There’s a kind of excitement brewing. The press and news stations are starting to talk about The Who. Radio stations are beginning to give Substitute and My Generation air-time. Radio 2 is apparently going to play the new Who single today.

Fuck! Double-take on “The new Who single”. Who’d ever have thought that we would REALLY be waiting with baited breath for this? Since the re-union in Las Vegas in 1999, Pete has been throwing the burley trail out and teasing us with diary posts detailing the flowing of his creative juices and the fact that Roger and he have found a way to forge ahead, creatively, together. “Yeah, yeah” we all say. “Let’s just see if it happens and then I’ll believe it”.

Well, open your ears people. Shows are planned and booked. Tickets are being received across the country and it’s almost time for old friendships to be rekindled. Chewing the fat over what our hopes and fears are for The Who in this time of discovery. Discussing the merits of this latest material against RGLB & ORW from two years ago and ultimately trying to persuade people that there truly is merit for all the new activity alongside the Moon/Entwistle years. The exciting thing for me is going to be hearing what new sounds Pete has come up with; I remember seeing a diary video file he posted at the beginning of the year which showed him working in his studio – there were some truly amazing sounds being explored and then, at the end, Pete jamming on acoustic to a drum loop – I have a feeling that it was a little taster of what was to come. I “hope” that there is a good amount of electric guitar on there and that we’re not too heavily drowned in keyboards and synthesisers. I hope Roger is mixed well – I know his performances will be of the very highest quality and will lend his unique interpretation of Pete’s writing as only he can.

I would love for there to be a bass track that John laid down somewhere on there – perhaps that’s far too much to expect, but in these days of computer wizardry, I’m sure something could be worked around. It would have been great for Pete to perhaps have gotten hold of a track that John had planned for the John Entwistle Band and worked it into a number for the album; something of a nod to the fact that John had his place. A fitting tribute. Still, if you did that, you’d have to then try to find something from Keith, wouldn’t you……..?

Either way, I’m fucking excited about it. I can’t wait to take my friend and his finacee to Harewood House for their first taste of The Who. I hope to take my girlfriend to either Beaulieu or Hyde Park, but she’s a Robbie Willams fan, so there’s little hope of that!

“Got a feeling inside………..”