Last year, the Who played its first tour in North America since 2019 and, according to singer Roger Daltrey, it could be the band’s last. In an interview with USA Today to promote the release of the band’s recently released The Who With Orchestra Live at Wembley, Daltrey said that the economic risks are too high, and also cited his age as a factor.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever come back to tour America,” Daltrey said. “There is only one tour we could do — an orchestrated Quadrophenia to round out the catalog. But that’s one tall order to sing that piece of music, as I’ll be 80 next year. I never say never, but at the moment, it’s very doubtful.”
Continuing, Daltrey said that “touring has become very difficult since COVID. We cannot get insured and most of the big bands doing arena shows, by the time they do their first show and rehearsals and get the staging and crew together, all the buses and hotels, you’re upwards $600,000 to a million in the hole. To earn that back, if you’re doing a 12-show run, you don’t start to earn it back until the seventh or eighth show. That’s just how the business works.”
On March 26, Daltrey performed at the Teenage Cancer Trust show at Royal Albert Hall in London. Earlier in the month, his bandmate, Pete Townshend, released his first solo song in 30 years.
The Who will perform in Europe this summer.
