Roger Daltrey has seen it all—and now, the legendary frontman of The Who says he’s starting to lose both his hearing and his sight. Rather ironic if you ask me.
During a show at London’s Royal Albert Hall last week, the 81-year-old icon opened up about his health, telling the crowd: “The joys of getting old mean you go deaf. I also now have got the joy of going blind” as reported by the New York Post.
It was said with a half-smile, but the admission was a heavy one. “Fortunately, I still have my voice,” he added. “Because then I’ll have a full Tommy.”
The reference stung. Especially since Tommy, The Who’s 1969 rock opera, follows a character who is deaf, blind and mute. Daltrey played the role onscreen in 1975.
Daltrey has been fairly blunt about his hearing loss for years, calling it an occupational hazard after six decades in the game. In 2018, he warned fans in Las Vegas: “Take your f**king earplugs with you to the gigs.”
The road’s been long. And at this point, both Daltrey and Pete Townshend, who is 79 and still recovering from knee replacement surgery are clearly feeling it.
“My dreams came true, so I’m ready to go at any time,” Daltrey said in 2024. “You’ve got to be realistic… we’re in the way.”
Townshend, who reportedly blew out his knee trying to imitate Mick Jagger on stage, joked about auctioning off his old one. But beneath the humour is the creeping reality that The Who, formed in 1964, are reaching their final chapter.
The deaths of original members Keith Moon (1978) and John Entwistle (2002) loom large over the band’s legacy. Now, with both remaining members battling time, talk of retirement is no longer hypothetical.
“We don’t know how well we’re going to be,” Townshend said. “And that makes it harder to decide anything.”
For fans raised on ‘My Generation‘, it’s the harsh truth behind a lyric that once sounded like bravado “I hope I die before I get old.”
