The Who Tour 2006–2007 was The Who's first worldwide concert tour since 1997, supporting their Endless Wire album.
History
In December 2005, Rolling Stone magazine announced that The Who would be touring in the summer of 2006, visiting Australia, Canada, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In advance of their new Endless Wire album release, the band embarked on a 24-date European tour followed by their first world tour, their first shows since their short 2004 tours and brief performance at Live 8 in 2005. Members of the group's 2002 and 2004 line-up remained, namely Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend but also including keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick (due to the illness of his wife, replaced on 25 shows over two legs of the tour by his keyboard tech, Brian Kehew), bassist Pino Palladino, drummer Zak Starkey and guitarist/backup vocalist Simon Townshend. Opening acts featured on the worldwide tour included The Casbah Club, Peeping Tom, moe., Inward Eye, Rose Hill Drive, The Pretenders, and The Tragically Hip.
It was announced at short notice that the opening gig of the tour would be at the University of Leeds Refectory on 17 June, the same venue at which the band recorded the Live at Leeds album in 1970. Tickets to this particular show were sold in person only from the Leeds University Union, with sales limited to two tickets per person. Before the concert Daltrey and Townshend unveiled a blue plaque to commemorate the recording of Live at Leeds at the same venue 36 years before. The show was so greatly anticipated that the BBC covered the story, both on the day of the concert and the day after, including interviews with audience members as they were leaving the performance.
In July, the group played a number of music festivals around the UK, including the second day of Hyde Park Calling, a concert to celebrate the twenty year anniversary of the Hard Rock Cafe, on 2 July, Oxegen in Ireland on 8 July, and T in the Park in Scotland on 9 July. When The Who performed at Hyde Park Calling, they were joined by Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond to test vans. The episode was broadcast on 30 July 2006.
Shows from the entire European tour were broadcast online at the band's website. Video streaming company Streaming Tank were in charge of broadcasting the concerts, headed up by the technical team for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. This was the first attempt by any band to broadcast entire shows via the Internet since the Pixelon-sponsored "Vegas Job" (later released on DVD as The Vegas Job) in October 1999, which had been the band's first attempt at live broadcasting over the internet. Most of the European shows were preceded in the broadcast by an episode of the web TV program, In The Attic, presented by Rachel Fuller and Mikey Cuthbert. At festivals such as the O2 Festival in Leeds, the opening artists for The Who appeared as guests on the show once they came off stage.
On 12 September, The band opened the first leg of the North American tour in Philadelphia at the Wachovia Center, then later appeared at the BBC's Electric Proms and on the Parkinson before returning to the United States. The second North American leg concluded in Columbus, Ohio on 11 December.
The group spent most of the first half of 2007 touring again, starting with a return trip to North America that began on 23 February in Reno, Nevada and ended on 26 March in Hollywood, Florida, followed by the band's Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 31 March. An extensive trip through various parts of the United Kingdom and Europe began in Lisbon, Portugal on 16 May and concluded in Helsinki, Finland on 9 July. The band also did a one-off show on 6 October at Messegelände in Hanover, Germany to celebrate the International Volkswagen Minibus Meeting. The band also flew to South Africa to do another 46664 concert to celebrate World AIDS Day.