World tour by The Who | |
Associated album | Quadrophenia |
---|---|
Start date | 12 August 2012 |
End date | 8 July 2013 |
Legs | 2 |
No. of shows | 39 in North America 13 in Europe 52 in Total |
The Who concert chronology |
The Who's 2012–2013 tour was their third to feature the 1973 album Quadrophenia. Billed as "Quadrophenia and More", the band played Quadrophenia in its entirety, followed by a selection of their greatest hits. Before starting the tour, the group gave a special performance at the closing ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The band gave their first performance since a January 2011 charity appearance during the closing ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympics on 12 August, performing a short medley comprising "Baba O'Riley", "See Me, Feel Me" and "My Generation". A few weeks earlier they had announced a two leg stint that would feature the Quadrophenia album for a third time. They toured behind the album's original release, but their use of backing tapes to duplicate its musical complexity caused problems when the tapes malfunctioned and the band had difficulty playing along to them. They revisited the rock opera during their 1996–97 tour, this time with much greater success.
An announcement about the tour came through the band's website and social media networks on 18 July and coincided with a promotional documentary for the album, entitled The Who: Quadrophenia – Can You See The Real Me? The documentary was only screened in select theatres on 24 July in the United States, and on 25 July in Canada. The documentary featured never before seen footage from the band's first Quadrophenia tour including footage from its opening night in San Francisco, California, In which drummer Keith Moon collapsed twice and resulted in Scot Halpin, an audience member, filling in for Moon. Tickets for The Who's official fan club were given the first opportunity to purchase tickets on 20 July. American Express cardholders were given a presale date of 23 July. General tickets went on sale 27 July. The Who also announced on 19 July that they would honour tickets for the band's cancelled show in Providence, Rhode Island from 1979, following the tragic concert disaster in Cincinnati at the Riverfront Coliseum, in which 11 people were trampled and killed. The tickets were honoured at their Providence show in 2013, the final date of the tour.