EXTRA EXTRA,READ ALL ABOUT IT !
LATEST NEWS
January 3rd 2022
After 40 years of touring all over the world, including several tours coast to coast of Canada, USA, Germany, The Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland & Wales,+ headlining The Who conventions in 2003, 2006, 2010 in London England, and also 2003 in Germany.
We’ve played a ton of festivals for crowds up to 35,000+ on a regular basis, and also opening for acts such as Blue Oyster Cult, Foghat, Burton Cummings of The Guess Who, and Paul Rodgers (Bad Co) in 2017, and Roger Daltrey (the 2006 WHO convention).
We feel after 40 years it’s time to hang up the twirling mics, put away the smashed drums & guitars, and even Boris the spider.
So come ‘Join Together’ and celebrate, not only 40 years of
The Wholigans , but a celebration of the band who we owe a huge debt of gratitude to – The Who.
Long Live Rock
& remember
Once a Wholigan, Always a Wholigan
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..Old news
2021
attendance record of 1,238,456
(Over 100,000 per day)
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Possibly our one and only show this year due to that virus whatchmacallit going around, WHO Knows ?
Rescheduled ……AGAIN to March 20th 2021
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Friday August 28th Cancelled by the city of Daytona
Friday Night Concert Update: The Friday night concert series continues to be postponed. Any tickets purchased for the Friday night shows will be refunded automatically.
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July 2nd 2020
August 28th ……See here
May 11th 2020
WHO KNOWS ?
We’d love to be able to tell you all of our 2020 gigs are going ahead as planned………..BUT, you know the story 😥
We have (had) gigs booked in May,June,July,August and September, but until the industry lets us and the venues know what’s what ,our hands are tied.
When we know …you’ll know.
The world is an empty stage without live music.
We miss playing and trashing for all of you Wholigans , hopefully we’ll see you soon.
Gotta feeling 21 is gonna be a good year. 😎
Until then here’s a video montage to remind you of auto destruction Wholigans style.
March update
In regards to ALL of us hurting at this time ,I’d just like to add this for my “working” musician friends.
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The Wholigans had a decent paying gig today March 21st which was cancelled obviously, and it won’t effect us ‘that’ badly….BUT most musicians are hurting big time because of this virus.
The musician world also includes all the crews that help make it happen (for the bigger bands), all your bar waitstaff etc etc etc, the list goes on
Not all of us are big bucks touring rockstars who can afford to wait it out.
Most musicians have no health care, or 401k’s ,no Jaguar in the driveway, and no bank wants to loan a musician money .
If the regular folk knew just exactly what it takes to do what we do ,and what regular musicians sacrifice for their art, you’d be shocked.
I don’t know if you have ever noticed when a musician is sick or dies ,but there usually is a benefit.
Regular musicians have always been at the bottom of the financial ladder ,we are revered by many….except when ‘we need the many’
I’m not whining for me (The Wholigans) as our playing 7 days a week are over, but I have many friends who’ live it’ EVERY day.
I know some of you readers are thinking Boo fuckin Hoo ‘I’m hurting too’ ,which I am on your side 100% ,but your average musician suffers in poverty ‘with or without’ a fucking virus.
We have stories you wouldn’t believe ,not all of us are Rock Stars.
If you can help your local musician in ‘Any way’..DO IT !
We will be there when you need us.
Even if you can’t give anything today, please give your appreciation next time you see us on the street ,in the bars, busking in the subway, wherever.
thanks.
Barry
‘I’m a Substitute for another Guy’
😎
Friday Feb 14th
Barry will be singing with NY Who tribute
‘ Who’s Next’
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Buffalo Nov 8th photos and videos are on ourfb page.
Two Florida shows added for 2020, see ‘Tour Dates‘
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Oct
The Who played Tampa Florida in September and Barry & Mark were there backstage.
Read Barry’s review on PeteTownshend.net
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…………………………………………………………………………Backstage with Billy Nicholls & Loren Gold (behind Barry)
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Last show for 2019 November in Buffalo NY.
