The Who Toronto Tickets

In 1988 The Who was honoured with the British Phonographic Industry's Lifetime Achievement Award. The Who played a short set at the award ceremony (which is the last time Kenney Jones has worked with The Who to date). In 1989 they embarked on a 25th anniversary "The Kids Are Alright" reunion tour which emphasised Tommy. Long time Townshend collaborator Simon Phillips played drums during the tour, with Steve "Boltz" Bolton playing lead guitar, as Townshend revealed that The Who had incurred massive hearing problems and would largely be relegated to strumming on acoustic guitar. A horn section and backing singers were added to the lineup making The Who seem like nothing more than a Vegas sideshow act. The Who tour was trashed by the media and many fans as well, not to mention The Who themselves. Also, for the first time, The Who would play Townshend solo material live. Demand for tickets was phenomenal, inspiring Newsweek to say, " The Who tour is special because, after the Beatles and the Stones, they're IT." There were massive sellouts in stadiums throughout North America, including a four-night stand at Giants Stadium. In all, over two million tickets were sold. The Who tour included two performances of Tommy. The Who first in New York, and the second at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, with special guests Elton John, Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Patti LaBelle, and Steve Winwood. Though the tour was a huge money maker, it left a bad taste, particularily for Townshend. A dreadful 2-CD live album Join Together was released to poor sales in 1990, limping to #188 in the US. Townshend also badly injured himself at a show in Tacoma, WA on Aug. 16, 1989 when The Who gashed open The Who's hand during one of The Who's famous windmill moves (by this point of the tour The Who was starting to play more electric guitar in the latter half of the shows). His hand hit the tremolo bar on the guitar and The Who started bleeding badly and was rushed to the hospital--the show was completed without him.
In 2004 The Who released two new songs, "Old Red Wine" and "Real Good Looking Boy" (with Pino Palladino and Greg Lake, respectively, on bass guitar), as part of a singles anthology ( The Who tour: Then and Now), and went on an 18-date world tour, playing Japan, Australia, the UK and the US. Again, all shows were released on CD, as part of Encore Series 2004. The Who band also headlined the Isle of Wight Festival that year and received the usual ecstatic reviews. Also that year, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked The Who #29 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
The Who were honoured at the 2009 VH1 Rock Honors in Los Angeles. Taping of the show took place 12 July, followed by a network broadcast on the 17th.