The Who hit New York City tonight (December 5th), but for those outside of the Big Apple a performance taped on Sunday night (December 2nd) from the band's Nashville performance will be aired tonight on CBS' The Grammy Nominations Concert Live. As with all their tours over the past decade, the Who's band -- second guitarist and Pete Townshend's younger brother Simon Townshend, bassist Pino Palladino, and drummer, and Ringo Starr's son, Zak Starkey -- are receiving raves for how they're handling the deeply complicated Quadrophenia material the Who is tackling in concert on this tour.

Simon Townshend, who is 15 years younger than Pete and was a die-hard Who fan growing up, was lucky enough to see the Who an incredible 36 times with Keith Moon on drums. He told us that a new Who single was always an incredible thrill for him as a kid: "I'd be at school, listening to the radio and I didn't even know the Who had a record out. I'd be listening to the radio in. . . we have these guys that look after the school playground, called 'janitors,' and I'd be in there 'cause I used to hang out with them and listen to the radio and if a track would come on, and I liked it, I'd hope it was the Who. I'd hope it was them. And that happened with 'Join Together' and it happened with 'Pinball Wizard.' But with 'Pinball Wizard,' I think I knew it was them. 'Join Together,' I couldn't work it out whether it was, or not."

• Simon Townshend, along with Zak Starkey, entered the Who via Roger Daltrey's solo band. Simon admits that he's been close to Daltrey ever since he was a boy: "I always loved Roger. Roger was the one I could run up to and cuddle. I couldn't run up and cuddle Moonie, I couldn't run up and cuddle Pete, I couldn't run up and cuddle John (Entwistle), but I could run up and cuddle Roger. He's a dear friend, really, Rog."
• CBS' hour-long The Grammy Nominations Concert Live special airs tonight (December 5th) at 10 p.m. Check your local listings for stations.
  
  
• The Who tour dates (subject to change):
  December 5 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden Arena
  December 6 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
  December 8 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center
  December 9 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
  December 12 - New York, NY - A Concert For Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden
  January 28 - Anaheim, CA - Honda Center
  January 30 - Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center
  February 1 - Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena
  February 2 - Reno, NV - Reno Events Center
  February 5 - San Diego, CA - Valley View Casino Center
  February 6 - Glendale, AZ - Jobing.com Arena
  February 8 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel / Casino
  February 12 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
  February 14 - Tulsa, OK - BOK Center
  February 16 - Louisville, KY - KFC Yum! Center
  February 17 - Columbus, OH - Schottenstein Center
  February 19 - Hamilton, ON - Copps Coliseum
  February 21 - Uniondale, NY - Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
  February 22 - Atlantic City, NJ - Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall
  February 24 - Manchester, NH - Verizon Wireless Arena
  February 26 - Providence, RI - Dunkin' Donuts Center

SIDE NOTES

• A new 15-track Who compilation is available at Starbucks stores as part of their ongoing "Opus Collection." The disc features several rarities, including "I'm The Face" -- their 1964 debut single as the High Numbers, "Our Love Was" -- a deep cut off 1967's The Who Sell Out album, and "We're Not Gonna Take It" being the only representation from 1969's Tommy. Five out of the nine tracks from 1971's Who's Next are featured on the album -- "Getting In Tune," "Baba O'Riley," "Bargain," Won't Get Fooled Again," and "Behind Blue Eyes."
• The tracklisting to the Starbucks exclusive The Who: Opus Collection is: "I'm The Face," "Happy Jack," "Substitute," I Can't Explain," "Our Love Was," I Can See For Miles," "Magic Bus," "We're Not Gonna Take It," "Getting In Tune," "Baba O'Riley," "Bargain," Won't Get Fooled Again," "Behind Blue Eyes," "Squeeze Box," and "Who Are You."

CHECK IT OUT: The Who live in Pittsburgh on November 11th, performing "Cut My Hair" and "The Punk And The Godfather":

Simon Townshend On Hearing The Who On The Radio As A Kid
Simon Townshend On Roger Daltrey