New 2020 shows added (more to come)
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July 12th Kitchener Ontario, & August 10th Ottawa Canada
Bassist since 1986 Dave ‘Gater’ Smith
& drummer since 1988 Darren Atkinson return after a few years hiatus , after successfully battling cancer. 🙂
See The Wholigans ‘Family Tree’ here.
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February 2019
New Canadian shows added, with more tba.
See here
New video
37 years of Wholiganism
1982-2019…..& counting
August 2019 is the 50th anniversary of WOODSTOCK, and we are booked.
The entire year will be a huge celebration of the festival that changed the world.
Peace… man .
Tour dates
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December 2018
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2018 Saturday Sept 8th Daytona Beach Florida
Bill Canell on guitar.
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Radio ad for the Vietnam Veterans show April 21st.
Here’s a radio interview Barry did February 7th
(at 8am) with radio station Wind FM in Ocala for the Saturday Feb 10th at the Reilly Arts Center.
It’s in 2 parts, albeit 2 brief segments ,followed by an ad for the show with us playing in the background (‘not’ The Who)
January 22nd
WIN free tickets to our Feb 10th show in Florida.
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December 10th
Well, what a thrill it was opening for Paul Rodgers for crowds of 15,000+, we have several videos with great footage here
and a fb album full of photos here 
Also here is some backstage footage of Paul
https://youtu.be/2B5W2QfpUr8
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Our Video page has a ton of new videos from that gig, + there are a couple of others worth scrolling down for, from Daytona in August 2017.
New ‘Tour Dates’ for 2018 .
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‘Goodnight Keith Moon’ …..a story for Keith on our video page.
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October
The Wholigans are excited to announce that we will be opening for Paul Rodgers
(Free ,The Firm, Queen, Bad Co )
at the 2017 St Petersburg Ribfest ,
Friday Nov 10th
See ‘Tour Dates’ for more details.
http://ribfest.org/main-stage/
Photos from our Woodstock gig on our fb page
(click for link)
Video of the Woodstock show by Lucy Piller
If you were wondering why you haven’t seen our other drummer Darren for a while, it’s because he’s been really busy as the managing director for Hiwatt UK.
There are plans for Darren to return to the kit in 2018, as well as Jim of course.
Once a Wholigan, Always a Wholigan.
Here he is in China recently goo.gl/puAFUB
September 30th
New shows added:
Oct 27th Georgia
March 2018 West Palm Beach Florida
July 12th
We just finished a weeks worth of shows travelling up and down the USA, from Asheville NC to New Hope PA to Niagara Falls NY and to Daytona beach Florida.
Here is one of many videos (more on our fb page) and soon to be on our video page.
Baba O’Riley
The Wholigans 2017 C from Dino Paspalakis on Vimeo.
The Wholigans Hit 35 !
We are celebrating our 35th Anniversary
1982-2017
(& like The Who we are STILL going & going & going..)
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We want to thank all of you ‘Wholigans’ worldwide who have come to see us from day one in Toronto and around the world,from the UK to Germany,USA, the EU, and especially Canada where we started.
A lot has happened in 35 years, we wish we could list it all, but we just wanted to thank you ..fans of The Who for accepting us into your WHO family.
We have headlined WHO conventions in London England in 2003/2006/2010 and in Germany 2003, along with Barry singing as well at the 2013 convention, along with many memorable tours and crazy road stories !
But of course our biggest thanks goes out to THE WHO,
Messrs
Roger Daltrey
Keith Moon
John Entwistle
and the maestro himself ….
Mr. Peter Townshend
Thank you for the music that made us strong.
WHO ARE THE WHOLIGANS
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WE ARE ALL WHOLIGANS.
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1982
Here is our 1st poster, done without the aid of a computer
(as there weren’t any personal computers or cell phones available back then)
We used an old fashioned rub on lettering called ‘Letraset’ .
