Pete Townshend Confirms The Who Will Be Back in 2025
The future of The Who has been up in the air for about a year, but it looks like Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey aren’t packing it in just yet.
In an interview with U.K.’s The Standard, Townshend says, “I met with Roger for lunch a couple of weeks ago. We’re in good form. We love each other. We’re both getting a bit creaky, but we will definitely do something next year.”
While Townshend is interested in recording another album, he says Daltrey is “not keen” about it. As far as touring goes, Townshend wants to omit the orchestra that was present on their last tour and go back to being a rock band.
Back in December 2023, Townshend told the Record Collector, “I think it’s time for Roger and I to go to lunch and have a chat about what happens next. Because [the final summer tour stop] shouldn’t feel like the end of anything, but it feels like the end of an era.”
In that interview, Townshend said he was having a lot of fun on the road, even though he’s expressed in the past that he’s not super fond of touring. He stressed that in addition to a new tour needing to be fun, it also needed to be doable and profitable.
Then, in January 2024, Daltrey was asked by The Times about the future of The Who. He said he couldn’t give a definitive answer because he’s not the one who writes the songs. (As we all know, Townshend does that.) However, he did say, “[Pete and I] need to sit down and have a meeting, but at the moment, I’m happy saying that part of my life is over.”
Daltrey has also been very blunt about his future, particularly in light of him turning 80 this year. In April, he told The Times, “I have to be realistic: I’m on my way out. The average life expectancy is 83, and with a bit of luck, I’ll make that, but we need someone else to drive things.”
Daltrey actually made a very public appearance recently at the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony where he did the honors of inducting Peter Frampton. He made sure to point out the fact that Frampton was overlooked by the Rock Hall by saying, “I was astonished this guy wasn’t inducted 35 years ago.”
