THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Pete Townshend Live > In Concert 1985-2001 is an expanded 14-CD box set featuring seven long-out-of-print live albums by The Who’s guitarist, chief songwriter and visionary. Newly remastered by Jon Astley at Close To The Edge, the set gathers live solo recordings that were previously available only via Townshend’s website. All of the albums have been out of print for two decades.
The live shows included in the box set are:
• Townshend’s Deep End live at Brixton Academy in London recorded on Nov. 1 and 2 and featuring David Gilmour of Pink Floyd on guitar;
• A full rendition of Psychoderelict and more taped at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York on Aug. 7 1993 during Pete’s only full solo tour;
• An intimate show from The Fillmore in San Francisco on April 30 1996, around the time of his first solo compilation;
• A performance at the his London old stomping grounds of Shepherd’s Bush Empire, recorded on Nov. 9 1998;
• Two nights at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre — usually home to ballet and modern dance — featuring music from Life House. It was the only time a full Life House show has been attempted, and the only time some of those songs were ever performed;
• Two shows from the La Jolla Playhouse in California, where the Tommy musical first ran, on June 22 and 23 2001.
All the shows were released online through Pete’s own Eel Pie; there was only one run of each, and they quickly became collector’s items. While Townshend has often performed short solo sets for charitable causes like Amnesty International, The Prince’s Trust and The Who’s own Double O charity, full solo performances have been few and far between. When Pete has put on an entire show, set lists have blended his own output, including specific Who songs and cover versions of artists who have influenced him over the years.
Speaking of performing solo or performing with a band that wasn’t The Who, Townshend says: “I always have too much to do, too much responsibility, and not enough time. I have to live enough life to provide me with inspiration and context for my songs, I have to then spend enough time in my home studio finessing songs so they feel worthy of my band (The Who), then I have to re-record them with that band, then speak eloquently about them to the media, justifying my creative divergences, then I must tour endlessly behind the new music, continuing to celebrate the old stuff as well, and then start all over again. The idea that I would do all that for The Who and then do it for myself as well is simply plain insane. And yet for a while I tried. It didn’t go well. One career is enough.”
As Who and Townshend archivist Matt Kent puts it, “When Pete Townshend plays a solo show it isn’t just a concert, it is an EVENT. These CDs represent just how good these events are.”