YES…we are ‘THAT’ old !!!!! 🙄
ps: That’s a really bad Paul Stanley (Kiss) black wig, sprayed “blonde’ with a can of actual spray paint (bad idea)
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2017 with Barry’s ‘REAL’ hair
See more photos from waaaay back when, here on FB.
and https://thewholigans.com/wholigan-history/
Here are some videos from around 1985 or so
We can’t find any footage from 1982 until 1985, but I’m sure there is some out there ‘somewhere’, so if you have some please contact us at theband@thewholigans.com or not , depending on how bad it is !!! 😯
Here is the latest footage from late 2016,
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Daytona July 2016
The Wholigans a from Dino Paspalakis on Vimeo.
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.We look forward to seeing you in 2017 and beyond, LONG LIVE ROCK !!!!!!!!!!
2017 videos coming soon, see ‘Tour Dates’
You can see all of our 180 videos from the 80’s until now here or on our video page .
The reason why we do, what we do.
Courtesy of Rock Honors: The Who from Dylan Sanford on Vimeo.
Dylan who is the Director of Photography ,allowed us to use his footage.
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December 6th
New video from November 26th in North Carolina ,see our video page.
The Wholigans make the New York Times crossword puzzle.
55 down , clue :Dread Zeppelin & The Wholigans
http://www.newyorktimescrosswordanswers.com/dread-zeppelin-and-the-wholigans/
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November
Listen at noon each day to win tickets for our final show of 2016 , Saturday Nov 26th in NC.
http://1059themountain.com/
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Canadian shows Sept 10th & 11th photo’s and video up on our Facebook page in Albums.
Next show Oct 8th St Petersburg Florida
August
Daytona August 13th was a blast for 5000+ Wholigans
See photo’s and videos on our FB page
New shows in …..
Canada in September
Florida show Oct 8th, details tba
North Carolina in November
Niagra Falls NY
see Tour Dates
July
April
Videos from April 16th
More videos of
Happy Jack/ Substitute / I Can’t Explain & The Seeker + A Quick One here
Play St Petersburg see here for more info
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New Daytona beach show announced (see ‘tour dates’)
Tom Wright needs our help.
We have an offer to play Hong Kong at the end of this year (watch this space)
Interested venues/promoters please email bookings@thewholigans.com for more details.
Minimum approx 300 capacity venues .
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March
Roger Daltrey & Pete Townshend have signed numerous items for an upcoming auction, as has Joe Walsh who also has agreed to provide funding for Toms homecare.
https://www.gofundme.com/bzmqf49t
Tom is a great friend of The Wholigans & The Who, and many others, and he has helped us all at some point ,so now I ask Wholigans of all walks to help Tom.
Tom is responsible for much ‘more than you’ll ever know’ with regards to our favourite band The Who.…
Tom Wright’s history goes back to the early 60s when he was flat mates with Pete Townshend during their years at Ealing Art College, a few years later, he was The Who’s road manager on one of their first North American tours.
From there, he went on to work with the likes of Joe Walsh, The Rolling Stones, Faces and many others.
In addition to his work on the road, he’s a brilliant photographer, his photographic work mostly consisted of the artists that he had worked with.
Conjuring some of the most celebrated and beloved photography in Rock n’ Roll, he was able to pull them all together in a book: Roadwork: Rock & Roll Turned Inside Out.
Pete Townshend & Roger Daltrey ,Joe Walsh, Ted Nugent, Rod Stewart,MC5 and many others could fund this campaign in a millisecond, and with your help in sharing we could make this happen.
So make sure that message gets out Wholigans.
Please share this post.
Be sure to visit https://www.facebook.com/TheWholigansAtributeToTheWho/ for more info.
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Barry appears on Fox 96.7 with Ryan Downs Thursday Oct 22nd 8.20am promoting Cooterfest on Sat Oct 24th.
https://soundcloud.com/user-989597781/the-wholigans-barryroger-on-fox-967
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Dave ‘Gater’ Smith retires after 30 years of Wholiganism.
Since 1986 Dave has been using his Thunderfingers to drive The Wholigans sound, and not without some madness along the way.
Rather than words, here are a few videos from over the years to best describe Gater.
