The Who will kick off their Moving On! tour tomorrow night in Grand Rapids, Mich., and they're bringing an orchestra on the road with them.

To get fans ready, the band has released a couple of blog posts and videos that go inside rehearsals for the shows.

The clips were made by the band's keyboard technician, Brian Kehew. The first focuses on the Who working out "The Punk and the Godfather," "5:15" and "We're Not Gonna Take It." The second features conductor Keith Levenson leading the orchestra through a few other tracks, including "Love Reign O'er Me," "Baba O'Riley" and the "Helpless Dancer" theme from "The Rock."

In his blog post for the latter video, Kehew hints that "Eminence Front" and "Behind Blue Eyes" will be performed, even though set hasn't been finalized yet. You can see both videos below.

Levenson is being assisted by arranger David Campbell, who Kehew says "has been working specifically to get the orchestra to play like powerful rock musicians" so that "the horns or the strings to function like an electric guitar would – bolder notes, longer, bigger gestures."

The orchestra rehearsed twice on its own before getting together with the rest of the band this past weekend. Kehew notes that the orchestra won't perform during the entire concert, because "the only way to play some songs" is to have only the Who play them.

He noted that, per Roger Daltrey, the overall presentation will be scaled back, with the video cameras focusing more on the musicians rather than the "bouncing pinballs, spinning cards, swimming sharks or ’60s miniskirts" seen during past tours.

The stage, he added, includes "some elegant things to bring out moods, and it’s beyond what this band has had in the past. It will look cooler and more interesting visually, without losing exactly what is good about the band."

The Moving On! tour will consist of two North American legs, with the first running through June 1, when it concludes in Toronto. After taking the summer off, except for a date at London's Wembley Stadium on July 6, the Who will reconvene on Sept. 6 in St. Paul, Minn., and tour through Oct. 23, with a final date in Edmonton, Alberta.

You can see all the dates here.

 

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