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Zak Starkey's with:
The Who 2001

""|  summary  |  releases  |  live  |

In December of 2000, it was announced that The Who received a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Grammy's - to be presented at the 2001 February Awards Ceremony. Though the Who did not perform at, or attend the awards, a special promotional DVD containing highlights of the upcoming Royal Albert Hall Charity Concert release was given out to all audience members. The complete DVD would be released Sept 25th, 2001. [see releases]

All throughout the 2000 Tour, interviews and promotions, one or another Who member (though usually Roger) would make a statement that the band was going "to go", or "to try and go" into the studio, nothing happened that year. Throughout 2001, the hope and the rumors continued.

On June 20th, Roger in a phone interview promoting "WitchBlade" with radio personality Mitch Albom had this to say:

Albom: "...what's the next performance schedule for The Who?"
Roger: "We're starting work in September doing, uh, charity shows and a, a few gigs around Europe and studio work. So That's going to be very interesting ... very experimental"
Albom: "...You're gonna do a new album?"
Roger: "(laughing) We're gonna try."

September came and went and it appeared that the reality would be that 2001 would pass without the band stepping foot into the recording studio, despite any good intentions.

The rumors of live appearances also appeared early in the year. The first was February's highly unlikely rumor of The Who at the summer's V98 Festival. In June, reports came in that there were a number of "reserved" dates in the fall at various venues in Spain. Roger's above quote during his radio interview seemed to give that a bit more credibility.

Then came the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, NYC.

On Sept 27th, a number of reports concerning Paul McCartney joining up with an already in the planning stage benefit for the World Trade Center victims, families and rescuers, mentioned that he had asked former members of Led Zeppelin and THE WHO to perform. Later in the day, reports were listing the WHO as confirmed. On Sept 28th, Pete Townshend himself confirmed that The Who, with Zak on drums, would take part. [See live for full details]

Who at Concert for NYThe Oct 20th, Madison Square Garden, 5 + hour concert was televised, filmed and recorded. The Who performed a blistering 4 song set - that was voted by almost everyone who witnessed it - as THE high point of the evening! The CD [with 3 of the 4 songs] was released Nov 27th, the DVD is due in December. [See releases]


Pete's comments after the event concerning the studio LP rumors seems to squash all hopes:

"We have the chemistry," Townshend told me backstage. "But I don't think we understand each other creatively. We never did. I honor Roger and I love him, and we can certainly do songs from our past. But I just don't see how we could find a way to bring it up to the present." - Mitchell Fink of the NY Daily News

At the same time, on October 23rd, The Sun printed this alleged Zak quote:

WHO drummer Zak Starkey - son of ex-Beatle Ringo - said in New York there may be a new album from the band next year. He said: "Pete Townshend has got lots of ideas. I've played with them live but not really recorded. It would be a dream come true as I believe we are still the best band in the world."

There was still hope of a few more gigs before the end of the year, along with promises for 2002!

In a Sept 24th BBC2 Radio interview, Roger announced that:

"The Who is still around alive and kickin', and we're gonna be doing some more benefits, hopefully this year,definitely next year. We got a whole week of concerts planned at the Albert Hall between the 4th and the 9th of February. We're gonna be doing at least one of those nights, possibly two, depending on what guest stars we can get to do the other nights. ...but it's gonna happen, and again that's for Teenage Cancer Trust." 

Pete on Dec 23rd, announced on his official site that The Who would be performing "warm-up" gigs prior to the February benefit, AND that there would be US SUMMER 2002 TOUR DATES as well as UK FALL 2002 dates!!

""|See The Who 2001 - Releases|
""|See The Who 2001 - Live |


target Other Who related sections on Kathy's Zak Starkey Site: target
Quad Hyde Park and MSG * Quad USA '96 * Quad Europe '97 * Quad USA '97
Who's Serious? * Daltrey Sings Townshend * Who convention '95
Pete's Olivier Award Party * John Entwistle's The Rock * Pete's 98 solo gigs
* Who 1999 shows * The Who 2000 * Tony Ashton Testimonial Show
*
The Who 2001 * The Who 2002 * The Who 2003 * The Who 2004 *
* The Who 2005 * The Who 2006 *The Who 2007 *
* The Who 2008 *The Who 2009 *The Who 2010 *The Who 2011*
* Kathy's Simon Townshend Pages *


Related Links:


Last Updated: Saturday, February 4, 2006
Created: Sunday, February 18, 2001
Copyright © 2001 - Kathy VanTassell

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