Near the tail-end of the four-page interview, the site mentions The Beatles: Rock Band to Daltrey, who cuts straight to the bean spilling.

"The game, yeah, yeah, they're going to be doing a Who one next year. There is one planned. (The idea) is fabulous. Anything that gets non-musical people interested in music is wonderful. In my opinion, music is our last true great freedom. They can burn our books, they can burn our paintings, but they can't stop us singing and making music."

We've reached out to Harmonix for comment on this, but given their seemingly close relationship with The Who, it doesn't seem like a stretch to think they might make a standalone game with the band.

One catch is that The Who discography, with 27 top forty singles from 11 studio albums and nine live albums, isn't quite as deep as The Beatles' which includes 12 to 27 studio albums (depending on how you count them) and two live albums.

Update: According to a Rock Band spokesperson, "We're working closely with The Who on what's next, but don't have anything new to announce at this time."

Daltrey opens up on singing, life [Mass Live, thanks Pete]

By Brian Crecente

Last night Harmonix made E3 history, hosting a private concert at LA's historic Orpheum Theater with The Who. Frontmen Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend took the stage to the thunderous applause of the more than 1,000 invited guests. The front six rows of the venue were packed with hand-picked VIP.

We landed a seat front-row center next to MTV Multiplayer's Tracey John, GameLife's Chris Kohler and analyst Michael Pachter thanks to a bit of VIP pass flashing and general running when the door opened.

When the lights flared up Townshend and Daltrey were joined by keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick, bassist Pino Palladino, drummer Zak Starkey and guitarist Simon Townshend. The group worked through their music for an hour or two taking breaks to joke with the crowd and tease audience members.

At one point Townshend, who insisted on saying that Viacom was throwing the party, asked who in the audience was responsible for the color selection of the fret keys of the Rock Band guitars. When the designer, who was sitting in the front row, jumped up and waved his hands around, Townshend said the colors were awful.

Later Townshend said that everyone should buy their children the new Aerosmith Guitar Hero bundle, then a second later added, oh, that's the other one.

That's right, one of my bets came true. After the concert wrapped up a roadie throw out Starkey's drumsticks and I managed to snag one. Then, walking out of the venue I bumped into former AC/DC drummer Chris Slade and after talking to him for a few minutes, snagged a pic with him.
I think I can cross "best night ever" off my lists of things to do in my life.
Hit the jump to check out two very short video snippets of the group pumping out power rock. And then pause a moment for "it" which they totally killed with their curtain-dropping performance of Pinball Wizard.

• Amazing Journey
• Baba O'Riley
• Behind Blue Eyes
• Eminence Front
• Going Mobile
• Leaving Here
• My Generation (LIVE)
• Real Good Looking Boy
• Sea & Sand
• Summertime Blues (LIVE)
• Who Are You
• Young Man Blues (LIVE)

Sure, we could complain that "Bargain" master tracks seemingly didn't survive from "Who's Next", but we already have "Won't Get Fooled Again" and look forward to "Eminence Front." We'll take what we can get! Full press release after the jump. Thanks to Max for the heads up.

ROCK BAND™ TAKES FANS AND GAMERS ON AN AMAZING JOURNEY

There have been several important dates in the history of The Who: May 23, 1969 – Iconic rock album Tommy is released and rockets to No. 4 on the U.S. charts. May 31, 1976 – The Who’s second concert at Charlton football ground earns them an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the “world’s loudest rock band.” July 13, 1985 – The Who re-form to perform at Live Aid and whip Wembley Stadium into an absolute frenzy.

Now July 15, 2008 joins these dates as a dozen classic songs by The Who get new life as Rock Band™ game play. MTV Games and Harmonix announced today that even more of the legendary group's greatest hits will be added to the Rock Band catalog of downloadable content with the release of “The Best of The Who Rock Band Edition.”

“We’re really pleased to have our songs featured in Rock Band,” says Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who. “It allows our established fan base to interact with our music in a way that’s fresh and exciting, while also exposing our songs to new audiences.”

“I’m a fan of Rock Band,” says Who guitarist Pete Townshend. “I play the game with my son and girlfriend and love the way it brings different generations together through music. I like the idea that people of all ages will be having fun playing our songs.”

