It’s Too Expensive for The Who to Tour America

The Who frontman Roger Daltrey says the chances of the legendary rock band returning to the United States are “very doubtful” due to increasingly hefty costs and high financial risk.

In an interview with USA Today promoting the iconic British band’s latest live album, The Who with Orchestra: Live at Wembley, the 79-year-singer revealed that he and fellow founding member Pete Townshend have no plans for another trip across the pond. “I don’t know if we’ll ever come back to tour America,” he shared. “I never say never, but at the moment it’s very doubtful.”

Though he initially pointed to the group’s limited creative options aside from “an orchestrated Quadrophenia to round out the catalog,” the singer seemed more concerned with the expensive overhead of another tour. “We cannot get insured and most of the big bands doing arena shows, by the time they do their first show and rehearsals and get the staging and crew together, all the buses and hotels, you’re upwards $600,000 to a million in the hole. To earn that back, if you’re doing a 12-show run, you don’t start to earn it back until the seventh or eighth show.”

“That’s just how the business works,” he concluded. “The trouble now is if you get COVID after the first show, you’ve (lost) that money.”

The Who are luckily booked through the summer for a European tour, and by Daltrey’s estimate, they’re “playing better than ever” (get tickets here). To get a sense of what the States stand to miss without The Who, check out our recap of the band’s 2022 “The Who Hits Back” North American tour opener in Florida.

In February, Daltrey gave an update on the long-awaited Keith Moon biopic, revealing that the script was completed and he already had “an actor in mind.”

The Who 2023 Tour Dates:
06/14 – Barcelona, ES @ Palau Sant Jordi
06/17 – Florence, IT @ Firenze Rocks, Visarno Arena
06/20 – Berlin, DE @ Waldbühne
06/23 – Paris, FR @ La Défense Arena
07/06 – Hull, UK @ Sewell Group Craven Hill Park
07/08 – Edinburgh, UK @ Edinburgh Castle
07/09 – Edinburgh, UK @ Edinburgh Castle
07/12 – London, UK @ The O2
07/14 – Derby, UK @ The Incora County Ground
07/16 – Bristol, UK @ The Badminton Estate
07/19 – Durham, UK @ Seat Unique Riverside
07/21 – St Helens, UK @ Totally Wicked Stadium
07/23 – Brighton, UK @ The 1st Central County Ground
08/28 – Sandringham, UK @ Royal Sandringham Estate, Norfolk