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“I’ve got no idea how many times I’ve said that before,” said Pete Townshend at the beginning of a recent interview about touring with Roger Daltrey. The pair is embarking on a North American tour of 17 cities this November and December, and for Townshend, it’s a feeling of “huge gratitude that we can go out and play.”

Townshend is 80 years old now, and being on tour this time of his life and career can sometimes feel isolating. “It can be lonely,” he said in the interview. “I have thought, ‘Well, this is my job. I’m happy to have the work, but I prefer to be doing something else.’ Then I think, ‘Well, I’m 80 years old. Why shouldn’t I revel in it? Why shouldn’t I celebrate?”

Townshend acknowledges that while he still loves performing, there is a fine line between gratitude for the work and burnout from decades of playing. Even though The Who is no longer at the beginning of their careers or their lives, he explained in the interview that the “band” is something much larger: “We’ve been telling you, don’t call it a band. It’s a brand rather than a band. There’s Roger and me, and we have a duty to the music and the history, because the Who still sells records. The Moon and Entwistle families are millionaires. But there’s also something more, really: which is that the art, the creative work, is when we perform it. We’re celebrating. We’re a Who tribute band.”

Townshend’s words regarding the late drummer Keith Moon and the late bassist John Entwistle, who died in 2002, reiterate the point that while he and Roger Daltrey continue to pay tribute to their former bandmates, the idea of the band’s work on stage conjures up more complicated thoughts regarding his personal life. “It does whet an appetite to think about how we should bow out in our personal lives — what we do with our families and our friends and everything else at this age,” he added. “We’re lucky to be alive. I’m looking forward to playing. Roger likes to throw wild cards out sometimes in the set, and we have learned and rehearsed a few songs that we don’t always play.”

After 50 years in the music industry, Townshend still finds joy in performing and taking the time to rehearse songs he hasn’t played often in recent years. The unpredictability and excitement of live shows keep each performance from becoming routine.

Roger Daltrey: Honest Thoughts on Life After Touring

Roger Daltrey expressed similar sentiments on stage in June while playing with Townshend at a Teenage Cancer Trust charity event in London. “Fortunately, I still have my voice, because then I’ll have a full Tommy,” he told the audience, referring to the title character in The Who’s 1969 rock opera Tommy. Daltrey quoted the well-known line from the album and added with a laugh: “Deaf, dumb, and blind kid.”

Daltrey also spoke at length with The Times about life after the tour during an interview earlier this month. He made it clear that for longtime fans of the band, the present tour may be the last. “This is certainly the last time you will see us on tour,” he said in the interview. “It’s grueling.”

Daltrey reflected on how strenuous performing The Who’s music can be night after night, especially during the band’s busiest periods. “I used to sing Who songs for three hours a night, six nights a week, and I was working harder than most footballers,” he remembered. It’s hard to keep up with the physical demands of such a grueling schedule, even more so now that he is 80.

Daltrey did not rule out one-off concerts in the future, but it was not clear if he and Townshend would continue to play together. “As to whether we’ll play [one-off] concerts again, I don’t know. The Who to me is very perplexing,” he said. There is also an acknowledgment of the many roles The Who has played throughout its long history, including as an institution, as nostalgia, and as art.

Daltrey ended the interview on a reassuring note by saying that his voice is in excellent shape. Fans of The Who were nervous that the rock opera might never be performed again in its entirety and that they could not hear Daltrey sing songs like they were once accustomed to.

Audiences in the U.S. and Canada have a 17-date tour in November and December to see The Who in all its glory, but for Townshend and Daltrey, it is also a “love letter to ourselves, a love letter to all those years, our survival,” as they both age and reflect on their legacy. The Who in 2023 is as much about the families, the work, and the friendships that continue to change and be enriched by their music as it is about the music itself. Townshend said simply, “We’re lucky to be alive.”