08 December 2011
Newsdesk
Middlesex University students are celebrating after creating stunning artwork for Roger Daltrey’s US and Canada tour of The Who’s “Tommy”, which has recently drawn to a close after eight weeks and 28 shows.
The tour has received glowing reviews praising the ‘striking visuals’ and the students’ artwork even featured on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
The iconic rock opera was given a fresh new look by the Middlesex students who provided their interpretations of The Who’s songs including ‘We’re not going to take it’ and ‘Pinball Wizard’. The group of students were given artistic freedom by Daltrey to create abstract and narrative visuals using a variety of methods including film, stop frame photography and 2d and 3d animation, which featured on a large screen behind the band.
The students from art, design and computing courses were selected after impressing Daltrey with their work created for a performance of Tommy at the Royal Albert Hall, London in March 2011, in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. This later went on a UK tour of 15 venues. Daltrey’s US Tour used some of the students’ existing artwork and they also created several new pieces. Bringing together students from different courses enabled the project to benefit from a broader range of techniques and skills.
Roger Daltrey said: "I gave the students my ideas about how I perceive Tommy. The way I see it is that we're ALL Tommy. I told them to feel it from the inside. And the stuff they came up with is absolutely wonderful."
