Pete Townshend pours cold water on one final tour for The Who
By Lee Vowell
In the 1980s there was big news that The Who were breaking up and to be no more. For the most part, as far as making studio records were concerned, that was true. But the band did not completely stop playing live together. Heck, the group even played the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2010. Was it good? It was more meh.
The truth is that a group of the stature of The Who would only be playing out the string while fans fondly remembered the days (or, if the fans were young, they could dream of being alive during the 1960s) when the band was at its peak. No musician truly wants that, however. Sure, they want to keep making money from their music, but they simply don't want to be turned into a karaoke version of themselves.
That at least goes for groups with integrity. One thing that Townshend has always strained for, even at the onset of the band in the '60s, was to be taken seriously for his music. He didn't want to be a pop star and he did not want to be controlled by the music industry. He also did not want to constantly be on tour.
Pete Townshend seems to dash any hopes of The Who ever touring again
Both Townshend and Who vocalist Roger Daltrey have recently said that maybe there could be one final Who tour to say goodbye for good. Daltrey might still be all for that, but Townshend is not. In fact, he recently told the hosts of the Sound Up! podcast that he did not mean anything he recently said about a final tour. Townshend said he was being "sarcastic."
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Townshend said, "I’m not doing a farewell tour. I think I was being sarcastic about it." He might feel he is too old to tour as he went on for some time about how he has almost always felt old including saying, "When I was 34, I wrote the song ‘Slit Skirts,’ and I think the line is ‘I’m 34 years old and I’m still wandering in a haze. I felt old at 34."
Townshend is 78 years old now and that isn't young, for sure. And he is clearly set on not touring with The Who again. Hopes dashed for fans, I imagine.
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