As lead singer and frontman of the Who, Roger Daltrey took part in several cutting-edge works that revolutionized rock music. But he has no interest in what could be the genre’s final frontier: avatar tours.
Daltrey’s bandmate, guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend, recently mused on the topic in a New York Times interview, quipping: “The Who isn’t Daltrey and Townshend onstage at 80, pretending to be young. It’s the four of us in 1964, when we were 18 or 19. If you want to see the Who myth, wait for the avatar show. It would be good!”
It was apparently a remark made in jest, and not one with which Daltrey agrees. When asked if he shares Townshend’s point of view on a Who avatar show, Daltrey asks UCR, “What is that?”
After a brief explanation about ABBA’s Voyage digital spectacle, Daltrey is still perplexed. “What, we’re going to go out and do ABBA covers? I don’t think so,” he laughs. “I’d look fucking awful in a mini dress!”
Jokes aside, Daltrey still doesn’t think much of a prospective virtual Who performance. He pauses to consider, then says, “I’ve never thought about it. I wouldn’t want to go and see it.”
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Roger Daltrey’s Upcoming Solo Tour
Rather than dwell on a virtual Who tour, Daltrey is preparing for an in-the-flesh solo trek throughout North America that launches in less than two weeks. He’s not willing to divulge any details about it, though.
“I’d like to keep that secret,” he tells UCR. “There’s far too much information about people’s shows these days. I mean, with all of the clips on YouTube and everything. What about surprises do people not get? It’s hard to surprise an audience now, isn’t it? I find that really, really sad. You know, there was something about mystique that was beneficial to show business. Now we know the color of people’s underpants. It’s fucking boring.”
Daltrey’s life and career, on the other hand, have been the furthest possible thing from boring. But, again, he’s not dwelling on his legacy. “I don’t think about it. This is my job that I got lucky enough to be successful at, and how lucky was I?” he marvels. “What a fantastic [life]. You know, I was always a worker. I worked in a factory for five years. I do other work apart from the Who. I’ve got a farm. I do a lot of work for Teen Cancer America and the Teenage Cancer Trust in the U.K. I’m driven by that just as much as I was driven by the Who. So there’s always something to be done. I’ve just always, somehow or another, landed on my feet. I’ve been very lucky. I do appreciate that fact.”
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Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
