The Who will be hitting the road this summer, taking their orchestral The Who Hits Back tour to Europe in June and the UK in July, picking up from where they left off at the end of the 2022 US tour last November. The UK tour dates were announced earlier this week, and tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, February 3rd.
Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey will be performing with a full orchestra of local musicians, conducted by Keith Levenson, and featuring Katie Jacoby on violin and Audrey Snyder on cello. They will also have their usual excellent backing band with Simon Townshend on guitar, Zak Starkey on drums, Jon Button on bass, Billy Nicholls on backing vocals, Loren Gold on keyboards, and Emily Marshall on second keyboards.
This will be The Who’s first shows in Europe since The Who Hits 50 tour in 2016, and while they did play a handful of acoustic London performances in 2020 and 2022, the last time they toured the UK was in 2017, due to scheduled shows being postponed and cancelled during the pandemic.
In a press statement for the UK dates, Roger said, “Having not toured the UK for six years, it’s great that at this time of our careers we have the chance to go to places that are not on the usual touring map. Edinburgh Castle and Derby, as well as the other cities across the country that we haven’t been to for decades, will make this very special for me. This opportunity will give our UK Who fans the chance to hear our current show, which, with the addition of an orchestra, takes our music to new heights.”
The Who did bring the orchestral show to Wembley Stadium for one date back in July 2019, in between the US legs of the Moving On tour. That show is now slated to be released in various audio formats on March 31, including limited edition colored vinyl 3-lp, black 3-lp, and a 2-CD/bluray boxset featuring Dolby Atmos and 5.1 mixes.
The Who with Orchestra: Live at Wembley is available to pre-order now from your favorite online store.
Here is the full summer schedule so far.
Europe dates
14 June Barcelona, Spain - Palau Sant Jordi
17 June Florence, Italy - Firenze Rocks, Visarno Arena
20 June Berlin, Germany - Waldbühne
23 June Paris, France - La Défense Arena
UK dates
06 July Hull - Sewell Group Craven Park
08 July Edinburgh - Edinburgh Castle
09 July Edinburgh - Edinburgh Castle
12 July London - The O2
14 July Derby - The Incora County Ground
16 July Bristol - Badminton Estate
19 July Durham - Seat Unique Riverside
21 July St Helens - Totally Wicked Stadium
23 July Brighton - The 1st Central County Ground
The Who in Austin, May 2022. Photo credit: Ron Grosser
