs out with a bunch of mods 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.640 and they get into a fight with a bunch of rockers. 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:18.520 This happened in real life. Of course, I was there. 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.280 I was there in August when the very very last 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:25.800 Mods and rocker fight happened on the beach, and I 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.840 missed the train home and slept under the pier, took 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:32.200 a few purple hearts and chatted to the boys and stuff. 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:35.200 So the whole mod movement for me was really really important. 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:36.960 But he ends. 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:40.800 Up as sort of I think, as I did, searching 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:45.000 for a spiritual answer, and he ends up out on 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:48.000 a rock all on his own. And I won't give 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.680 away the ending of this one, because we never know 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:53.800 when we look at the movie whether whether Jimmy lives 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:55.720 or dies. We don't know when we listen to the 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.479 album whether he lives or dies. Does he commit suicide 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.760 or does he carry on what actually happens, but in 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:03.960 this play we've dealt with it very elegantly. 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:05.360 Well. 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:11.880 For those who have listened to the Quadrophenia album, or 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:15.360 saw the movie, or perhaps saw The Who play the 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:21.800 album in concert and have tickets to Quadrophenia, what would 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:26.960 you wish them to come away with this weekend after 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:29.000 experiencing your ballet. 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:34.960 They'll hear, they'll feel the story in the way that 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.880 I intended. I think, I mean, seriously, I think the 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:42.520 thing about making a subtle, heartbreaking album with a band 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:46.080 like The Who was tricky because we were at the 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:51.600 height of our bombast. You know, incredible recording skills, you know, 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:57.600 great musicianship. John Entwistle's horn playing on the album was 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:02.360 just spectacular. My synthesize a player with spectacular Roger's voice 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:08.160 was just superb, particularly on Lovering on Me though that 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:12.040 that stuff told the story. But people had to, in 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.680 a sense look at the album sleeve and read the 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.880 story that I'd written on the album jacket to get 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:21.560 the story. This one, you get the story, and also 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:26.080 you get a chance to interpolate, you know, to inject 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:27.600 your own stuff. 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:30.080 That's what good art is about. 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:34.560 This is a really artistic production as well as being 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:36.160 fantastic fun and. 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:37.920 It's great to watch. It's beautiful. 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.440 The audiences in the UK went nuts for it, so 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:45.040 I'm hoping the same thing will happen here well. 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:52.880 And the iHeartRadio app there's a talk back feature and 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:59.240 a listener Chris from New York City. Chris Brewster asks 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:04.600 which one of your performances throughout your long, incredible career 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:09.320 stands out as your favorite? 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:10.000 Wow. 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:18.199 You know, we've done two five hundred performances, so I 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:19.879 don't know that I can honestly answer. 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:22.760 I'd have to pick something out of the air. You know. 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:23.480 I think. 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:30.240 I didn't like Woodstock. I should have loved Monterey back 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.000 in sixty seven, the first big pop festival, but Jimi 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:37.840 Hendrix was on as well and kind of blew me away, And. 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:41.240 So I don't know. 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:48.720 I think maybe maybe the first the first concert in 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:50.000 San Francisco. 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:53.359 Bill Graham had a place called the Film. 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:58.440 All and he used to he used to combine jazz 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.399 stars with rock band. So we went on and we 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:04.600 go to this and remember my dad was a jazz musician, 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:07.960 so I grew up with jazz music and dance band music, 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:12.439 and we go to the theater and Cannibal Adelie, the 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.320 great jazz player who was used to work with Miles 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:20.240 Davis and all these guys. He played on Miles's greatest record, 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:23.040 Kind of Blue. If you haven't heard it, you must 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:26.560 listen to it, and you'll recognize it when you hear it, 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:29.800 because it's everywhere in the world. But he was supporting though, 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:35.480 and I just thought of Cannibal addedly as being a legend, 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:40.560 you know. But he liked us, and he was very 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:46.520 friendly and very supportive, and so that was great until 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:51.879 Bill Graham said, you know, you do two sets, and 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:55.640 I can remember saying, well, that's fine, but how long 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:57.720 are the sets? He said, of each is an hour 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:00.439 and a half, and I think we only had like 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:01.400 seven songs. 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:05.919 Well, for those of us in the New York metropolitan area, 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:11.119 we will forever be grateful to you for your outstanding 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:14.760 performance at Madison Square Garden at the concert for New 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:20.159 York City. After nine to eleven, okay, play some more 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:30.879 songs for us. Pete Townsend on iHeart Radio Icons. Pete 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:36.959 Townsend on iHeart Radio Icons, Let's See Action and before that, 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:41.440 Behind Blue Eyes and last night on television you included 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:45.399 Behind blue Eyes on your list of your five most 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:52.440 favorite songs of your own. Yes, but behind blue Eyes 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:55.480 was on your list of five, and the song that 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.520 you chose as your favorite whose song of all time? 