In an October 2024 interview with The London Standard, The Who’s Pete Townshend revealed that he and bandmate Roger Daltrey had met for lunch recently and agreed to “definitely do something next year” with the group. Now, Townshend has shared a few more details about The Who’s 2025 plans with another U.K. newspaper, The Telegraph.
The band’s guitarist and primary songwriter said of his recent lunch with Daltrey, “We’re both a little bit ambivalent, but I’m pretty sure that we will [tour]. We have accepted an offer from Live Nation to do something in America.”
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Townshend was accompanied during the interview by his wife, Rachel Fuller, with whom he collaborated on the newly released concept album The Seeker, inspired by Herman Hesse’s 1922 novel Siddhartha. After Pete’s comment about The Who’s plan to tour again, Rachel quipped, “I’m going to play tambourine!”
Townshend added about the as-yet-unannounced concerts, “Roger says he wants it to be ‘raw.’ The problem with that is: if I go back to the style that I had back in the ’60s, he won’t be able to hear a f—ing thing.” It’s no secret that the 80-year-old Daltrey and the 79-year-old Townshend have experienced severe hearing issues as they’ve gotten older.
The news of The Who’s intention to tour again followed comments that Townshend made in interviews several months ago in which he sounded unsure if the band would ever hit the road again.
The Who’s last concerts took place March 18 and 20, 2024, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The shows were part of the annual concert series benefiting the Teenage Cancer Trust charity.
Townshend on Remaining Close with Daltrey Despite Their Differences
Townshend and Daltrey have had a sometimes-volatile relationship over the years, but Pete told The Telegraph that he considers the singer “very much a friend.” The friendship has withstood the fact that the bandmates aren’t on the same page politically. Daltrey was very pro-Brexit, which Townshend admitted was “very problematic” to him.
“I think he was wrong. But we are a nation divided down the middle,” Pete noted. “He’s not a fascist right-winger, he’s a very decent man. But it felt to me that with respect to the arts, and particularly to music, the free flow of life from all of the history of Europe … was going to be denied to our young people.”
Politics aside, Townshend told The Telegraph that he and Daltrey share a mutual appreciation for surviving and thriving at an advanced age.
“Because we’re both old men, and we’ve been through tumultuous times,” Pete explained. “We’re at a point now when we both wake up in the morning, and one of the first things that we’ll think is that we’re lucky to be alive—and to still have an audience. A few years ago, we went into Wembley Stadium. And we nearly sold it out!”
More About The Seeker
As previously reported, The Seeker is a multimedia project featuring an album and an illustrated book. Fuller wrote and composed the music on The Seeker, with additional songwriting contributions from Townshend. The book features text and illustrations that tell the story of Siddhartha and his quest for spiritual enlightenment.
The album features vocal contributions from Townshend, Elton John, Emeli Sandé, South African singer/songwriter Nakhane, Bollywood star Sunidhi Chauhan, and others, and music by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and choir. Late actor Christopher Plummer served as the narrator of the story.
The Seeker album includes new versions of the Who songs “The Seeker” and “Bargain.”
The Seeker album and book were released on November 7. A day earlier, a special concert celebrating The Seeker’s arrival release took place at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London. The show featured performances by Townshend and some of the other singers that appeared on the album, as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and choir.