Pete Townshend is used to playing in front of stadiums filled with rabid fans who know every note of The Who’s songs. He didn’t get that at the band’s Super Bowl halftime performance, but he’s OK with that too.

Townshend and bandmate Roger Daltrey performed a medley of some of their most famous songs on entertainment’s biggest stage Sunday, including “Won’t Get Fooled Again” during a 12-minute set that included a laser-lit stage and plenty of fireworks.

While the crowd was involved, and some held up their cell phones to illuminate the night as instructed by the stadium announcers, they were somewhat subdued, and was clear it was not a Who event. Read the full story

The Who plan to present a medley of their classics at halftime of the Super Bowl. (Bradley Kanaris / Getty Images)

Pete Townshend, longtime guitarist for The Who, told Billboard magazine about the “compact medley” the band will be playing at Super Bowl XXIV at Sun Life Stadium.

The set was conceived by lead singer Roger Daltrey, along with Pete’s brother and longtime Who collaborator Simon Townshend, executive producer Ricky Kirschner and director Hamish Hamilton.
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Pete Townshend, in his familiar windmill on The Who's last tour. (AP)

Pete Townshend once wrote “I hope I die before I get old.”

Now the 64-year-old guitarist and songwriter for British rock band The Who says he is at work on a new stage musical about the aging process.

Townshend says Floss will focus on a pub-rock musician and his troubled relationship with his wife, who runs a riding stable.

He says he wants to use the angry medium of rock ‘n’ roll to take on issues of aging and mortality facing the baby boom generation.

Songs from Floss will feature on a new Who album due out next year,

Townshend says he is in talks with New York producers about staging the show in 2011.

Townshend’s previous “rock operas” include Quadrophenia and Tommy. Both started life as albums and later became films and stage musicals.

The artist: The Smithereens

The disc: The Smithereens Play Tommy (Koch)

The spin: Let’s start with the obvious question: Why? Why record 13 songs from The Who’s groundbreaking rock opera? What can a band of ’80s pop heroes offer that the Who’s original masterwork doesn’t? The answer is nothing. But The Smithereens Play Tommy does prove two things: How durable Pete Townshend’s music is and how talented a rock band the Smithereens are. It’s interesting to hear the group recreate Keith Moon’s rolling drums, Townshend’s and John Entwhistle’s ferocious guitars and the Who’s underrated harmonies, although Smithereens frontman Pat DiNizio can’t quite match Roger Daltrey’s Olympian yelp. By choosing only 13 songs from Tommy, the Smithereens wisely ignore the muddled storyline and simply rock. This may not be as quirky as Petra Haden’s a capella recreation of The Who Sell Out from a few years back, but it’s a lot of fun to listen to. The Smithereens sure play a mean pinball.

Download it now: Sparks, Amazing Journey, We’re Not Gonna Take It

The grade: A-

Listen to “I’m Free”:

Im Free – The Smithereens