Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

The Who to rock International Celebration of 60 years of Volkswagen Vans

• Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles

Hanover, 5 October, 2007. One of the most successful rock bands of all time will perform at an International event to celebrate 60 years of Volkswagen vans at the Hanover Exhibition Centre this weekend. The spirit of the untamed 1960s and 70s will be revived amidst five generations of Volkswagen Transporter vans and buses when Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey take to the stage.

‘We look forward to being part of a real cult event that is right up our alley, and we intend to rock Hanover,’ says Pete Townshend, the band’s creative mastermind.

‘I own a Volkswagen Bus together with my partner Rachel Fuller. And we used Volkswagen Buses as transport in our very early days as a band. It was the cool thing to do,’ the artist reminisced. ‘It was a mobile hippy home, cult on wheels, and today, still, the Multivan is a great automobile.’

‘Rock legend, The Who, is tailor-made for the Volkswagen van and the special relationship between the two legends has been mirrored in several of their songs. We are thrilled that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, can be associated with this rock-group,” comments Harald Schomburg, member of the board of management of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

Volkswagen Van and Bus owners attending the event can look forward to the evening’s live gig, when The Who performs hits like ‘My Generation’, ‘Magic Bus’, ‘Who are you’, ‘Can’t explain’ and ‘Going Mobile’.

Information and photographs will be available from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles following the event.


For further info please contact:

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles

Contact:John Rawlings, Press and Public Relations Manager
Phone:+44 1908 601478
Fax:+44 7872 379544
Email: john.rawlings@vwcv.co.uk

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles News Centre

About Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles:

The Volkswagen Transporter van is an icon and over 10 million have been produced. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles range now includes the Caddy, Transporter and Crafter van ranges, plus the Caravelle MPV and California campervan, all available from its dedicated, nationwide network of Van Centres in the UK. For full information, or to find your nearest retailer, go to www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk.

About The Who:

As an icon of the Mod movement, The Who was an influential force in the British invasion of the international music scene. In the starting years, its music and its image saw The Who, along with the Rolling Stones, representing a more aggressive type of British rock than that of the Beatles. The concept albums ‘Tommy’ and ‘Quadrophenia’ then turned the band into a legend.

It was these ambitious rock operas that helped the English band to achieve international fame. ‘Tommy’, the album, was launched in 1969 – the era of the T2 series Volkswagen Bus first introduced in 1967 – and tells the story of deaf, dumb and blind Tommy Walker.

In contrast, ‘Quadrophenia’, an album produced in 1973, is a retrospective on the roots of the band, focusing back on the rivalry between Mods and Rockers. The film of the same name came to the screen in 1979. This story describes the life of Jimmy, a lonely young Mod, and the turmoil he experiences during his transition to adulthood. ‘Quadrophenia’ is considered to aptly portray the situation of English youths growing up in the mid-60s and severely lacking direction. It was on the back of the reverberating success of both these projects that The Who secured its reputation as one of the most influential rock bands of all time.