Pete Townshend [ tickets ] used his online diary to address rumors that previously stated plans for a Who tour and album in 2006 had gone awry, asserting that the band would indeed roll out a world tour and new recording later this year.

"There will be a tour," Townshend wrote on his website. "We already have European Festival dates slotted in June and July." These would be the first festival-style performances from the band since 1979, when eleven fans at the band's Cincinnati concert were trampled to death in a rush for seats.

"The American part of the tour, probably in three--or even four--legs, happens from September to December. We go on to the rest of the world in 2007," Townshend continued, adding that work continues on the band's first full-length album of new material since 1982's "It's Hard."

"There will be a new CD sometime in the early summer. I know I've cried wolf a few times, but this time I have committed because I have about enough music for a new CD, and I'm still producing."

The Who [ tickets ] last toured in 2004, shortly after the death of bassist John Entwistle [ tickets ].