The Who’s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are working on a new album and will tour the United States this summer performing with local symphonies. The pair of legendary rockers discussed their plans for 2019 with Rolling Stone.

Townshend agreed to the symphonic tour on the condition that there was new material to play. The 73-year-old guitarist spent time last year preparing 15 demos for possible conclusion on what would be the follow-up to 2006’s Endless Wire. Daltrey is expected to add his vocals to the tracks sometime this year. There currently is no release date set for the new record.

“I said I was not going to sign any contracts unless we have new material,” Townshend told Rolling Stone. “This has nothing to do with wanting a hit album. It has nothing to do with the fact that the Who need a new album. It’s purely personal. It’s about my pride, my sense of self-worth and self-dignity as a writer.”


The Who’s recent symphony-backed performances of their rock opera Tommy inspired Daltrey to plot another symphonic tour. The still unconfirmed 14-date first leg of the tour is set to begin in April at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with Chicago and Detroit among the other planned Northeast/Midwest stops. A second leg in September and October will hit Canada and the West Coast.

“I’ll be 75 years old in March and this feels like a dignified way to go and do music,” Daltrey told Rolling Stone. “That’s all we’re really left with. We’re old men now. We’ve lost the looks. We’ve lost the glamour. What we’re left with is the music and we’re going to present it in a way which is as fresh and powerful as ever.”

Daltrey, who conceded this may be his last tour, revealed that The Who will not appear at this summer’s Woodstock 50 anniversary concert in Watkins Glen, New York. Head to Rolling Stone for more.