The Who’s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend have announced dates for the second leg of The Who Hits Back! tour. 

At each stop, the band will be joined on stage by a local orchestra, adding a unique element to the experience. 

Along with Daltrey and Townshend, The Who’s live band consists of Townshend’s younger brother, guitarist/backup singer Simon Townshend, keyboardist Loren Gold, second keyboardist Emily Marshall, bassist Jon Button, drummer Zak Starkey, and vocalist Billy Nicholls. 

There are three stops scheduled in our region beginning with Oct. 4 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, followed by Oct. 9 at the Schottenstein Arena in Columbus, Ohio, and Oct. 12 at Chicago’s United Center. 

Mike Campbell and The Dirty Knobs will open the dates.

Arcade Fire visiting Chicago

Arcade Fire have announced a tour in support of their latest album, We, their sixth studio album to date. 

The tour begins in Europe and finds its way to North America in late October with Beck opening each date by playing a special acoustic set. 

There is just one scheduled show in our area, Nov. 11 at the United Center in Chicago, so if you want to see them, hopefully that day works out, or you will have to wait until they come around the next time.

Alter Bridge back on the road

Alter Bridge will release their seventh studio album, Pawns & Kings, on Oct. 14, but will not hit the road until 2023 when they will visit The Fillmore in Detroit on Valentine’s Day, The Murat in Indianapolis on Feb. 15, and The Riviera Theatre in Chicago on Feb. 18. 

The tour will mark the first time Alter Bridge has toured in three years, so they made it a “must see” tour by adding Mammoth WVH, the band featuring Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang Van Halen, and veteran rockers Red as opening acts.

Stryper calls off tour

Stryper canceled part of their scheduled tour in support of their upcoming album, The Final Battle, including a scheduled stop at Eagles Theatre in Wabash on Sept. 13. 

The partial cancellation results from something a lot of us probably haven’t thought about in this post-COVID touring cycle: a lack of buses and people to drive them. 

In a statement posted online, frontman Michael Sweet also blamed the current economic state of the world as a factor in the band’s decision, saying, “It is with a heavy heart that we are postponing most of our September tour dates to the Spring/Summer of 2023. Unfortunately, there were some economic cards stacked against us. Anyone in the music business will tell you about the Tour Bus and Labor shortage out there. We’re feeling it first-hand. The Tour Bus business is like the housing market right now with 10 times more bands trying to rent buses than are available. And you’ve seen the cost of gas lately. When you’re putting 10,000+ miles on a bus, as we were planning to do, gas prices absolutely matter for a tour like ours. 

“We could go down the line with half-a-dozen other reasons that played into this decision. Sometimes you just have to trust your gut and make the best decisions you can, given the information at hand. And that’s what we’ve done.”