Why The Who Won’t Tour The US Again

Co-founder and the lead singer of The Who, Roger Daltrey, says there’s no guarantee that the band will tour the U.S. again.

The Who is currently set to come back on the road in the coming months for their Europe and U.K. tour. However, in an interview with USA Today, the rocker shares his thoughts about the band returning to the U.S. saying:

“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.”

A lot of concerts were canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic and Daltrey further explained how it affected touring in recent years. He added:

“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.”

While co-founder and guitarist Pete Townshend have also previously shared his doubt about touring. In a 2022 interview with Rolling Stone, he mentioned that the band has no plans to go back on the road. He said at that time:

“I had a conversation with Roger, I said to him, ‘I don’t want to be like one of these guys that dies on tour.’ I do want to retire. And by ‘retire’ I don’t mean retire from being a musician or artist or creator, but retire from the idea that it requires me to say yes to touring for a load of people to get a smile on their face and go home to their wife and go, ‘Hey, honey! Everything is fine! The Who are going back on tour!’

“To be relieved of that responsibility, in a sense … because Roger is of the opinion that he wants to sing until he drops. That’s not my philosophy of life. There are other things that I want to do, still want to do, and will do, I hope. I hope I’ll live long enough to do them.”

Meanwhile, the band recently released The Who With Orchestra Live at Wembley, which includes all the live recordings of their performance during their 2019 concert at London’s Wembley Stadium.