Roger Daltrey launches a new podcast on Tuesday (October 5th), called The Real Me. The Who fromtman, tapped the band’s Quadrophenia classic for the title and theme of the show, which “features teen cancer patients not only talking about their stories but presenting songs they’ve written and performed.” All proceeds from the podcast go to the Who’s patron U.S. charity, Teen Cancer America.
Daltrey, who’s set for a 12-date full-band UK tour kicking off next month, told Rolling Stone, due to venues dealing with backed up and rescheduled tours in the wake of the pandemic, the soonest the Who could be back on the road isn’t until March 2022.
When pressed if the band was considering playing their 1971 masterpiece Who’s Next in its entirety for the album’s 50th anniversary, Daltery admitted he had little interest: “No, I don’t see the point. Who’s Next is a great album, but it’s best left as a great album. Just playing albums live doesn’t do anything for me, personally. The show we’ve got with the orchestra is fantastic, and the Who’s catalog has so much varied stuff that makes it better than just listening to Who’s Next. Why do that? Go and play the record and get stoned or whatever you wish and have a good time! That’s a way to celebrate. You don’t need us to do that.”
Daltrey had to laugh when he was told about how in a recent interview Pete Townshend revealed he’d already started demoing songs for the Who’s next album. When Daltrey was asked if that came as a surprise, he said, “Certainly is. I’ve just fallen off the chair! But there’s a song on the last album we did, which I think is a fabulous album called Who. It’s called ‘Beads On One String.’ And the opening line is, ‘Don’t you ever say never/It don’t mean a thing.'”
- Roger Daltrey UK tour dates (subject to change):
November 7 – Birmingham, England – Symphony Hall
November 9 – Manchester, England – O2 Apollo
November 11 – Nottingham, England – Royal Concert Hall
November 15 – London, England – LondonPalladium
November 17 – Brighton, England – Brighton Centre
November 19 – Southend-on-Sea, England – Cliffs Pavilion
November 21 – Oxford, England – New Theatre Oxford
November 24 – Glasgow, Scotland – SEC Armadillo
November 26 – Newcastle, England – O2 City Hall
November 29 – Liverpool, England – Empire Theatre
December 1 – Portsmouth, England – Guildhall
December 2 – Bournemouth, England – International Centre
SIDE NOTES
- Set for release on October 28th is The Who: Every Album, Every Song by author Geoffrey Feakes. The book “examines each one of the band’s studio albums, including WHO released in 2019.
- Tracing the band’s long and diverse history, the book also examines non‐album tracks as well as compilations, live albums and soundtracks.”
CHECK IT OUT: The premiere episode of Roger Daltrey’s podcast ‘The Real Me’: