Pete Townshend Talks Makeup with the Spice Girls
The Who‘s Pete Townshend has penned a lengthy update on his summer activities, and reveals that arguably the band’s biggest moment of the summer months almost didn’t happen.
He writes, “The Olympics gig nearly didn’t happen for us – Roger (Daltrey) and I weren’t certain that two old geezers should be there singing about our generation, but I’d so glad we did it. The day itself was immense fun.”
Townshend said of the ceremony, “It felt like being a part of a great circus, with ballet dancers, mime artists, street-party trucks and literally thousands of workers. The Spice Girls were in the dressing room next door and seemed so happy to be there, looking spectacular, practicing their vocals (and really singing by the way) and sharing make-up bags. I got a few tips. Liam Gallagher and his mates in Beady Eye were mooching about, as were the guys from Kaiser Chiefs (who played ‘Pinball Wizard’ and were glad to hear I approved).”
Townshend said the ceremony provided the opportunity to see old friends like Eric Idle, Mike Rutherford, Roger Taylor, Brian May, Nick Mason, Kate Moss, and Kate Hudson among others, though he missed out on crossing paths with George Michael and Ray Davies. The guitarist joked, “That might be a good thing. They’re probably fed up by now with me exalting them both to high heaven.”
In other Townshend news, Pete says he just finished the audiobook for his upcoming memoirs this past week, with the book being accepted by his publisher two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, he’s left the video presentation for the upcoming Who ‘Quadrophenia’ tour in the hands of Daltrey, and can’t wait to see what the singer and his team come up with. The trek launches Nov. 1 in Sunrise, Fla. At the same time, Townshend’s partner Rachel Fuller is working on the orchestration of ‘Quadrophenia’ for a large orchestra and choir, and he reveals they recently had a meeting with Hans Zimmer, who is having his team work with Fuller.