Roger Daltrey Talks New Tour, Thoughts on Broadway’s ‘Tommy’ and Future of The Who

As Roger Daltrey hits the road on a short solo tour this June, he’s unsure if fans will ever see another tour from The Who.

“I don’t see it. I don’t know whether The Who’ll ever will go out again,” he told The Associated Press over Zoom.

The 80-year-old rocker has a “use-it-or-lose it-mentality” when it comes to his singing voice, so he finds it necessary to perform as much as possible, with or without The Who.

Recently, Daltry spoke with The Associated Press on the future of the band, his solo tour and his feelings on the Broadway revival of The Who’s seminal rock opera, “Tommy.”

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: What do you think of the “Tommy” Broadway revival?

DALTREY: I’m glad the album is still out there; it means a lot to me. It’s the best opera ever written. I don’t particularly like it (the musical). It’s been altered and changed. I can’t imagine cutting some of the music in “Madame Butterfly,” or some other great operas.

AP: So, you think of it as a straight-up opera, as opposed to a rock opera?

DALTREY: It’s a fabulous opera. It was tongue and cheek at the time that we called it an opera. We did take a lot of chances with it. But since living with it and playing it on stage, and having seen lots of grand opera, I saw I had one in my hands. So, I’ve come to conclusion that it’s the best opera ever written.

AP: Tell us about the tour.

DALTREY: I’m bringing a band over from the UK of eight people, a very different sounding band with different instrumentation. No synthesizers. It’s just about having a lot of fun playing different songs, and obviously some Who classics. But we do them different. So it’s just something I love to do. And people seem to like it when I take it out there. So, I’m just going to put my toe in the water.

AP: So you’ll play solo material and The Who stuff?

DALTREY: Having a band like this gives me an opportunity to do a lot of things that I’ve done over the years with different artists, like the stuff I did with Wilko Johnson 10 years ago. I will do some solo stuff, plus some covers of other people that I really admire to make a night of entertainment and fun. So many people are retiring. All the good old boys are retiring and it’s very thin out there.

AP: Is getting out there in front of an audience what keeps your voice intact?

DALTREY: That’s always been the impetus for me ever since I had my voice problems out. You’ve got to keep using it. Just like anything else in the body. You stop walking, you lose the muscles in your legs. The voice is a similar thing. If you stop using those muscles in the voice box and the vocal cords, they’ll go soft on you and you’ll lose your voice. Mine is remarkable for my age.

AP: Simon Townsend is performing with you — not his brother, The Who’s Pete Townsend. What is it like supplementing one Townsend for another?

DALTREY: Simon Townsend is always in my solo shows. Simon has always been with me. Well, he’s a totally different guy than Pete, though he’s got very similar timber to his voice that suits my voice in the harmonies. He’s a great musician, fabulous guitarist and a great guy. You know, I’ve known him for 60 years.

AP: What’s the difference being touring with The Who and hitting the road solo?

DALTREY: It’s a lot less weight on my shoulders by myself. The Who feels like, I don’t know, heavier. It’s always much more relaxed and solo shows.

AP: There’s less pressure with a solo gig?

DALTREY: Because it’s the responsibility with The Who — there’s heritage and history to maintain that always need to be in a good light, so it puts a lot of weight on your shoulders. But with this band, I’ve discovered that I can go out there and have a good time and play any kind of music that I want.

AP: Can you give me an example?

DALTREY: I was doing some solo shows on a cruise, and I got this terrible allergy just before the first show. I ended up in hospital and didn’t know whether I’d make the cruise. But I did make the cruise. Anyway, I ended up having to do three shows back-to-back, and I’m thinking I was not able to have a sound check. I’m not going to get a rehearsal. But at least these three shows I can do.

Soundchecks are very important when you’re on the road. And I thought, “I know what I’ll do, I’ll show the audience a rehearsal.” And that’s what I did. I did the show as a rehearsal and talked about what’s going on the stage, what the roadies were doing, and what everyone was doing. And they really enjoyed it. If you can get away with that, you get away with anything.

AP: With a career that began in the mid-1960s, what has been the biggest change you’ve seen over the years?

DALTREY: Age. (Laughs.) I mean, see the elders growing up with us out in the audience, but equally, we have got an enormous number of young fans, which I’m astounded by. So, it changes all the time. But obviously our audience, they’ve grown up with us, so age is the thing you notice most.

AP: Mick Jagger is on the road with the Rolling Stones at 80 years old. Will The Who ever tour again?

DALTREY: I don’t see it. I don’t, I don’t know whether The Who will ever go out again. I don’t know. I don’t think like that. If we’ve got something to do, something which was progressive and interesting and there was a reason to do it, then we would go out. But at the moment I can’t see it.

Dozens of rare posters from some of the 20th century's most iconic films will go under the hammer this month as an American collector relinquishes some of his most precious possessions.

The 500 posters and lobby cards from classic films such as "King Kong", "Casablanca" and "2001: A Space Odyssey" have been exhibited in recent weeks in London, New York and Chicago.

Collected over half a century by real estate agent Dwight Cleveland, they are to be auctioned by Heritage showrooms in Dallas on March 27 and 28.

"I cherish every single one of them because every one of them was hand-picked," Cleveland, 65, told AFP.

"These are commercial art. They were intended to grab us by the lapels and yank us into a movie theater and say, 'See this film'."

But this was also "important art" that went beyond just advertising, he argued.

The posters and cards, which would have been displayed in cinema foyers, span around 125 years of film history. Many of the images date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

But after 50 years "it's getting harder and harder to find anything to add to the collection", said Cleveland.

"I don't feel like there's anything else I can do and give to this hobby," he added.

Some of the posters will do better at auction than others, he said, including the one for the 1933 version of "King Kong" showing actor Fay Wray in the grip of the beast.

It has an estimated guide price of $40,000 to $80,000.

- Passion -

"The selection of Cleveland's collection offered by Heritage in March represents the best of the best," said Joe Maddalena, Heritage's vice president.

"What makes me different from most collectors is that I fell in love with the artwork first," said Cleveland.

"I do not come to this from a film background."

Cleveland's interest in the subject began at school, where his art teacher displayed film posters and lobby cards in his room.

"We walked by these every day, and we kind of made fun of him, to be honest with you, because he had quite a few of them, and it was a very esoteric collection," Cleveland said.

But one day in 1977, his last year at school, he was drawn to a lobby card from the 1929 movie "Wolf Song" starring Gary Cooper and Mexican actor Lupe Velez.

He became hooked and it took him 18 months to gather enough movie items to trade for the card with his then former teacher -- sparking a lifelong love of collecting.

Cleveland's extensive collection has already been exhibited in the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2019.

Other exhibitions have been held in San Diego, Los Angeles and New York.

Other rare finds going under the hammer include a 1953 Italian poster for the 1942 film "Casablanca" starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

Most of the posters to be auctioned have estimates of between $1,000 to $2,000. Heritage has calculated that the whole auction could raise one million dollars.

After the Dallas auction, Cleveland will still own about 10,000 lobby cards and around 500 posters, which he might one day either donate or put up for auction.

"I'll be sad to see some of them go, but I'll be happy that they're going to be in the hands of other collectors to whom they'll mean a lot," he said.

Roger Daltrey Talks New Tour, Thoughts on Broadway’s ‘Tommy’ and Future of The Who