More than 50 years on from its release, the concept album has been reimagined in a collaboration with Sadler’s Wells and will tour in 2025
March 2024
Brief letters
Church of England has been too slow to atone for slavery links
Brief letters: C of E slavery fund | Stop the small planes | Tax ‘giveaways’ | Cancer talk | Roger Daltrey at 80
February 2024
‘Kills me every single time’: readers on their favourite breakup songs
For Valentine’s Day, Guardian writers picked their favourite breakup songs and here are some of your picks, all the way from sadness to fury
July 2023
The Who review – rock operas get an orchestral uplift in a show stuffed with classics
Let it all out … why hitting drums is therapy in action
James Wood
August 2022
Mo Ostin, US record exec who signed Jimi Hendrix and the Kinks, dies aged 95
Headhunted by Frank Sinatra, the head of Warner/Reprise oversaw classic releases by the likes of Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac and Prince
February 2022
The Who’s Tommy review – rock musical makes no sense, but the tunes are superb
What was once a radical, satirical tale has been sanitised over the years by Pete Townshend, but this staging features some magnificent performances
September 2021
From the Guardian archive
The Who on record: Who’s Next reviewed – archive, 1971
3 September 1971: At a casual listening the album sounds exciting, but it proves insubstantial – with the exception of two tracks
June 2021
Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer, dies aged 88
The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Kraftwerk all used Zinovieff’s EMS synthesisers
April 2021
The music essay
The Who Sell Out: still a searing satire on pop’s commercial breakdown
Pino Palladino, pop's greatest bassist: 'I felt like a performing monkey!'
March 2021
The Royal Albert Hall at 150: 'It's the Holy Grail for musicians'
It’s hosted opera greats, suffragette rallies, Hitchcock films, sports events, sci-fi conventions – and, of course, the Proms and countless rock gigs. Artists from Led Zeppelin to Abba recall their moments on the hallowed stage
January 2021
Brexiter Roger Daltrey criticises restrictions for musicians touring Europe
The Who frontman has been accused of hypocrisy after signing an open letter decrying the government’s position
October 2020
Pass notes
The U-WHO: why Pete Townshend glued together his smashed guitars
It’s one of rock’n’roll’s defining images of excess. But breaking a guitar onstage is also expensive. Which is why the pop star came up with a clever plan to fix his instrument – and keep his reputation
August 2020
The music essay
Hippy dream or total nightmare? The untold story of Isle of Wight 1970
50 years ago this week, the Hendrix-headlined festival rocked a reported 600,000, but the fallout affected how music events would be run forever. Now a more positive story is emerging
March 2020
The Ox by Paul Rees review – the Who’s bass player behaving badly
A life of John Entwistle sidelines his musical virtues in favour of his egregious sins against women – not least his wife
January 2020
2020 culture preview
Madonna, Motown and Mongolian metal: the music to listen out for in 2020
The queen of pop gets intimate, Taylor Swift feels the sunshine and Stormzy takes on the world … plus, classical celebrations begin for Beethoven’s 250th
November 2019
Alexis Petridis's album of the week
The Who: Who review – back and still causing a big sensation
Tommy review – Ken Russell's mad rock opera is a fascinating time capsule
October 2019
Brief letters
Tories subverting the music of protest
Brief letters: Forced to eat kasha | Catherine the Great | Derby County | Hands to dinner | The Who’s Baba O’Riley
