Pete Townshend No Longer Finds the Who’s Concerts ‘Fulfilling’

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Just because you’re great at something doesn’t mean it’s fun for you. Just ask Pete Townshend.

The Who co-founder, currently in the midst of the band’s 50th anniversary tour, admits in a new interview with Uncut that he no longer gets much of a thrill from playing their classics in front of thousands of screaming fans — even if he can’t deny it’s one of the things he’s best at.

“The shows? I don’t like them. I don’t find them fulfilling. But I’m brilliant at it. I find it incredibly easy. I drift through it,” shrugged Townshend. “I get out the other end and the next day, somebody comes up to me and says, ‘You were f—ing amazing yesterday!’”

At this point, suggests Townshend, fronting the Who is just like any other job — albeit one for which he’s spent a lifetime building a fundamental understanding of the craft.

“It’s like being able to make a pair of shoes and knowing that you’ve got to a point that whenever you make a pair of shoes for somebody they’re going to last them for life,” he explained. “I don’t get particularly excited about it, but I do find it easy.”

Townshend’s Who-fueled ennui may be a part of why the band is calling its 50th anniversary trek their final large tour, and perhaps one of the reasons why his partner Roger Daltrey has suggested that future shows could take the form of acoustic theater residencies. The duo is also eyeing a new Who LP, which would presumably be more exciting for Townshend than yet another performance of “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”


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This ain't something new for Pete, he's written articles just like this before. I remember one really well-written one which showed up on his personal blog maybe 8, 9 years ago.

Always strikes a grim chord for me because if I recall correctly there's a scene in one of the Kurt Cobain biographies where he watches a then-recent Pete Townshend performance and becomes depressed over the fact that Pete still has that passion after decades that he himself lost after less than one. Supposedly this was one of the inspirations for his suicide note although how Charles Cross or anyone else alive would know what on Earth he watched before he killed himself I do not know.

Me, personally, I think you do anything enough times it'll eventually get tedious. You could probably skydive enough times to make it a chore.

The Who's 1982 tour was billed as their final tour. 1982! Pete's personal passion play about touring got old long ago. I would not want to attend a Who concert knowing he feels this blasé.

JimJam said:

The Who's 1982 tour was billed as their final tour. 1982! Pete's personal passion play about touring got old long ago. I would not want to attend a Who concert knowing he feels this blasé.

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Brilliant, "come and pay £80 a ticket to see me do something that millions would love to do....but I'm bored out of my ass". He should keep that to himself. Too much honesty. Rock music is supposed to be escapism and the idea of a "show" is that you put it on even when you don't feel like it.

Unprofessional comment to allow into the press. Some things are better left unsaid.

I think his honesty is fine. I just won't pay hard earned money to watch him sleepwalk through the same 20 songs. I saw the '82 "farewell tour". Plus, there's so much footage of The Who in their prime on DVD and Blu Ray, why bother with the current tour?