Las Vegas Weekly

July 18, 2012 · 6 PM

The Who set for February show at the Joint; Cee Lo targets February opening of ‘Loberace’

By John Katsilometes

2010 Miss America Caressa Cameron attends Super Bowl XLIV festivities in Miami, and our photographer Tom Donoghue is with her in Florida. The Who's Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are pictured here; The Who are performing at halftime.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Those thirsting for information about the Who’s U.S. tour and Cee Lo Green’s postponed “Loberace” production at Planet Hollywood should read on:

• The Who is stopping in Las Vegas during its just-announced “Quadrophenia” U.S. tour. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend announced the upcoming tour during a news conference that streamed live on the Internet today. The band plays the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel on Feb. 8, with tickets starting at $99.50 and going on sale at 10 a.m. July 27 at the Hard Rock Hotel box office, all Ticketmaster locations, online at Ticketmaster or charge-by-phone at (800) 745-3000.

In a 40-minute session, during which they sat side-by-side and answered an interviewer off-camera, Daltrey and Townshend did not address specific stops on the 36-date tour. They promised a full rendition of the double-album version of “Quadrophenia,” the 1973 classic in which Townshend delves into his often-tortured childhood memories. “The Real Me,” “Love Reign O’er Me” and “5.15” were the singles pulled from the album.

The band most recently toured four years ago and last performed “Quadrophenia” live in 1997. The Who’s most recent appearance in Las Vegas was in 2006 at Mandalay Bay Events Center. Daltrey says his voice feels great and that Townshend and he have long been eager to revisit the epic “Quadrophenia.”

“I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to sing this music,” the 68-year-old Daltrey said during the news conference. “I’m just going to keep singing as long as I can.”

In addition to “Quadrophenia,” the band plans a healthy complement of its greatest classics.

“They’ll get a good portion of stuff,” said the 67-year-old Townshend. “I saw Paul McCartney in concert recently, and I really realized that people do so much want to hear the hits. If we can get a great show out of it, kiss them good night with ‘Baba O’Riley’ and ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again,’ we’ll be happy.”

Added Daltrey: “We’ll wheel out the old chestnuts, the old favorites.”

Aside from the two founding members, the listed members of the Who’s touring band are Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr’s son, on drums), Pino Palladino (bass), Simon Townshend (Pete Townshend’s brother, on guitar/backing vocals), Chris Stainton (keyboards), Loren Gold (keyboards/backing vocals) and Frank Simes (musical director, keyboards/backing vocals).

The band has lost original members Keith Moon (who died of an overdose of sedatives in 1978) and bassist John Entwistle. The Hard Rock Hotel was actually the site of one of the band’s great tragedies, when Entwistle was found dead in a Hard Rock Hotel suite on June 27, 2002, a night before the band was to launch a U.S. tour. The cause of death was reported as a heart attack induced by cocaine abuse.

Without speaking of the incident specifically, Townshend said, “We miss the other two guys very much, and we have had that reinvention. ... We have a constant drive to kind of re-create the Who, and when John died, we didn’t have Keith Moon and John, and there was this sense of being liberated.

“This is not to make a good thing out of two deaths, but that happens often. We feel freer to explore new depths.”

• The new set of dates for Cee Lo Green’s postponed “Loberace” production at Planet Hollywood have been announced. Green has officially moved back the original shows this year, which were set to begin Aug. 29 and run through the end of 2012 (click here for the report of the production’s postponement). Now the opening dates are listed as Feb. 27-28, with dates set through mid-April. Tickets for the new show dates are $49.50 to $149.50 for table seating and on sale Aug. 1 at the Planet Hollywood box office (that number is 800-745-3000 ) or at Ticketmaster.

In a statement — and this is the full text of that statement — Green offered:

“It's always been a dream of mine to be among the great music legends who have had a Las Vegas residency, and I was very much looking forward to launching ‘Loberace’ this year. But, as we move into the third season of ‘The Voice,’ with my dedicated commitment to the filming schedule and love for my role on the show, I will need to postpone the opening of ‘Loberace’ to early 2013.

“Most importantly, to all my fans who have already purchased tickets, please accept my sincerest apology, and I hope you can still join me in Vegas next year so I can properly and finally introduce you to my brainchild, ‘Loberace’! Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.

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