Pete Townshend has admitted he and Roger Daltrey “are very different” and “don’t communicate very well”.
The Who bandmates – who are currently on their farewell tour after more than five decades in the legendary rock group – haven’t always seen eye to eye, and the 80-year-old guitarist claims the 81-year-old frontman “got upset” with him over their “different needs as performers”.
He told the latest issue of AARP Magazine: “We don’t communicate very well. He and I are very different and we have different needs as performers.
“He got upset because he felt I had sometimes given the impression of having left the building. Roger complained about the fact that he is deaf. He’s a singer, and he has to be 100 per cent fit in order to do his job.”
The pair have felt obliged to continue honouring the legacy of the My Generation band since the deaths of drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle in 1978 and 2002, respectively, with Pete hailing them a “Who tribute band”.
He said: “The Who [still] sells records — the Moon and Entwistle families have become millionaires. There’s also something more, really: the art, the creative work is when we perform it. We’re celebrating. We’re a Who tribute band.”
Despite their differences, Pete still enjoys playing alongside Roger.
He continued: “But apart from that, it does whet an appetite to think about how we should bow out in our personal lives — what we do with our families and our friends and everything else at this age.
“We’re lucky to be alive. I’m looking forward to playing, Roger likes to throw wild cards out sometimes in the set, and we have learned and rehearsed a few songs that we don’t always play.”
The Who kicked off The Song Is Over: The North American Farewell Tour at Florida’s Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday (16.08.25) night.
The 23-song set included the live debut of Going Mobile with Simon Townshend – Pete’s brother – on lead vocals.
Simon has performed the song before, but it was the first time it had been played at a Who concert.
The track was penned by Pete and originally released by the band on their 1971 album Who’s Next, however, it was originally written for his abandoned Lifehouse project. Pete recorded the lead vocals, guitars, and synths, with the John on bass guitar and Keith on drums. Roger was not involved.
Elsewhere, after a technical glitch hampered their performance at one point, Roger quipped: “You never remember the perfect show. You remember the f***-ups.”