“The Who is consistently one of our most requested bands" says Paul DeGooyer, SVP Electronic Games and Music, MTV, "and it is great to be able to bring this unique compilation of their music to the Rock Band community.”

The 12 songs were selected by Harmonix and MTV Games after consulting with Townshend and Daltrey, who helped curate the track list. The downloadable tracks represent the meaty, beaty, big and bouncy best of The Who, including classics such as “Amazing Journey,”“Baba O'Riley,” “Sea & Sand,” three songs from the classic Live At Leeds album (including a special edited version of “My Generation”) and more.

Each track will be available for $1.99 per track (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) or $19.99 (1600 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for the entire collection of tracks.

The release of “The Best of The Who Rock Band Edition” coincides with the upcoming “VH1 Rock Honors” celebration honoring the legendary rock band. Premiering on Thursday, July 17 at 9pm on VH1, VH1 Classic and MHD, the show will celebrate The Who’s monumental legacy with a 2 hour tribute saluting the music and the lasting impact of this groundbreaking band. The influence of The Who will be felt through spoken tributes, filmed packages and performances by some of today’s premiere rock acts as well as the legends themselves. The night will feature tribute performances by Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, The Flaming Lips and Incubus as well as an electrifying grand finale performance from The Who.

Release date: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 (Xbox LIVE® Marketplace and PLAYSTATION®Store)

TRACKS: The Best of The Who Rock Band Edition”
“Amazing Journey”
“Baba O'Riley”
“Behind Blue Eyes”
“Eminence Front”
“Going Mobile”
“Leaving Here”
“My Generation” (LIVE)
“Real Good Looking Boy”
“Sea & Sand”
“Summertime Blues” (LIVE)
“Who Are You”
“Young Man Blues” (LIVE)
(All tracks utilize the original master recordings)

Price: $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) per track or $19.99 (1600 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for the entire collection of tracks.

Locations: Xbox LIVE Marketplace and PLAYSTATION®Network

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

With the addition of these tracks there are now more than 200 tracks available to date via disc and download purchase (complete list of tracks at http://www.rockband.com/dlc). Rock Band™ continues to fly off shelves and satisfy music fans and gamers’ voracious appetite for rock as more than 12 million downloads have been purchased since its launch on November 20, 2007. The Rock Band™ Music Store allows players to preview and purchase downloadable individual music tracks and packs from the vast selection of offerings available to date without ever leaving the game as they build their own custom Rock Band™ library.

Rock Band™ allows online play and features that expand the boundaries of music gaming. Rock Band™ downloadable content is playable and integrated into setlists in all game modes including: Solo Tour, Band World Tour, head-to-head competition either locally or online, and from any Quickplay mode. In order to play downloadable content for head-to-head matches or multiplayer online, all players must own the same downloadable track. Downloadable content for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft will be available for purchase via Xbox LIVE Marketplace using Microsoft Points and is downloaded directly to the Xbox 360 hard drive. Downloadable content for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system's version of Rock Band™ will be available for purchase on the PLAYSTATION®Store through the free PLAYSTATION Network and is downloaded directly to PLAYSTATION 3 system's built in hard drive.

Rock Band™ is rated "T" for Teen (lyrics, mild suggestive themes) by the ESRB.

For more information on Rock Band™ and Harmonix Music Systems please visit www.rockband.com and www.harmonixmusic.com

Commenter obsoleteshock on the Rock Band Forums read through a lengthy interview with Townshend and saw that the master copies for "an entire side" of Who's Next have been stolen, apparently. "Someone, somewhere, has it in a cupboard and is waiting for us to die? What then?" Townshend laments.

Yeah, Pete we're sorry and all but what about the gamers, mmkay? Without masters, that means no 5.1 DVD-Audio remix which means no Rock Band DLC. And obsoleteshock reasons that since "Won't Get Fooled Again" is out, the missing side is Side 1. That means classics like "Bargain" and "Baba O'Reilly" are not coming down the pipe, but perhaps "Behind Blue Eyes" will.

Who fans on the board were really looking forward to the former two, and are serving up resentment to Harmonix for not being clear about which songs they could count on. No one knows what it's like to be the bad man, to be the sad man ...

Dropping the Who's Next Bomb: A Sad, Sad Day