Who article in Glasgow Daily Record

["Brian Cady" <cadyb@home.com>]

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http://www.record-mail.co.uk/shtml/FEATURES/P86S2.shtml

ROGER: WE WON'T GET SKINT AGAIN...
Legendary Who reunited because they're broke

THEY made the rock statement of the 20th century with "hope I die before I get old".

Now, embarrassingly, they've not only lived to bus-pass age, but are getting together for a third reunion because Roger Daltrey and
John Entwistle are broke.

As they arrive in Scotland today for the first of two weekend shows at Glasgow's SECC, even Pete Townshend, the man who penned the
immortal line has to admit that it is less "My Generation" and more "My Geriatric".

Original band members John Entwistle, Pete and Roger Daltrey admit they are now middle-aged and middle-classed - but those who think
they can't still rock 'n' roll can all just f-f-f-fade away.

At 56, Daltrey, now a member of the landed gentry, persuaded his pals to reform because he needed a quick influx of cash after his
farming concerns suffered an economic setback.

It's hardly rock 'n' roll, but at least Townshend admits he was less than happy when Daltrey told him his reasons for wanting to
tour - and that The Who's bass player Entwistle backed his plea all the way.

Townshend said: "It's not a particularly nice one. I wasn't sympathetic considering the cost of their mansions are about 40 times
the size of my house."

After years of being a cattle farmer in Sussex, Daltrey admitted: "We're just hanging in. Fortunately, my income is so huge from
music that I can support the farming for a few years."

But Daltrey has already been forced to pull out of a trout-rearing business and says: "I'm a farmer, so I've had some really
terrible years. So I said to Pete, if you ever want to do anything, we've got three years to do it. We ain't getting any younger."

In the end, Townshend agreed to go on the road, but only if they agreed to perform two benefit concerts for a Chicago orphanage he
gives patronage to.

The guitarist admitted: "Under normal circumstances, I probably would have stomped about ranting about the same old Roger, wants to
go back to his old job and he thinks I'm the one who can give it to him. In actual fact, it all worked out best for the orphans."

The gigs went ahead and raised pounds 1.3 million.

That was followed up with an official story that Daltrey and Townshend become the best of buddies again after performing the charity
shows.

But Townshend confesses he is still cynical about the band's reunion.

He said: "Roger sat in a Press conference recently and said, how he'd written a couple of songs he was going to throw in the pot.

"I immediately found myself going into deep cynicism thinking how I used to submit 30 for an album and he'd reject half of them."

Daltrey, who admits he and Townshend have had problems with each other since they met as teenagers, added: "When we started, we
never imagined it going on until the end of that week, honest. Even now it's day to day. I think it's because we're opposites.

"He comes from the head and I come from the heart, but we are like brothers. There's an immense affection there. I really care for
the guy. We've gone through the old ego battles and still enjoy each other's company.

"Really, we're like recovering alcoholics - it's one day at a time."

Tonight, the band will be performing Who classics such as Pinball Wizard, Won't Get Fooled Again and My Generation.

But Daltrey doesn't want an auditorium full of oldies. He said: "These are people who weren't even born when the songs were written.

"They seem to be really getting off on the music and they know every word."

But how do you replace the irreplaceable - the one original Who member who can never be there?

Stepping up to the drums vacated by the late, legendary Keith Moon, will be Zak Starkey, son of Beatles legend Ringo Starr .

Zak is the perfect choice - Keith Moon taught him to play in between the boozing and drug exploits that finally killed him in 1978.

He is also the only one who doesn't have to worry about lasting the pace - Daltrey has dodgy knees from jogging and Townshend
worries about going deaf, as a result of The Who's other claim to fame as the loudest rock band on record.

Daltrey explained: "Zak is an incredible replacement. He's kind of organic because he was taught by Keith. When I listen, it could
be him - it's uncannily similar, although obviously you can't replace that personality, that humour.

"But it is true that the band hasn't been this raw since Keith died. The energy and joy makes it better than ever."

As for that famous line, he gets justifiably angry when the band's famous lyric is thrown in their faces.

Daltrey said: "It's a cheap trick. Pete never wrote My Generation and the like when he was a teenager anyway.

"They were a reflection about what it's like to be a teenager and you can reflect on that whenever you like through your life.

"But the beauty of the songs is that he struck a nerve. They were so true to the anguish of adolescence. They still speak to
generations coming through."

The Who began as The Detours, a band started by Daltrey, then a guitarist, in London in the summer of 1961. By early 1962, he'd
recruited Entwistle, a bass guitarist, who had been playing in bands at school. John then suggested his school pal Pete Townshend
and, later, maniacal drummer Moon and a name change completed the Who line-up.

They became synonymous with the Mod youth movement of 1964, which later inspired The Who film Quadrophenia.

Townshend's earliest songs were written to match Daltrey's macho stage posture, which often spilled into a punch up with the other
band members.

Despite their time as angry young-men, Daltrey claims that, these days, The Who sounds just as intense as their equipment-smashing,
hotel-trashing prime in the Sixties and Seventies.

He said: "The band hasn't been this hard since Keith died.

"Our relationship has developed so much, even in the last five years. We found that we really missed each other.

"I missed the camaraderie of the band."
©2000 Daily Record & Sunday Mail

        -Brian in Atlanta
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