Pete Townshend addresses uncertainty surrounding The Who’s future: “I do have a bit of a river to cross”
Pete Townshend has provided a new update on the future of The Who, admitting he doesn’t know whether their story has reached its natural conclusion.
Throughout the last 12 months, both Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey have talked in cryptic terms about what the future holds. Additionally, since The Who played their most recent show in March at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the two men have pursued different projects. Townshend has been involved with a Broadway show, meanwhile, Daltrey has been touring the United States.
Earlier this year, Townshend said he believed The Who would embark on a farewell tour, stating, “I do and I think I will. It feels to me like there’s one thing the Who can do, and that’s a final tour where we play every territory in the world and then crawl off to die.”
However, shortly after, Townshend walked back on those comments during an appearance on the Sound Up podcast, “I’m not doing a farewell tour. I think I was being sarcastic about it.”
Daltrey also doesn’t seem eager to return to the road with The Who, stating earlier this year, “I don’t write the songs. I never did. We need to sit down and have a meeting, but at the moment, I’m happy saying that part of my life is over.”
Meanwhile, in another interview with The Times, Daltrey discussed his decision to resign from his curator role with the Teenage Cancer Trust and admitted that he’s “on my way out”.
Unless Daltrey gives his green light, The Who will be over, and now, Townshend has told The Daily Beast that he’s not going to pressure his bandmate into making a decision, revealing, “I’m not gonna try to bully Roger to do anything. I don’t want to have the job that I used to have around the time of Quadrophenia, which is bullying everybody in The Who to do exactly what I want to do.”
Nevertheless, Townshend remains optimistic that The Who aren’t down and out, but knows work needs to be done first, adding, “It worked, yeah. But it was no fun. And at the end of that, Roger knocked me out. I asked for it, but he knocked me out. Anyway, I’m hopeful. I’m certainly not saying that we won’t do anything, but Roger and I do have a bit of a river to cross. And once we cross that river, we’ll see what happens.”
While it seems unlikely that The Who will make another album, Townshend is seemingly desperate for the band to continue, in some shape or form, and if he has his way, the British rock titans will be back eventually.
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