The Who is preceding its 2025 North American farewell trek, dubbed “The Song Is Over” tour, with a pair of concerts in Italy this week. To celebrate the start of the outing, the band has launched a special video series featuring unique piano interludes that the group’s touring keyboardist, Loren Gold, created as introductions to The Who’s classic 1973 power ballad “Love Reign O’er Me.”
Videos by American Songwriter
Gold has been playing introductory piano interludes to “Love Reign O’er Me” at Who concerts for years. In a new message posted on The Who’s official website, guitarist Pete Townshend explained that he got the idea for the video series after hearing Loren play one of his prelude inventions during a show in 2022.
“I was hugely moved by it and suggested that Who fans might like to hear and see a video version of it on our website,” Townshend shared. “Brian Kehew (our stage technician and blogger) worked with Loren to make videos of twelve of these inventions that I am delighted to share with you here, one per week during the coming tour.”
Pete revealed that the piece that inspired the series was first performed at a 2022 concert in Jacksonville, Florida. Townshend also pointed out that he incorporated the piano interlude into “a pas de deux dance scene” featured in the new ballet inspired by The Who’s 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia that recently was presented in various London venues.
The first video performance, dubbed “Invention #1,” can be viewed now at The Who’s YouTube channel.
More About the “Love Reign O’er Me” Piano Introductions
Townshend concluded his message by asking fans to let the band know “which of these twelve lovely piano pieces is your favourite.”
He added, “They all most certainly shout out for song lyrics. … A gift for the Song Is Over tour.”
The first video premiered between with The Who’s July 20 concert near Padua, Italy, and their July 22 show in Milan. The North American trek kicks off August 16 in Sunrise, Florida, and runs through a September 28 performance in Las Vegas.
Kehew’s Message About the Piano Interludes and the Video Series
Kehew also posted details about the video series an installment of his “Backstage Blog” feature on TheWho.com. He noted that he and Gold had been working on the videos, which he referred to as “a secret project,” since The Who’s 2024 concerts.
Brian also gave some background on the history of Gold’s piano interludes, while noting that at Who concerts, they give Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey the chance to “get set before ‘Love Reign O’er Me,’ a song which is often a peak moment in the show.”
Kehew explained that Townshend initially had wanted to record Gold’s piano pieces for a special album release. Instead, Pete eventually settled on the idea of a video series.
Kehew reported Townshend “commissioned Loren to create some recordings in his own home studio, which has a fine grand piano right in the middle.” He added, “I was brought along to record it, and as I’ve had some success with video work, too, I offered to film each.”
Over the last several months, Gold and Kehew collaborated on the 12 videos.
“We have a nice range of relatively-brief compositions to be featured on The Who website,” he noted. “Each has a different mood, a different look and showcases Loren’s beautiful styles and ideas. A few are tied to specific shows we did on the last tour, others are bespoke creations for this project. We certainly hope you’ll enjoy them.”
In 2009, Gold began playing keyboards with Daltrey’s solo band. He’s been a member of The Who’s touring band in 2012.
(Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage)
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.