Eminence Front 1986
Young man blues 1989 (we think)
Who are you 2013
Full Toronto Show 2012
2003 The Who Convention London England
Read about Dave ‘Loogan for Life’ here https://thewholigans.com/john/
Once a Wholigan, Always a Wholigan.
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We just played 2 great nights in Toronto at ‘The Duke’ in Toronto on Oct 16th, and at the ‘Cadillac Lounge’ on the 17th.
Both shows were attended by lots of ‘Wholigans’ who had seen the band in the early 80’s,thank you for your allegiance, you crazy nuts !
Here is a review written by Anne Marie Klein who saw us on Friday at ‘The Duke’
http://therockofpages.com/…/rocktober-guest-post-from…/
Anne is the author of a series of novels titled ‘Behind Blue Eyes’, and we were featured in the first edition.
http://behindblueeyes.ca/
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September 26th
October dates in Canada and Florida here
Barry sings the USA national anthem July 23rd in Orlando
9.30 in the bleedin morning !
Who in their right mind sings at that time of day 🙄
or see the warm up at 9am (Warning 1, count em…one) naughty word
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Atlantic city video from May here on fb .
September 19th
We just played a 1 off gig in Toronto/Etobicoke September 6th called ‘The Taste of Kingsway’, which was a big outdoor street festival.
The giant stage was a pleasure to play on, and the crowd was great.
We played a few deep cuts from The Who, which was a big risk, as not everyone at these shows are die hard fans of The Who, but songs like ‘A Quick One’ and the long version of ‘My Generation’ from ‘Live at Leeds’ went down very well.
Hopefully we’ll be asked back next year.
Here are some videos
‘ A Quick One’ (while he’s away)
‘My Generation’ long Live at Leeds version
The Punk and the Godfather https://youtu.be/MHfAZ4wexxQ
Young Man Blues https://youtu.be/TPHqQLw9Ug0
Here are a few photos of the day https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154550364215392.1073741832.395742355391&type=3
If any of you have video or photos of the show please send them to theband@thewholigans.com
This applies to any of our shows, if you have photos or video we would love to see them, be it from 1982 or 2014, it’s all good .
August 13th update
Photos from England now up on The Wholigans facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154434540005392.1073741830.395742355391&type=1
We’re just about to head over to England on Tuesday, but before we do we just want to tell you about a show just added September 6th in Toronto at ‘The taste of the Kingsway’ in Etobicoke.
There’s a great lineup of bands, see here
http://kingswaybia.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=295:stage-shows&catid=54
July
The Wholigans ‘Live at Leeds’…..literally !
We return to a venue we haven’t been to since 2005 ‘The New Roscoe’
This will be our final stop in the UK this time around. It’s on a Sunday, so put your drinking boots on early and come out to this great venue.
FB https://www.facebook.com/newroscoe
Website http://www.newroscoe.co.uk/home.asp
See the rest of our UK shows here https://thewholigans.com/tour-dates/
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June 14th we go back to Bethlehem PA , but this time it’s on the big stage at http://www.levittsteelstacks.org/schedule/
& on the 21st
Barry sings with NYC WHO tribute ‘Who’s Next’ in Sellersville PA http://www.st94.com/store/Whos-Next—The-Who-Tribute-OSCARItem_1=WN.6.21.aspx
Another UK date has been added August 6th at The 12 bar club in London where we played last year after The Who convention. It’s a small club, but it is one of the coolest clubs, I’m not sure that’s the best word to describe it ,but the 12 bar defies description.
You have to go there to ‘get it’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Bar_Club
Wholigans ‘Pete’ Chris Bacon tests new HIWATT amp at the Namm show.
http://www.hiwatt.co.uk/news/little-p-amp-tested-by-the-whooligans-chris-bacon
Article written about our May 30th gig in Toronto http://www.torontomoon.ca/torontomoon-ca-140531sa-shows-the-wholigans-resurrect-music-that-really-mattered/
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Toronto Canada ‘The Sound Academy & Q107 presents
May News Sunday May 25th 11am
UK dates for August have been posted , and we are very excited to return to a few places that we have played before, especially the Princess Pavilion in Falmouth, as we haven’t been there for about 5 years.
