The Who’s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend have suggested that their upcoming North American farewell tour is unlikely to extend to the UK - blaming logistical hurdles, insurance problems, and concerns over vocal strain.
Speaking at London’s Iconic Images Gallery on Tuesday, in which The Standard were in attendance, the rock legends opened up about The Song Is Over tour, which will take them across the U.S. and Canada this summer in what they say is a “grand finale” of their six-decade career.
“[America] has been so loyal to us,” Daltrey said via videolink, explaining why the farewell run is focused on the States. “It’s got to come to an end one day and it would be great to do it while I can still sing the songs in key and Pete is still playing great guitar and we’ve still got great vitality.”
The rock band last toured North America and the UK between 2019 to 2021, partly in support of their 2019 album, Who.
When asked whether the tour would come to the UK, Daltrey replied: “Let’s see if we survive this one,” adding that although he wasn’t ruling it out entirely, “I'm not confident in saying there will be. That’s the honest answer.”
He went on to compare touring in the U.S. and the UK: “I just finished a solo tour in the UK, and I've got to say, that touring in America is a damn lot easier than touring in the UK, because, for some reason or another, the UK has decided to make it as difficult as possible to go from A to B and in America, you seem to want to make it as easy as possible...”
Townshend echoed Daltrey’s concerns, saying their last UK tour was “strange,” noting that insurance issues had forced them to miss “some of the more classic places” and led to a string of open-air gigs instead.
“It was a strange one,” the guitarist continued. “We played a lot of open-air gigs. We had an insurance problem, which meant that we couldn't play some of the more classic places that one plays on the UK tour.”
But he did suggest a potential London residency might be on the cards, saying: “But you know, the door is open to us. We could do a week at the O2. We could do a week, couple of weeks, maybe at the Royal Albert Hall.
“All kinds of things we could do. But, you know, we don't do consecutive shows. We like to do a show and then take a break.”
Daltrey confirmed that medical advice was a key factor behind that schedule: “I can't, I can't do consecutive shows.
“Occasionally at the end of the tour, I might be able to do one, two, back to back. But you know, I've been ordered by my throat specialist, my voice specialist, who say, ‘you'd have to have a day off after every gig, and then after every three gigs, you'll have to have two days off, because otherwise you will wreck your voice, and you will not be able to sing.’”
The Song Is Over farewell tour kicks off on August 16 at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida and wraps up at Las Vegas’s MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 28.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, May 16 via thewho.com/tour
