ABC/Richard CartwrightWho frontman Roger Daltrey recently chatted with Billboard about his plans for 2019, which he says may or may not include his famous band.
After he and fellow Who founder Pete Townshend spent last year focusing on their respective solo endeavors, Daltrey tells Billboard that the two have been “discussing” possibly doing a new Who project, although Roger is unsure what that might be.
“It’s just, ‘What do we do next?'” Daltrey posed. “It’s really, really difficult. I’m 75 [in March]; I just feel like doing something different, but I don’t know what.”
Roger also revealed that he’d like to release a live album documenting his 2018 solo tour, which featured him performing The Who’s 1969 rock opera Tommy with orchestral accompaniment. He’s also considering scheduling more shows this year to mark the album’s 50th anniversary.
“I’m absolutely astonished at how good [the live version of] it is,” gushed Daltrey. “It’s not like The Who’s original version of it. It’s got all the b**ls of The Who’s original version of it, but it’s got all these wonderful bits of orchestration underneath it that make it triumphant. It’s just magical.”
Daltrey’s orchestral Tommy concerts featured orchestrations by veteran composer and arranger David Campbell — alternative rocker Beck‘s dad — and Roger said he’d also like to see what Campbell would do with Quadrophenia.
“There’s something about adding [Campbell] to the mix of what Pete’s already done, which is how we did Tommy, that makes something very special,” Daltrey maintained.
Meanwhile, Daltrey told Billboard that he isn’t interested taking part in a 50th anniversary Woodstock event this summer.
“August in America is too hot for me to work anymore,” said Roger, adding, “You can’t redo Woodstock because the stars of Woodstock were the audience…Nobody’s approached us about it, anyway.”
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