Who’s Tour Is On

Saying it’s better to mourn a fellow musician on stage than in private, the surviving members of the Who announced Friday that they will move forward with a U.S. tour despite the death this week of bassist John Entwistle. The first show will be at the Hollywood Bowl on Monday night.

“We are going on,” guitarist Pete Townshend said Friday via a short statement posted on his Web site. “First show Hollywood Bowl. Pray for us John, wherever you are.”

The decision to tour marked a dramatic reversal: In the hours after Entwistle was found dead Thursday in a Las Vegas hotel room, promoters for the Who tour were decisive in announcing that the road reunion would be canceled. Less than 24 hours later, though, the tour was reinstated with only two missed shows: the kick-off Las Vegas performance that had been scheduled for Friday night and the show that had been planned tonight at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Those shows will be rescheduled.

Longtime Who manager Bill Curbishley said Fridaythat the band’s tour will proceed “as a tribute to John Entwistle and to the loss of an irreplaceable friend.”

Promoter Andy Hewitt said it flashed through his mind Friday that some observers might consider it crass for the band to tour so soon after the death of a founding member.

“I thought about that for a moment, yes,” Hewitt said. “But whatever the band feels is appropriate is appropriate. And they feel strongly about this. What we’ve heard from Pete Townshend is that he could either mourn alone in his room or on stage, and from that standpoint, it makes perfect sense.”

Hewitt said plans were still pending Friday for Entwistle’s funeral services.

The Monday performance at the Hollywood Bowl will almost certainly be charged with intense emotion as the seminal British Invasion band performs for the first time with its original membership reduced to two, Townshend and lead singer Roger Daltrey. Drummer Keith Moon died in 1978 of drug overdose.

The band broke up for seven years in the 1980s, then reunited through the years in sporadic fashion for reunion and “farewell” tours, but the success of recent ventures had warmed the band’s often frosty internal politics to the point that the group planned to record together again, their first studio foray since 1982. It’s unknown what effect Entwistle’s death will have.

It was also not clear Friday who would play bass for the band on Monday night or beyond, although the name circulating among Who insiders is veteran session man Pino Palladino. The drummer for the tour is Zak Starkey, son of the former Beatle drummer Ringo Starr.

The death of Entwistle at age 57, apparently of a heart attack, saps the Who of a vital component of their signature sound, which in the 1960s and 1970s was hailed as a brawny, musically ambitious brand of rock.

Moon’s thunderous and adventurous drumming style and Entwistle’s innovative expansion of the bassist role combined with Townshend’s playing and songwriting and Daltrey’s caterwauling vocals to make the Who a band that for a time vied with the Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones as the most relevant rock voice of youth. The band is best known for its rock opera “Tommy” and songs such as “My Generation,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Pinball Wizard.” Entwistle’s almost comically rigid stage presence amid the frenetic performances of his bandmates often made him appear a disinterested tourist amid rock chaos, but fellow musicians hailed him as true innovator and masterful player. At the height of the Who’s powers, he was routinely cited as the best bass player in rock.

“He was unique and irreplaceable,” was the appraisal Friday by Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. “I am shocked and devastated.”

Entwistle apparently died in his sleep Thursday morning, just hours after he and his bandmates rehearsed. A tour assistant discovered his body in his room at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, the resort that was to have hosted the first show on the reunion tour.

The resort, which has a motif that celebrates classic rock heroes and memorabilia, has become the site of fan shrine to Entwistle. Many of the small tributes are addressed to “Ox,” the affectionate nickname for the bass player who performed like a taciturn beast of burden, and others cite Entwistle additions to the Who songbook, such as the macabre “Boris the Spider” and “The Quiet One.”

Details about the rescheduling of the shows in Irvine and Las Vegas are expected in upcoming weeks, and fans are directed to hold onto their tickets. Refunds will also be available at the point of purchase. On Friday, there were tickets still available for the Hollywood Bowl show on Monday night.

A film tribute to the Who previously scheduled for Sunday at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood has been converted into a memorial event for Entwistle. “The Kids Are Alright,” “Tommy” and “Listening to You” will be screened at the event, which begins at 2:30 p.m.

Entwistle, who had been married twice, is survived by one child, Christopher Entwistle. The statement released Friday by band manager Curbishley quoted the musician’s son as being a proponent of mounting the Who tour.

“He lived for music and will always live within the Who’s music,” Christopher Entwistle said in the statement. “This is what he would have wished and our love goes out to the remaining band members and the entourage that makes up the Who family.”