The Who At 50

Yes, the band that once proclaimed, “Hope I die before I get old” is hitting the half century mark.  While that famous line from “My Generation” has followed the group through the decades, Townshend, who is describing the outing as “Hits, Picks, Mixes and Misses,” seems to have reconciled with life’s inevitable progress.

“Trying to stay young.  Not wearing socks.  Growing a great big woodcutter’s beard.  Might even wear a check shirt on stage and get a tattoo of a Union Jack,” Townshend said.  “Always a fashion victim.  But under no illusions.  We are what we are, and extremely good at it, but we’re lucky to be alive and still touring.  If I had enough hairs to split I would say that for thirteen years since 1964 The Who didn’t really exist. So we are really only thirty-seven.”

Meanwhile, Daltrey is hinting that this might truly be the band’s swan song.

“This is the beginning of the long goodbye,” said Daltrey. 

Of course, the band did a farewell tour in 1982 and we all know how well that “goodbye” worked out.  So we’ll see.

Here are the dates:

Nov. 26 – Dublin, The O2 – Dublin
Nov. 28 – Belfast, No. Ireland, Odyssey Arena
Nov. 30 – Glasgow, Scotland, The SSE Hydro
Dec. 2 – Leeds, England, First Direct Arena
Dec. 5 – Nottingham, England, The Capital FM Arena Nottingham
Dec. 7 – Birmingham, England, The NIA
Dec. 9 – Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Metro Radio Arena
Dec. 11 – Liverpool, England, Liverpool Echo Arena
Dec. 13 – Manchester, England, Phones 4u Arena – Manchester
Dec. 15 – Cardiff, Wales, Motorpoint Arena Cardiff
Dec. 17 – London, England, The O2 – London

A fan club presale via FanClub.TheWho.com is going on now through July 3.  General onsales launch July 4.  Click here for more information.