Tickets for The Who’s ten-date Quadrophenia tour, including a show at the O2 Arena, went on sale today (01.02.13) and the band is convinced the music from the 1973 album will strike a chord with the youth of today.


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“There is always this desire for people that are struggling in whatever way to get out of their head,” said legendary guitarist Pete Townshend.

“Go down to dance events in Borough or Camden, it’s just different drugs now. In the Mod days it was one drug that everyone took and that was amphetamines.

“When I wrote Quadrophenia we were in the middle of the three-day week and miners’ strikes.

“Now there is an illusion for young people of possibility and hope, but it’s an illusion. You come out with a first in a university degree and you can’t get a job.

“These aren’t great times for young people in our country.”

The Who Are You group – also made up of original member and lead vocalist Roger Daltrey with Zak Starkey, Pino Palladino and Simon Townshend – will celebrate their 50th anniversary in music next year and, despite wear and tear, including Pete losing part of his hearing and Roger having undergoing surgery, the band are insistent they have life left in them.

Daltrey said: “We will know it when we start going through the motions, when we have lost that drive. When that goes then we will stop – but it hasn’t gone yet.”

Tickets for Quadrophenia available here.