UK Hyde Park reports

[bkawa@ix.netcom.com (Bruce Kawakami)]

The following was posted to the Who newsgroup:


Below are the reports from the on-line versions of the Daily telegraph
and the Times, reproduced without permission, but with thanks.
Cheers,
Jelly.
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Electronic Telegraph: 
Old rockers get ready to roll over for Prince's Trust 
By Tom Leonard 

THE dust was brushed off some of the oldest reputations in rock music
yesterday as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and The Who were named as main
attractions at a massive charity concert in Hyde Park this summer.

The organisers of Masters of Rock hope to attract 150,000 people, 
making it one of the biggest rock concerts and the first in the royal 
park for 20 years. The concert on June 29, which is in aid of the 
Prince's Trust, will also feature the first live performance of The 
Who's rock opera, Quadrophenia, by an ensemble of 20 musicians. 

Among them will be three of the band's founding members, their decision
to play together ending years of bickering. The band's drummer will be
Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr. 

Roger Daltrey, who as The Who's former lead singer once helped set new
standards of on-stage bad behaviour, said he was nervous about going
back on stage again. "It's a bit like going to the dentist. It's good
once you've done it," he told a news conference.

Pete Townshend, the band's guitarist, described the concert as "a 
chance to do something more adventurous than strum on my own". He 
rejected suggestions that the event was aimed at cashing in on the 
popularity of the current wave of British rock bands such as Oasis, 
Blur and Pulp. "It is not trying to capitalise on what other young 
bands are doing. We are not trying to compete," he said.

Praising the work of the Prince's Trust, he added: "I met a group of
kids in Covent Garden the other day who were musicians. And one of them
said 'We are in a band and we are trying to do melodies'. I asked how
they got going and they said they got a grant from the Prince's Trust."

The concert is expected to be the biggest one-day event since the 1978
concert at Blackbushe, near Sandhurst, Berkshire, at which Clapton and
Dylan both performed. It will be the main event of this year's National
Music Festival and is timed to coincide with the eve of the final in
Britain of the Euro '96 football championships.

Organisers said other star names would not be revealed before they
stepped on stage, although they will certainly include Alanis
Morissette. "I won't tell you their names in case they fail to appear,"
said Mr Townshend. Tickets, at UKP8, go on sale from Friday.

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Times On-line: Hyde Park's Rock of Ages

BOB DYLAN, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are to star in one of
the biggest rock spectaculars staged in Britain (Dalya Alberge writes). 

More than 150,000 people are expected to descend on Hyde Park,
London, on June 29, for the MasterCard Masters of Music Concert,
which will be televised live worldwide. Organisers believe it is the
second largest one-day rock event after the 1978 Blackbushe concert in
Hampshire. It will be the first rock show in Hyde Park since 1976, and
is timed to coincide with the final of the Euro 96 football
championship. 

John Entwistle, bass player with the Who, will join Daltrey and
Townshend and 20 other musicians to perform the rock opera
Quadrophenia. Townshend told a news conference at the Dorchester
hotel in London: "It is a very exciting moment. I don't feel I could
have done it on my own, without the founder members of the Who." Zak
Starkey, son of the former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, will perform
with the Who. 

Daltrey admitted that he was nervous: "It's a bit like looking forward
to going to the dentist - it's good once you've done it." The concert
will be in aid of the Prince's Trust.