Roger interview in Manchester Online

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

Available on line at:
http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/Entertainment/liverevdel.cfm?newsurl=livemusic/27news.html

The Who - still showing how it's done
FOR my money, at their peak The Who were the best live rock band in the world. But that was then and this is now - even the most
fervent old fan must surely harbour at least a few doubts about their upcoming Greatest Hits Live tour, especially with the
re-issued version of This Is Spinal Tap still in the cinemas.

After all, bassist John Entwistle is virtually stone-deaf these days, Pete Townshend apparently prefers editing other people's
poetry to writing his own new songs and singer Roger Daltrey appears very much the gentleman farmer, who's prepared to go out on the
road with namby-pamby concepts like the British Rock Symphony, for heaven's sake!

Nonetheless, reports of their recent gigs in America have been pretty enthusiastic and nobody could reasonably accuse 55-year-old
Daltrey himself of lacking in enthusiasm.

''Our chemistry still cooks, we proved that with the Quadrophenia tour,'' he asserts. ''It's a gift from God that four individuals
from the billions of people on this planet should get together and make that noise. No matter how old we get and no matter how much
less we're doing on-stage physically, that music retains its extraordinary power. That's why every time I see Pete I say 'Come on,
we've got to do something, for Christ's sake!' We've won the lottery every day of our lives. What put us four together to make that
noise?'' he wonders again.

This does, of course, beg the question of the relatively young chap currently manning the drum stool once so idiosyncratically
claimed by the late Keith Moon. Zak Starkey (yep, the son of Ringo) is the lucky man (he also plays in Johnny Marr's new ensemble)
and Daltrey is fulsome in his praise.

''After Keith died, and this is well documented, I felt we replaced him with the wrong drummer. I loved Kenney Jones (the former
Face) but his style was not what we needed. Our playing is so diverse. John's almost a lead guitarist bass, Pete is a power-chord
lead guitarist and if you put a straight drummer down the middle it doesn't knit together. Zak knows that. He doesn't imitate anyone
but he's got a style that knits it together like Keith used to.

''The Who's music is weird mainly because Pete's writing came from a very courageous part of his soul, the part most of us try to
hide. We were listening to blues and country but he made it so English, like an old mild and bitter.''

So, does the comeback have a future in the sense that we might actually get some new material at some point?

''We still play great together,'' he reiterates. ''But if we ever wanted to do anything new, where would we get the material? Pete
doesn't seem to feel he'd ever write it anymore and I don't think his ego would let him play anything I'd written. I'm not
complaining, I have a very nice life and I do things I want to do but The Who is very special to me. It doesn't seem to be so
special to him.

''I don't mind even just being a charity band, that'd suit me. If you've got the chance then you should be doing it. That's why I've
never wanted to stop. Keith's dead forever and that's it. But all the time you can do it, you should be out there.''

The Who, with Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, plus Zak Starkey on drums and John 'Rabbit' Bundrick on keyboards,
play at the Manchester Evening News Arena on Thursday, November 2, supported by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. 7.30pm. £25-£29.
Please confirm ticket availability on 0161-930 8000.

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