The Who’s Pete Townshend seems to keep changing his mind in interviews about the future of the band, recently saying they weren’t over and they’d likely tour again. But it sounds like his bandmate Roger Daltrey doesn’t seem so sure.
Roger tells ABC Audio that he doesn’t know whether a tour is in the cards, noting, “I don’t know what we would do.”
“The last time I had communication with (Pete) about touring, he was ambivalent about it,” Daltrey shares. “Now I just can’t do touring ambivalently. It’s all or nothing for me. The audience is too important.”
If they did try and tour again, Daltrey, 80, thinks going back to the “freeform” way in which they used to tour in the early days could be interesting. “That to me would be something that would be exciting and wonderful to at least attempt,” he explains. “Even if you got it completely wrong, it wouldn’t matter.”
Daltrey feels The Who’s previous tour, backed by an orchestra, was the ultimate way of showing off Pete’s music and could be hard to top. “Where we can go from that last tour with the orchestra? I really don’t know,” he says.
While Pete says his relationship with Roger is better than ever, Roger doesn’t seem quite as enthusiastic.
“I mean, I love the guy, you know. We’ve been through hell and high water together, but equally, when it comes to working, you know, he perplexes me because he says things and then changes his mind,” Daltrey says. “You know, he’s a great bunch of fellas.”
As fans wait to see if The Who will tour again, they can still catch Roger performing live. His solo tour kicks off in Glenside, Pennsylvania, on June 10. A complete list of dates can be found at thewho.com.
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