The Who Announce Vintage Concert Series on YouTube

The Who may have been forced to delay their 2020 tour plans due to the pandemic, but they’re trying to make it up to fans by launching Join Together @ Home on YouTube this weekend. It’s a six-week series that will showcase “live and rarely seen footage, mini videos and special screen footage, culminating with a performance from a previously unreleased show,” according to a press release.

The series kicks off on Saturday August 8th at 1:00 pm EST with five songs from the Who’s 1982 show at Shea Stadium, a legendary gig from their “farewell” tour that featured the Clash as their opening act. It will begin with a “red carpet premiere clip from Roger Daltrey.” The videos will be free of charge, but viewers will be encouraged to donate to the Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America.

Late last year, the Who released Who, their first collection of original material since 2006’s Endless Wire and only their second since 1982’s It’s Hard. They supported it with a tour where they were backed by local symphonies and a set that was heavy on tunes from Tommy and Quadrophenia.

The Who kicked off 2020 by celebrating the 50th anniversary of their historic show at Leeds University, playing a series of intimate, acoustic concerts at PRYZM in London. It was meant to be the kickoff event for a big year, but everything else was delayed due to the pandemic. Their plan now is to resume touring in March 2021 with a run of European arena dates, but that is obviously contingent on the live music business resuming by that point.

The band has yet to announce any of the subsequent videos for the Join Together Youtube series, but they have been filming select concerts going back to the Sixties and have an extensive vault.