Pete Townshend has revealed that he is planning to embark on some solo shows once his farewell tour with The Who wraps up.
The rock icons are currently out on their final run of US shows, dubbed ‘The Song Is Over North America Farewell Tour’.
There are 16 tour dates lined-up in total, and the name comes as a nod to their classic 1971 track. It is set to mark the last-ever shows from the group.
Now, guitarist Pete Townshend has revealed that, while the band have no intention of playing any more shows together after this run, that doesn’t mean his days of playing live are also coming to an end.
Speaking to AARP, Townshend said that he plans to continue his work on his solo album, ‘The Age Of Anxiety’, once the latest tour is done. The album is something he has been working on since 2007, and is based on a novel he wrote of the same title (which got published in 2019).
“I want to continue to be creative. I’ve got songs in all kinds of development, 140 tracks ready to go. On ‘The Age of Anxiety’, I’ve got 26 songs,” he said, going on to explain how he tackles themes of mental health in both the upcoming album and the 2019 book.
“It’s not not autobiographical, but the scope of my own mental journey through addiction and recovery has led me to a place where I feel that I can write a character, a genuine, realistic character — youngish, who, rather than be depressed, has an acuity, a kind of instant, psychic feeling, and he decides that he wants to really dig in to make his audience as happy as they possibly can be,” he added.
“With ‘The Age of Anxiety’, I am hoping to start a conversation. I’m hoping that people will talk about depression, but also about the nature of the artist and what artists are going through, and how, for example, some have to be very selfish, very self-obsessed or go through periods of that. I found it a cathartic thing to write. Everybody I’ve shared it with has said that it starts a conversation.”
As for how the project could feed into future live shows, Townshend said he plans “to experiment with some one-man shows”, but is also open to working with Roger Daltrey again for “charity and possibly for special projects”.
He also said that he will continue to join forces with the band’s frontman to help retain “all aspects of The Who legacy”.
“You know, I’m the songwriter and creator, but Roger’s been the driving force, meaning keeping The Who band and his brand on track. Even with his solo work, we’ll continue to work together, even if we rarely socialise,” he explained.
Townshend’s comments come after he previously remarked that he was mentally done with the days of extensive touring, saying: “I don’t love performing. I don’t like being on a stage… it doesn’t fill my soul.”
The comments would prompt a response from Daltrey, who said: “If Pete doesn’t want to tour, I don’t want to be back with The Who on the road, at 81, with someone who doesn’t want [to] be there… if that’s what he’s saying.
Speaking about their supposed “love/hate” relationship with Daltrey in the AARP interview, Townshend said that it stems from the two of them not being able to “communicate very well”.
“He and I are very different and we have different needs as performers,” he shared. “He got upset because he felt I had sometimes given the impression of having left the building. Roger complained about the fact that he is deaf. He’s a singer, and he has to be 100 per cent fit in order to do his job.”
Last year, Townshend spoke to NME about his production of Quadrophenia, A Mod Ballet – a dance adaptation of the band’s seminal 1973 album, and Townshend’s first foray in ballet.
“What inspires me is trying to do something that has a slightly more ambitious thread,” he said. “It’s not me being pompous. It’s just something that seemed to fit more into the dis-conjunction that I felt when I left art school and ended up in the band. It felt like there was unfinished business for me, which was the art.”
