Roger Daltrey is happy to be on the road with his solo band — especially in the face of Covid, which nearly crippled the touring industry.
Daltrey’s solo backing band includes Pete Townshend‘s brother, guitarist Simon Townshend and Simon’s son Ben on drums. Daltrey chatted with Scotland’s The Herald and explained, “If I do any Who songs we’ll do them completely differently from the way the Who do them, just to explore them. . . But the most important thing is I’m going to be employing 20 people, 10 of them musicians who have been out of work for two-and-a-half years.”
When pressed as to why Daltrey has dubbed the trek, “Who I Was” — he laughed and said, “Because the longer the lockdown went on the more I wondered who the f*** I was. It was driving me insane. You’ve got to remember we’ve been gypsies all our lives, travelled the whole world, then we’re shut up for two years. There was a huge part of me missing, which is the part of me that gets on a stage and sings. There’s something in me that seems to have to do that, or transmit whatever I’m thinking and touch people with the voice I was given as a gift. Unless you’ve done it, it’s very difficult to explain.”
Daltrey went on to say, “The last two-and-a-half years haven’t been easy. I didn’t think we would ever go back. But now we are and I’ve got my solo thing coming up which was postponed from last year, then the Who are touring again in October. I’m really happy to be doing it because I know it can’t go on for too much longer. Singers can’t change the strings and I don’t want to go out and be mediocre.”
- Roger Daltrey UK tour dates (subject to change):
June 27 – Portsmouth, England – Guildhall
June 29 – Nottingham, England – Royal Concert Hall
July 1 – Southend-on-Sea, England – Cliffs Pavilion
July 4 – Birmingham, England – Symphony Hall
July 6 – Glasgow, Scotland – SEC Armadillo
July 9 – Manchester, England – 02 Apollo
July 11 – Liverpool, England – Empire Theatre
July 13 – Newcastle, England – 02 City Hall
July 17 – London, England – London Palladium
- The Who tour dates (subject to change):
October 2 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena (with Steven Page)
October 4 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena (with Steven Page)
October 7 – Elmont, NY – UBS Arena (with Steven Page)
October 9 – Columbus, OH – Schottenstein Center (with Steven Page)
October 12 – Chicago, IL – United Center (with Steven Page)
October 14 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center (with Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs)
October 17 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena (with Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs)
October 20 – Portland, OR – Moda Center (with Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs)
October 22 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena (with Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs)
October 26 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center (with Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs)
October 28 – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center (with Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs)
November 1 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl (with Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs)
November 4, 5 – Las Vegas, NV – Dolby Live (with The Wild Things)
SIDE NOTES
- Out now is a 40th Anniversary release of the Who‘s It’s Hard. The double-album release includes a half speed master of the album along with rare and unreleased material, including the Roger Daltrey vocal version of “Eminence Front.”
- The limited edition orange and yellow vinyl features the remastered album plus a bonus disc of unreleased and rare material and comes with a poster.
- The Who’s It’s Hard was released on September 4th, 1982 and peaked at Number Eight on the Billboard 200 — four spots lower than 1981’s Face Dances collection. In Britain, It’s Hard just missed the Top 10, going so high as Number 11.
CHECK IT OUT: Roger Daltrey on June 24th, 2022 performing “Baba O’Riley” live in Oxford, England: