S Poddar
Pete Townshend announced that he and The Who’s longtime collaborator, co-founder, and singing partner Roger Daltrey plan to work together for a new project in 2025. He brought the news in an exclusive interview to mark the new opening of the Townshend Studio at the University of West London, in a location where he had enrolled nearly six decades ago during his time as a young artist at Ealing Art College.
Reflecting on a recent meeting with Daltrey, Townshend said, “I met with Roger for lunch a couple of weeks ago. We’re in good form. We love each other. We’re both getting a bit creaky, but we will definitely do something next year.” It is not clear precisely what shape this collaboration will take—a tour, a new album, or whatever else, but Townshend said he’s champing at the bit to make music with Daltrey, even if Daltrey is less keen to record. “The album side of it… Roger’s not keen,” Townshend noted. “But I would love to do another album, and I may try to bully him on that.”
After the phenomenally successful orchestral tours, The Who are eager to get back to the raw, spontaneous sound that brought them their early successes. As Townshend puts it, “The last big tours that we’ve done have been with a full orchestra, which was glorious, but we’re now eager to make a noise and make a mess and make mistakes.”
The last show the Who did was on March 2024 for the live series of the Teenage Cancer Trust, held in London’s Royal Albert Hall. It was their final act in support of the annual charity concerts they have put together for the organization Daltrey has been the organizer of these shows since their creation. The Hits Back Tour ran from 2022 through 2023; the group played 46 dates in six countries around the world, supporting The Who with full band and orchestral backing.
Townshend also voiced his disappointment at the Oasis reunion and vented his frustration over the fact that the arts are not being funded. Speaking candidly, he said, “Music is being undercut in normal schools [as is] dancing, writing, painting, poetry, everything. We’re in a crisis and I understand that we haven’t got any money but, you know, they should first fix the potholes then they can open some more universities.”
Townshend has been quite busy outside of The Who, too, and his orchestral work, The Seeker, is inspired by Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, a classic story of personal growth and enlightenment. The album is set for release on November 7 and will be available for pre-order at theseekermusic.com. The Seeker will be celebrated one night only in the Royal Drury Lane Theatre with a production that will reunite Townshend for this production with artists like Sunidhi Chauhan, Layton Williams, Nakhane, and Alfie Boe, while the Royal Philharmonic and London Chamber Choir will round out the accompaniments.
Exciting news for fans of the band The Who, though it is unclear yet what form their collaboration with Townshend and Daltrey will take in 2025. Townshend’s enthusiasm for getting to the basics and embracing potential imperfection suggests that whatever they do, it will carry the energy and spirit defined by The Who for decades.
