The Who icon Roger Daltrey recently chatted with USA Today and shared how his guitar virtuoso bandmate, Pete Townshend, couldn’t do his famous stage stunts anymore.
When someone mentions the Who, one of the first images that might flood anyone’s mind is probably a still picture of Pete jumping in the air while taking on some rocking riffs and showing off how he’s a natural when it comes to showmanship. Well, if that image does come to your mind, then we have some bad news for you: he can’t do those tricks anymore.
However, this wasn’t all that bad for frontman Daltrey since he remarked how the Who managed to age well and grow out of the ‘circus act’ he considered themselves years ago. The singer had so much to celebrate when mentioning how far the band has come while noting they can easily harmonize with an orchestra and perform some of the most ‘modern classical music‘ out in the scene.
Still, with all the changes and musical maturing the Who had been through, Roger also pointed out that although Townshend couldn’t jump ten feet in the air anymore, the guitar hero still managed to get a three-foot jump, so he still got it, after all.
Daltrey’s words on how Pete couldn’t do the circus tricks anymore and the Who’s musical evolution:
“We’re enjoying it [the Who’s current stage shows]. You know, Pete can’t quite jump 10 foot in the air anymore. He can do 3 foot, so he’s not bad! [Laughs] I don’t swing the microphone hardly at all now because it doesn’t matter to the sound anymore. Before, when all of those things used to work, it was a circus act. We’re more than that now.
I’m proud that our music has come of age, and I think you could say this is the most modern classical music out there. When I did the classical version of ‘Tommy’ [in 2019], I realized ‘Tommy’ is one of the best operas ever written. Underneath those classic rock songs he wrote, Pete always wrote in a classical form.”
So, although it pleased Roger to see they’ve become much more than what he called a ‘circus act’ or your usual old rock band, the singer noted how they still had some tricks under their sleeves, although not as extreme as they used to be. A three-foot jump in the air with a guitar isn’t so bad for a 70-plus-year-old Townshend, after all.