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.720 Will actually be hearing that just a few minutes right 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:04.920 here on this stage. You said you had maybe ten 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:10.320 years left as a creative, so you know you're doing 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:14.560 all sorts of interesting things. Theatrical projects are projects, book projects. 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:18.760 You know, there was this album once. I don't know 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:22.400 if you've heard of it. It's called Who's Next. Well, 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:26.959 my question for you now, Pete Townsend, is what's next? 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:29.080 Well with Who's Next? 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.000 That was based on a movie script I wrote for 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:35.880 the Who called Life House, And there's been a graphic 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:39.080 novel of Life House, which I really really love. So 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:42.919 and you know, I predicted pretty much everything that was 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.040 going to happen in the future in Lifehouse. I didn't 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:46.960 set out to do that. I'm not trying to be 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:47.800 a smarty pants. 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:52.240 It just did. That was the story. But also Jeff Creulitz, who's. 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:54.359 The guy that put the comic together, and I just 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:57.080 had coffee this afternoon, he reminded me that I also 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:01.919 sort of invented the Sphere because the Life House closes 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.320 with this huge concert, and if you go to the Sphere, 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:08.600 watch out because in Life House the audience gets so 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:10.639 high they disappear. 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:16.439 Well, have you given any consideration to maybe having a 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:18.520 residency at a place like the Sphere? 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:21.880 You know, I've not been, I've not seen it. I'm 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:25.760 very excited by it. You know. The people that run 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.680 it wanted it to be a place where bands would play. 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.760 And the guy that built it is the guy that 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:37.560 runs the Madison Square Garden, and he's a big music 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:40.280 fan and a rock band fan, and he wanted it 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:45.080 to be about music with fantastic visuals. Since then, of course, 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:49.200 it's become a medium where there's some storytelling. So maybe, 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:52.440 you know, Lifehouse might be great for the Sphere. 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:53.800 I don't know, but we shall see. 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.960 Well, The Who wrapped up their North American tour a 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:02.000 little over a month ago in California, and then there 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:05.560 was a backyard benefit in Los Angeles for teen Cancer America. 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:11.440 It must have been, you know, a bittersweet few days 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:14.560 filled with some nostalgia when the tour was all coming 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:18.040 to an end, and quite like you and Roger to 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:22.840 end it all performing at a charitable event, because I 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:25.520 know you've done so much of that, a lot more 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:26.840 than most people know about. 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:30.600 Yeah, and that's true for me personally too. But you know, 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:34.119 I don't think that's That's not why I do what 0:22:34.160 --> 0:22:36.679 I do. You know, I do what I do because 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:40.800 I love being creative more than I do performing. I'm 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:44.880 happier being creative. I'm happier being in my studio writing songs. 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:48.480 I'm trying to get back into painting pictures because as 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:50.679 a kid I went to art school, so that stuff is. 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:55.080 And you know, so many musicians do paint, you know, 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:58.520 Joni Mitchell, Chrissy Hind, Bob Dylan, loads of people paint, 0:22:59.080 --> 0:23:02.960 and so I am making art of all kinds. But 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:07.320 I think the charity stuff, if you had a load 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:11.119 of money, that's what you would do. It is, isn't it. 0:23:11.119 --> 0:23:18.240 It's what you would do. And the problem is is 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:22.119 when you start to get a buzz from giving money 0:23:22.160 --> 0:23:26.840 away and you give away too much, and then you 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:29.400 look at your bankman balance and you think, oh my god, 0:23:29.440 --> 0:23:32.360 it's empty, and thank god. Then you can come back 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:35.080 to the WHO and say to Roger Daltry, let's go 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:35.680 on tour. 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:40.480 Well, will you go on tour in other parts of 0:23:40.520 --> 0:23:43.280 the world. You said farewell to US America. 0:23:43.400 --> 0:23:47.040 What we didn't say farewell. We did a farewell tour. 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:49.880 Farewell tour, Yes, Elton John did. 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:55.000 Elton John did three hundred and thirty shows. We did 0:23:55.119 --> 0:23:58.880 twenty two. We've got a few left if you want them, 0:23:59.080 --> 0:23:59.920 we're ready to get. 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:07.320 When you came out here at the beginning of the show, 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:10.320 you said that you talked too much last night and 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:13.560 you didn't think your voice was in very good shape. 0:24:13.800 --> 0:24:16.880 I've got to tell you you've shown no evidence that 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:21.720 that is in fact true, because you have sounded absolutely 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:26.520 amazing tonight. You have been a part well of a 0:24:26.520 --> 0:24:28.080 lot of the people here in this room and who 0:24:28.119 --> 0:24:30.760 are listening on the radio all over America. You've been 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:33.600 a part of their lives in some cases since they 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:37.800 were you know, young kids or teenagers. In other cases, 0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:40.000 you have been a part of people's lives from the 0:24:40.000 --> 0:24:41.119 moment they were born. 0:24:42.320 --> 0:24:43.639 They were babies. 0:24:46.600 --> 0:24:50.600 They were babies in the kitchen with their mother feeding them, babysuit, 0:24:50.720 --> 0:24:52.919