The Who are planning two major projects for 2019: a symphonic tour and a new studio album.
According to Rolling Stone, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend will play a 29-date North American tour where a local symphony orchestra will join the band nightly; Daltrey got the idea after spending the summer of 2018 playing “Tommy” with symphonies and loving the experience.
“I’ll be 75 years old in March and this feels like a dignified way to go and do music,” he says. “That’s all we’re really left with. We’re old men now. We’ve lost the looks. We’ve lost the glamour. What we’re left with is the music and we’re going to present it in a way which is as fresh and powerful as ever.”
The group has yet to release tour dates, but Townshend confirms it will begin a 14-show US East Coast series in May in Michigan before returning in early fall to hit Canada and the western US.
Townshend says that the European tour plans are less clear at the moment, but that they’ll have something to announce soon.
“Everything is a whirlwind at the moment since we just decided to tour at the end of last year,” explains Daltrey. “The most important thing that people realize about this tour is that the energy and the venom The Who play with will not be compromised at all.”
As for new music, Townshend has 15 song demos in the can for what will be The Who’s first release since 2006’s “Endless Wire”; while he’s unsure of a timeline for recording as they juggle rehearsals for the spring tour, he guesses the project may surface in time for the fall concert series.
After countless years of rehashing the band’s early outpout in various configurations, the guitarist made a new record a condition of playing any live shows under The Who banner in 2019.
“I said I was not going to sign any contracts unless we have new material,” says Townshend. “This has nothing to do with wanting a hit album. It has nothing to do with the fact that Tthe Who need a new album. It’s purely personal. It’s about my pride, my sense of self-worth and self-dignity as a writer.”
Last year, Daltrey released his autobiography, "Thanks A Lot Mr. Kibblewhite: My Story", and his first solo album in 26 years, “As Long As I Have You”; the project mixes originals alongside covers of songs by Stevie Wonder, Stephen Stills and Nick Cave, and features Townshend on seven tracks.
See also:
The Who: Roger Daltrey details memoir ahead of fall release
VIDEO: The Who’s Roger Daltrey launches symphonic Tommy US tour
The Who: Roger Daltrey streams Stephen Stills cover from new solo album
The Who: Roger Daltrey expands US summer tour
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