We may have seen the last of The Who on American stages.
Roger Daltrey tells USA Today, “I don’t know if we’ll ever come back to tour America. There is only one tour we could do, an orchestrated Quadrophenia to round out the catalog. But that’s one tall order to sing that piece of music, as I’ll be 80 next year. I never say never, but at the moment it’s very doubtful.”
Daltrey adds that it’s not only mounting the production that’s hard.
“Touring has become very difficult since COVID. We cannot get insured and most of the big bands doing arena shows, by the time they do their first show and rehearsals and get the staging and crew together, all the buses and hotels, you’re upwards $600,000 to a million in the hole. To earn that back, if you’re doing a 12-show run, you don’t start to earn it back until the seventh or eighth show. That’s just how the business works. The trouble now is if you get COVID after the first show, you’ve [lost] that money.”
So, as it stands now, The Who’s last U.S. show was last November 5th in Las Vegas. Daltrey’s last one, with his band, was this past February 20th in Hollywood, Florida.
The Who, with orchestra, will hit the road in Europe starting on June 14th in Barcelona, Spain.
REUTERS PHOTO
