The Who will perform one last time in Chicago Sept. 7
LONDON — British rock band The Who are saying their final goodbye to North America this summer.
Singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend confirmed Thursday that they will perform hits from their six-decade career during “The Song Is Over North America Farewell Tour,” named after the band’s 1971 hit and stopping at Chicago’s United Center Sunday, Sept. 7.
The band, which by the 1970s had become one of the world’s biggest touring bands, easily filling the largest U.S. stadiums, will play their first gig in Florida on Aug. 16, with further dates in cities including New York, Toronto, Los Angeles and Vancouver, before a final date in Las Vegas on Sept. 28.
“Every musician’s dream in the early ’60s was to make it big in the U.S. charts,” Daltrey said. “For The Who, that dream came true in 1967 and our lives were changed forever.”
The band went from performing club shows to headlining the Woodstock festival in the U.S. and becoming one of the biggest box-office draws in the world. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1990.
Daltrey, 81, and Townshend, two years his junior, have been one of rock’s most prolific double acts, surviving the deaths of drummer Keith Moon in 1978 and bass guitarist John Entwistle in 2002.
“Today, Roger and I still carry the banner for the late Keith Moon and John Entwistle, and, of course, all of our longtime Who fans,” Townshend said. “I must say that although the road has not always been enjoyable for me, it is usually easy: the best job I could ever have had. I keep coming back.”
Though Daltrey didn’t write songs, he was able to channel Townsend’s many and complicated moods — defiance and rage, vulnerability and desperation.
Together, they forged some of rock’s most defining sounds: the stuttering, sneering delivery of “My Generation,” the anguished cry of “They’re all wasted!” from “Baba O’Reilly,” and the all-time scream from “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Two of their albums “Tommy” and “Quadrophenia” were also adapted into successful films in 1975 and 1979, respectively.
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“Well, all good things must come to an end. It is a poignant time,” Townshend said. “For me, playing to American audiences and those in Canada has always been incredible.”
Daltrey, who said a throat specialist has told him he should have a “day off” after every gig he performs, and Townshend also revealed there are no plans at the moment for a farewell tour of the U.K.
“Let’s see if we survive this one,” Daltrey said. “I don’t want to say that there won’t be (a U.K. farewell tour), but equally I’m not confident in saying there will be.”