For over half a century, The Who have been a dominating force in rock.
But now, as their final tour winds toward its close, Daltrey admits he’s not sure he’ll make it to the end.
‘I’m going to be 82 next year,’ he told The Times.
‘Fortunately, my voice is still as good as ever. I’m still singing in the same keys and it’s still bloody loud, but I can’t tell you if it will still be there in October. There’s a big part of me that’s going: I just hope I make it through.’
That candid uncertainty, delivered without self-pity, is typical of Daltrey. But it also reflects the toll that time and illness have taken.
Nine years ago, he contracted meningitis, an infection that left lingering damage.
‘It’s buggered up my internal thermometer, so every time I start singing in any climate over 75 degrees I’m wringing with sweat, which drains my body salts. The potential to get really ill is there,” he explains.
‘And, I have to be honest, I’m nervous about making it to the end of the tour.’
Daltrey’s relationship with physical punishment has deep roots. He believes his hearing was compromised long before The Who’s amps reached legendary decibel levels – back when he worked at a sheet metal factory in Acton at age 16.
Today, the damage is creeping in other directions. At the Teenage Cancer Trust concert in March, he told the crowd not only was he going deaf, but also losing his sight.
He even joked that if he lost his voice too, he’d ‘go the full Tommy.’
When asked about his vision now, he answers simply: ‘Not good.’
He wears dark glasses due to incurable macular degeneration and roars with laughter when asked if he uses an Autocue on stage. ‘There’s no point. Can’t f***ing see it!’
And yet, there’s no trace of resignation. the drive to deliver and to do right by the audience is undiminished.
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‘I want to give the songs the same amount of passion as I did the first time round,’ Daltrey says.
‘But it’s not easy when you’re dealing with a partner who can be ambivalent about it.’
The partner in question, Pete Townshend, has been openly apathetic about touring in recent years, describing it as more chore than thrill: ‘So he says until he’s out there — and he loves the money,’ Daltrey chuckles.
‘But look at those early Who concerts. Every night was a war. That’s how we got the music across. We’re not going to turn into f***ing Abba overnight, are we?’
Daltrey still sees The Who’s legacy as something earned with sweat and tears, night after night, in front of earsplitting stacks and roaring crowds.
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