Pete Townshend made a cryptic comment about the future of The Who, as the band prepare to head out on their farewell tour.
The British rock band will kick off the North American leg of their The Song is Over tour in August. The shows are being billed as The Who’s final run in the United States and Canada.
In a recent interview on My Cultural Life on Radio 4, Townshend, 80, wondered aloud “whether it’s the end of The Who?” before adding: “It’s certainly the end of touring in America. I asked Roger if it’s the end of touring Europe, and he said, ‘We’ll have to wait and see.’”
During the conversation, the veteran rocker said he felt like a “diamond with a flaw” and that, in a sense, the “suffering” he endured in childhood had shaped who he had become as a person and as a musician.
“I”m a dangerous f***er,” he said, “There’s no question. When I work, I am charged, and I feel that came from the time with my grandmother when I had to build up some level of resistance.”
Townshend has previously spoken about the period in which he lived with his maternal grandmother, whom he has called “clinically insane” and claimed that she would deny him food and hold his head underwater in a tub when he was six years old. In his 2012 memoir, Who I Am, who called it the darkest time of his life.
“It was just horrible and I don't remember a lot of it – I kind of black it out,” he said during the Radio 4 interview. “She was nuts and abusive and cruel and surrounded by extremely pervy men all the time who interfered with me. I had no friends – I wasn’t allowed to have friends. It was a really s****y time and in the end somebody reported my grandmother for abusive behaviour.”
“My parents saved me – they got back together and eventually I had two brothers,” he said about returning to his home in Acton, West London. “As far as I was concerned, that was when my childhood began.”
In a statement while he and bandmate Roger Daltrey were announcing their farewell tour, Townshend said it was a “poignant” time for The Who.
“I must say that although the road has not always been enjoyable for me, it is usually easy: the best job I could ever have had. I keep coming back,” he said. “Every time I do, I meet new fans and feel new energy.
“Roger and I are in a good place, despite our age, eager to throw our weight behind this fond farewell to all our faithful fans, and hopefully to new ones who might jump in to see what they have been missing for the last 57 years.
“This tour will be about fond memories, love and laughter. Make sure you join in.”
Townshend’s remark about the farewell tour came amid confusion surrounding their longtime drummer, Zak Starkey, who will not join The Who for their final run of shows.
Starkey, 59, said this week that he was told by Daltrey he was “retired” rather than “fired” from the band, with drummer Scott Devours replacing him.
On Instagram, Starkey attempted to clear up the confusion around his departure from the veteran rock band.
“NOISE&CONFUSION!!!!” he wrote. “I had a great phone chat with Roger at the end of last week which truly confused both of us!!!
“Rog said I hadn’t been ‘fired’…I had been ‘retired’ to work n my own projects. I explained to Rog that I have just spent nearly 8 weeks at my studio in Jamaica completing these projects, that my group Mantra Of The Cosmos was releasing one single at the beginning of June and after that had run its course ( usually 5/6 weeks ) I was completely available for the foreseeable future…. Rog said ‘Oh!’ and we kind of left it there.”
Starkey concluded the post: “On good terms and great friends as we have always been . Gotta love these guys. As my mum used to say ‘The mind boggles!!!’”
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