Forming in 1964, The Who helped shape 20th-century rock with songs like “Baba O’Reilly” and “My Generation.” More than six decades later, the Londoners are ready to hang it up, performing their final North American concert last month at the Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms, California. Of course, we’ve seen this film before, and many musical acts have a tough time letting go when their careers are coming to an end (i.e., Garth Brooks, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne.) During a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Who guitarist Pete Townshend left little doubt about the band’s future.
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Is the Song Really Over for Pete Townshend and the Who?
As Colbert pointed out, The Who first bade farewell to their fans in 1982, only to reconvene seven years later for their 25th-anniversary The Kids Are Alright reunion tour. However, Pete Townshend stepped in to gently correct him: “In ’82, I left The Who. It was my farewell,” explained the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, 80. “In ’89, I pleaded to come back to The Who because I was broke, and we did a 25th anniversary tour.
“This time,” Townshend continued, “the farewell tour is genuine. We are going to end it after we’ve done as many shows as Elton John. He did 330. We’ve done 22, so we just have another 308 to do, and then we’ll be gone for good.” (Some may remember Elton John’s enduring Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, which wound up lasting five years.)
While Townshend bluntly stated that he is not a fan of touring, he decided to put his own feelings aside this time for the sake of frontman Roger Daltrey. “He sings the way he sings, and his whole body and life goes into it,” he said. “And I thought, you know, I must forget about myself and just do this for him. It could be the last thing we ever do together.”
Although the pair have experienced a famously fraught relationship, “it worked,” Townshend said.
“I loved it because I got him laughing and got him smiling, and we were hugging each other and telling each other we loved each other, and that’s not something that has happened up until now,” he explained.
Featured image by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for BC
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