Home News Classic Rock News Roger Daltrey explains appeal of Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, reveals origin...

Roger Daltrey explains appeal of Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, reveals origin of his famous mic twirl

336
Andrew Lipovsky/NBC

The Who frontman Roger Daltrey is one of several legendary artists who appear in the new documentary Rock Camp: The Movie, detailing the experiences of fans who attend Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp. Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Daltrey explained why he likes playing with a bunch of amateurs at those events.

"What it did for me was remind me of all the reasons why I did this in the first place," Daltrey said. "We were young and we were having so much fun…we'd do anything just to play music."

"And I was with people of varying abilities…some very good, incidentally — some of them extremely good — and some of them extremely bad," he laughed. "And…it's good to be reminded of where you started."

Fallon also asked Daltrey about his famous onstage trademark of twirling his microphone, throwing it in the air and catching it.

"I did it out of pure boredom, actually, because I was on a stage with with two maniacs and a very straight bass player," Daltrey explained, referring to guitarist Pete Townshend and drummer Keith Moon, who smashed their equipment on stage, and bass player John Entwistle, who just stood there.

"I just got bored and I thought, 'I've got this thing in my hand that I'm fed up with holding…what do I do with it?' So I kind of threw it and held onto the cord," he recalled. "And of course it came back, and I thought, 'That was interesting. Let's see what more I could do with it!'"

Daltrey claimed that he used to be able to "take a cigarette out of someone's mouth from about 20 yards" with his mic, but, the 77-year-old legend laughed, "I can't see it now, of course!"

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.