Not near a television? You should be, as Rock Honors: The Who is going down right now, featuring every rock stars’ rock star. Don’t worry though — we’ve got some highlights from the show below. Check it out and tell us which one is your favorite!

It’s not until you hear them play a Who song that you realize Pearl Jam take so much from the band – and on “Love Reign O’er Me,” they give it back. The track’s a frequent cover in the grunge godfathers’ set, and its obvious why: Vedder wails through the song, pleading, as the rest of the band shreds to keep up. 

It wouldn’t be a party if Boy in the Bubble and Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne didn’t roll around in the audience in his big inflatable ball for a while, getting the crowd appropriately amped as they play the beginnings of “See Me, Feel Me” (which Wayne told us before the show was a personal favorite) before launching into a searing medley from Tommy that includes “Pinball Wizard.” To find out what else the Oklahoma psych-rockers played, check the clip above. 

For Tenacious D frontman Jack Black to call the Who “the greatest band of all time” is a pretty big deal, as that’s usually a title he saves for his own band. Watch the merry pranksters strum through a fun version of “Squeezebox” in the clip above. 

Our man on the scene, Steve Pavlopoulos, was delivering up-to-the-minute reports from Rock Honors: The Who (which taped this weekend) on what you’ll see this Thursday, July 17th at 9 pm on VH1. Check out his behind-the-scenes look at what went down on rock’s front lines. The above shot is from Saturday night’s festivities — check out more shots for a sneak peek at the show.

After a big night of some good-natured, post-work partying (Sunday morning, the hotel lobby was abuzz with talk of the “robe party” that rocked the 18th floor –- all I’m at liberty to say is leopards and zebras know how to bring the fun), I was back at work running around, carrying things, sitting in chairs, and taking care of business…
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The stage is being set for Rock Honors: The Who at the Pauley Pavilion. I’m lucky enough to have an all-access pass, and walking around a day before the show, you can tell something big is in the air. The monitors are being tested and the psychedelic images are flowing –- giant pulsating speakers, trees, planets — I see it all, man (and it totally makes sense). OK, so there may be one or two acid flashbacks in the course of reporting, but this is the Who, and if you’ve seen the movie Tommy, we should be on the same page.

To find out what’s going on behind the scenes the day before the big show, take the jump.

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The Flaming Lips Rehearsing from Irreversibility on Vimeo.

See them, feel them, touch them, heal them? Word has it that the Flaming Lips will string together an array of tunes by the Who for their segment of this week’s Rock Honors bash. By the looks of the above rehearsal footage, it’ll include “I’m Free” and “Pinball Wizard.” The show airs Thursday night at 9/8c. Come back to the blog this Sunday morning for the first photos of Saturday night’s event.

Get psyched for the loud stuff by checking our playlist of Who videos, and photo gallery of wild on-stage antics.

Want to go to Rock Honors next year? Enter our sweepstakes.

Avant oddballs the Flaming Lips are gearing up for their performance at next week’s Rock Honors, where they’ll be taking on the Who (a dream come true, for frontman Wayne Coyne). Known for their on-stage spectaculars, the band — who’ll be joining the Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam and Incubus in kneeling at the altar of the Who — will also be celebrating something else: after seven years, the band have finished working on Christmas on Mars, a concept film about the first Christmas on the Red Planet, starring the band. They plan on screening the film this summer at a series of shows.

So what to expect from the Lips’ Who tribute and their latest foray into film? Just like the band they’re honoring, weirdness and spectacle, and lots of it. If you can’t wait until next week, check out the craziest on-stage antics of rock and rollers here.

Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters jumped in early. Then the Flaming Lips said hell, yeah. Now Incubus has been added to this year’s Rock Honors festivities. So prepare to be overwhelmed on July 17. The alt-metal juggernaut that features Brandon Boyd up front is skilled at mowing down everything in its path, much like the Who themselves. See if they bring a metal slant to some of the band’s classics.

Here’s an songlist of their best videos. Crank it up and get psyched for their Rock Honors performance.

Expect the performances at this year’s Rock Honors to be on the physical side. When you’re saluting a band like the Who, you’ve gotta bring plenty of whomp to the table. So it makes sense that Pearl Jam, the Foo Fighters, and the Flaming Lips are three of the acts slated to put a spin on the veteran Brit band’s songbook. Each of them have honed their gargantuan sound, stressing passion at every turn. Eddie Vedder and his brood have actually made quite a dent with their mighty cover of “Love, Reign O’er Me,” from the Who’s Quadrophenia disc. Of course the Who will be playing a sizable chunk of their own music at the show, too. This is the first Rock Honors show to celebrate one band.

Rock Honors takes place in Los Angeles on July 12. It premieres on VH1 and VH1 Classic on Thursday, July 17 at 9/8c.

The flashback-inducing psychedelia of the Flaming Lips just got an official mainstream seal of approval: Lead art-agitator Wayne Coyne told Rolling Stone that he is in talks to turn his band’s last record, a concept album entitled Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, into a Broadway musical. (For a band that routinely played with Justin Timberlake in a rabbit costume, this isn’t much of a stretch.) Producer Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys) will help adapt the record for the stage. No word yet on whether or not the Playbill will be printed on blotter paper. Would you pay to do acid . . . we mean, see the Lips on the Great White Way?

[Via Rolling Stone]

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