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Roger interview in Boston Globe



Thanks to Joe Alfeo for pointing this out to me.  I think you'll find it
very interesting.  Available online at:
http://www.ae.boston.com/news/daily/06/30/rock_notes.html

They know Who they are
Reunited for good, band adds classics and reaches 'new level'
By Steve Morse, Globe Staff, 6/30/2000

There's no talk of a farewell tour this time. Instead, the members of The
Who are not only back, but talking about a real future together. The British
rockers hope to make another album and keep going the same way as their '60s
peers, the Rolling Stones, have vowed to play until fans stop coming.
''This is an ongoing band now. We're definitely back as a working band,''
says Who singer Roger Daltrey, who joins Who mates Pete Townshend and John
Entwistle at the Tweeter Center on Monday, augmented by drummer Zak Starkey
(Ringo Starr's son) and keyboardist John ''Rabbit'' Bundrick.
''We're back to a five-piece now, with Pete on electric guitar, and that's
the way the band works best,'' says Daltrey. ''That also gives us room to
experiment and do free-form stuff, which hopefully will give us more ideas
for our next album. And Pete is playing like a man possessed. He's really
come alive.''
Formerly known for fragile relations that led to a seven-year hiatus after
one farewell tour in the 1980s, The Who is now rocking with nightly sets
that span its catalog, rather than focusing on the ''Quadrophenia'' album,
which the last tour did.
The band is now hitting classics like ''My Generation,'' ''I Can't
Explain,'' and ''Pinball Wizard,'' but also adding songs not often played,
such as ''Pure and Easy,'' ''After the Fire'' (''it wasn't really a Who
song, but Pete wrote it for me,'' says Daltrey), and ''Don't Even Know
Myself.''
''I'm just having a really good time now,'' says Daltrey. ''I used to be a
worrier - and would always be pushing, pushing, pushing - but now I just
accept what's there and enjoy it. And I think we all realized how much we
bloody missed each other. We feel that whatever time we've got left, we want
to make the most of it. It's as simple as that.
''I especially missed Pete,'' he adds. ''We go back such a long way and have
been through so much together. I think Pete feels the same way now. And I've
always had a feeling in my gut that with the kind of writing that Pete does,
and with the kind of audience we have, we could possibly do our best work at
our ages now.'' (Daltrey is 56, Townshend, 55, and Entwistle, 54.)
''I feel like we're at a whole new level,'' says Daltrey. ''And I don't
think I've lost any of the edge off my voice. It's still there and, if
anything, has developed into other areas. I'm really looking forward to
trying to make a new album. If we come up with 15 songs of rubbish, we won't
put it out. But there's something wonderful about being the ages we are
now.''
The return to a five-piece band (''this is much more rock 'n' roll and is
like the old Who shows,'' says Daltrey) was prompted by a short charity tour
as a five-piece last year. That included Who benefits for the Bridge School
(organized by Neil Young) and for Maryville Academy, a Chicago orphanage.
This summer, the band is mainly playing for-profit shows, but also mixing in
some benefits, such as a recent one in New York for the Robin Hood
Foundation, which raised a startling $10 million.
''I think it's going into the Guinness Book of Records as the highest amount
of money raised in one night for one foundation by one band,'' says Daltrey.
''I think if you're in a position where you can do it, I think you should.''
The Who, however, has been attacked by some critics for high ticket prices
on this mostly for-profit tour. At the Tweeter Center, the prices go up to
$150 a seat.
''Everybody is taking knocks for high ticket prices,'' says Daltrey. ''But
we're still a lot cheaper than the Stones. And we have to be realistic. Many
of our hard-core fans, the people who grew up with us, are now CEOs of
companies and can afford it.''
There are two more reasons for the high prices. One is that SFX, the
entertainment conglomerate, bought the entire 25-city tour and paid the band
huge guarantees, and thus must try to recoup them. Second is that The Who's
''Quadrophenia'' tour did not make any money, Daltrey says, because it was
so expensive to produce. ''It was the most expensive tour we ever did,'' he
says.
The group is keeping expenses down now, not only with fewer band members but
with a minimal stage set that ''is really funky and stripped-down, almost as
though we're playing in a club.''
Next year, he hopes the band will undertake another tour, possibly of
universities (undoubtedly with cheaper tickets). ''We want to show young
people what they've been missing,'' he says. ''When we were in our 20s, all
our idols were Chicago blues guys who were in their 60s. The age difference
didn't matter. So my feeling is, why not play universities?''

This story ran on page D15 of the Boston Globe on 6/30/2000.
© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.

        -Brian in Atlanta
         The Who This Month!
        http://members.home.net/cadyb/who.htm