The Who will celebrate their 50th anniversary with a new tour.
The ‘My Generation’ rockers have announced a string of UK dates for later this year in what will be the "beginning of a long goodbye", though they admit they still don’t know when they will call a halt to performing live.
Speaking at a press conference at Ronnie Scott’s in London today (30.06.14), singer Roger Daltrey said: "We can’t go on touring forever, we don’t know how long we will go on touring, it’s an open-ended thing at the moment but there will be a finality to it.
"We’ll stop touring before we stop playing as a band. It’s like Eric Clapton just said it’s the grind of the road that is incredibly tough on the body. The singing is free …
"As a singer I don’t know how long my voice will last like this so I just want to go out and make the most of it. It’s the one thing I get the most out of, other than my family life.
"To me singing on stage is just the most natural thing in the world, it’s where I like to be and it’s not going to be there forever and my voice will go."
Meanwhile, his bandmate Pete Townshend admitted that, while he isn’t always keen on life on the road, he "really wants" to mark the band’s milestone.
He said: "I really want to do it, I often don’t want to do it.
"I’m good at it and I find it fulfilling but it’s not something I enjoy as much as sitting at home in the studio writing songs. But this one I really want to do because it’s a significant anniversary … To me it’s all about going out and playing and celebrating the 50th anniversary."
At the press conference, the duo also performed a short acoustic set which included ‘Substitute’ and ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’.
Tickets for the nine-date tour – which begins in Glasgow on November 30 and ends at London’s The O2 on December 17 – go on sale at 9am on July 4 from www.aeglive.co.uk.
The Who Hits 50 UK tour dates:
November 30 – Glasgow, SSE Hydro
December 2 – Leeds, First Direct Arena
December 5 – Nottingham, Capital FM Arena
December 7 – Birmingham, NIA
December 9 – Newcastle, Metro
December 11 – Liverpool, Echo Arena
December 13 – Manchester, Phones 4U Arena
December 15 – Cardiff, Motorpoint
December 17 – London, O2 Arena
The Who announce anniversary tour