It’s a lovely venue by the seaside in the south west of England , so much so I hear Pete Townshend sails his yacht from there.
Falmouth fans of ‘The Who’ fly out of the woodwork for this one , as we have always had a capacity crowd for this, so get your tickets early!
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Also we are playing a big outdoor festival in Surrey with tributes to The Doors & a tribute to Jimi Hendrix as the festival itself is a tribute to the 1970 Isle of Wight show. (see ‘Tour Dates’ for links.)
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NOW….as for our next shows…….Toronto May 30th & 31st are at the Linsmore in Toronto.
We sold out 2 nights in a row last year and are playing 2 back to back this year .
It’s a small venue ,but Ryan the owner has gone where a lot of Toronto bar owners have not, he has realized that despite the size of his venue, he has figured out that in order that to attract more customers, that he has to get in the bigger acts (which also means putting out bigger money than most venues his size)
Well this concept has taken off BIG, and people have shown their appreciation, not only for that , but for the fact he is has put his trust in good old classic rock n roll that Toronto has been a staple for many years, but many have forgotten.
Toronto has been a WHO city for as long as I can remember….and I’m old !!!
While many of Toronto’s venues have fallen by the wayside, I think The Linsmore will become folklore in the history of great rock n roll venues.
‘It ain’t pretty, it’s gritty’…but that’s where rock n roll sits…in the grit ‘
Quote Barry May 2014
April news
We had a very succesfull foray into our first gig in the Netherlands on April 27th, the venue http://www.dewolfsberg.nl/ was beautiful, the crowd were the friendliest and most courteous (I know that’s not a rock & roll word…but ) let me tell you…those people like their beer and I mean REALLY like their beer !
A couple of thousand showed up, and it was a great weekend.
We met some great guys in a UK Led Zeppelin tribute called ‘Hats off to Zeppelin’
http://www.hatsofftoledzeppelin.co.uk/ who were first on the bill, and imo should have headlined.
Below here you’ll see a photo of Jim Neu (drummer) who’s first gig with us, was this one, and for a first gig he played the part brilliantly, if I didn’t know better, I’d say I sang in front of Keith Moon that day.
Jim who hails from North Carolina, will be playing future USA gigs with us so keep an eye out for him. (as well as Darren of course)
Also thanks to Craig Addecott & Andy Rimmer from the UK for being Wholigans that day, and if you saw them after the show, you would know that the word ‘Wholigan’ was very aprapos !……..bad boys indeed !
A huge thanks to the venue owner Ben and his beautiful daughter Carmen, who treated us like KINGS for 4 days, we hope we can work together again in the future.
If anyone that was there has photo’s or video they would like to send, please send it to us at theband@thewholigans.com and we’ll post it.
Thanks Netherlands , that was a first for us and hopefully not the last !
Barry
‘I’m a Substitute for another Guy’
March news:
We visit The Netherlands on Sunday April 27th at a big outdoor festival.
with tributes to Guns & Roses & Led Zeppelin.
http://www.tributeparty.nl/
Andy Rimmer & Craig Addecott , UK Wholigans will be playing alongside Barry & Jim Neu on drums.
NEW diary entry here https://thewholigans.com/dear-diary/
February
The Wholigans are coming to the UK in August 2014, we are currently looking for bookings to add to existing dates.
Right now we are looking for…..
Wednesday August 6th, 7th, 8th & Sunday 10th.
Preferably 4-5 hours in & outside of London in any direction.
All offers will be entertained though.
Please contact with serious legitimate offers to bookings@thewholigans.com
–More tour dates here https://thewholigans.com/tour-dates/
January 2014
13th
New Video from our gig at the London Music Hall in Ontario Canada November 2013 ‘Who Are You’ here
We are now in talks with a booking agency in India, and we look forward to playing over there. Calliope Events
16th
“New” video ‘Simply Smashing’ on our video page here
Be a Whofacebookligan here
Be a Whotwitterligan here
