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Rock Icon's Final Tour Brings Old Regrets and New Tension
Rock Icon's Final Tour Brings Old Regrets and New Tension originally appeared on Parade.
might have thrilled fans with his signature guitar-smashing move onstage, but there was one particular incident that eventually left him with regret. Now, as The Who embarks on what may be its final tour, frontman Roger Daltrey is opening up about the toll time has taken and how Townshend feels about the future.
In the late 1960s, Townshend was preparing to play in Detroit, but he found himself without a guitar. The lead guitarist went to a local pawnshop where he purchased two Stratocaster guitars for a steal.
'The dealer had no idea what he had. On stage, I started with the older of the two guitars. It was almost certainly a guitar that belonged to Buddy Holly,' Townshend said in a resurfaced interview with Premier Guitar from 2010. 'The sound was superb, off the map, bell-like, silky, just sublime. When the time came to smash the guitar, I switched it for the newer one, and a boy at the front of the stage protested. 'No,' he shouted. 'Smash the good one, not some fake.''
He continued, 'So I switched back, and to my shame, smashed the guitar over his hands. I still wait for him to sue me. He would have a perfect right, but I was pretty angry with him. However, this entire guitar-smashing thing is my fault, my thing, my idea, my artistic statement, my absurdity. I have no doubt that guitar is sitting in someone's home now, and probably plays okay. I hope the same can be said for that poor guy's hands. So my regret and shame on this occasion is doubled.'
Fifteen years later, The Who's destruction looks a little different and Townshend's ambivalence is aimed at touring rather than destroying expensive music equipment. He's mentioned several times that he's not a fan of being on the road, something his bandmate is seemingly irritated by.
'I want to give the songs the same amount of passion as I did the first time round. But it's not easy when you're dealing with a partner who can be ambivalent about it,' The Who's lead singer Roger Daltrey said in an interview with The Times published on August 1. 'So he says until he's out there — and he loves the money. But look at those early Who concerts. Every night was a war. That's how we got the music across. We're not going to turn into f--king Abba overnight, are we?'
While Townshend might be uninterested in touring, Daltrey's still determined to give it his all and he's trying to finish what they started.
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Rock Icon's Final Tour Brings Old Regrets and New Tension first appeared on Parade on Aug 7, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
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