Watch the Who’s Dramatic 2013 Performance of ‘Quadrophenia’ – Premiere
The Who celebrated the 40th anniversary of their acclaimed 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia with a world tour, on which they played the album in its entirety with a few updated twists. They filmed their appearance on the final night of the tour at London’s Wembley Arena to commemorate the occasion. Now, the group is issuing video of the gig under the title Quadrophenia: Live in London on June 10th, and is premiering the film’s dramatic, historically enriched performance of the song “Quadrophenia” here.
The Who’s ‘Quadrophenia’ and the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The video is available in a variety of configurations, the most extravagant of which is a five-disc limited collector’s edition metal box that contains the film on Blu-ray or DVD, a two-CD soundtrack of the show and a 5.1 surround-sound mix of the original 1973 album in Blue-ray Pure Audio. It’s packaged in a 10-inch cylindrical box, painted with the Mod bull’s-eye logo they helped popularize on a Vespa SG scooter headlight. It also contains a Mod headlight sticker and a 32-page booklet.
Frontman Roger Daltrey helped the band updated the story of a Mod named Jimmy on their 2013 tour with archival footage of the Who at various stages in their career images of historical events that would have changed Jimmy’s life over the past four decades.
In 2011, the group put out a “director’s cut” of the album, complete with bonus tracks of singer-guitarist Pete Townshend‘s early recordings of the album’s songs as they were coming together. “I am really enjoying this work,” Townshend said at the time he was compiling it. “My demos are among the best I’ve ever done.”