The Who's Singer Expresses Health Fears Over Final Tour

As New Times announced earlier this year, the Who will kick off their U.S. "The Song Is Over" tour in Sunrise at the Amerant Bank Arena on August 16. However, in a recent interview with the British newspaper the Times, the band's lead singer, Roger Daltrey, expressed concerns about finishing the band's final tour due to health issues.

Daltrey, who is 81, has been experiencing hearing and sight loss, especially since contracting viral meningitis nine years ago. Although the singer thinks that his hearing problems started way back, before he even joined the Who. When he was 16, he worked in a sheet metal factory in his hometown of Acton, London, and he is confident that his issues started then.

He told the Times from his home in the British capital that the meningitis has done "a lot of damage." He also pointed out that "it's buggered up my internal thermometer, so every time I start singing in any climate over 75 degrees, I'm wringing with sweat, which drains my body salts. The potential to get really ill is there and, I have to be honest, I'm nervous about making it to the end of the tour." Based on this, we can't imagine South Florida's high summer temperatures being an ally during the local show.
During the March Teenage Cancer Trust concert fundraising event, he told the audience that he was losing his sight. He said that if he lost his voice, he would "go the full Tommy," referencing the story of the Who's fourth album and rock opera centered on a boy who was "deaf, dumb, and blind " but ended up becoming a spiritual leader thanks to his pinball skills.

"Fortunately, my voice is still as good as ever. I'm still singing in the same keys, and it's still bloody loud, but I can't tell you if it will still be there in October. There's a big part of me that's going: I just hope I make it through," he mentioned in the interview.

The Who's "The Song Is Over" farewell tour will feature special guests including Billy Idol, Feist, and Billy Bob Thornton. The actor, singer, and his band, the Boxmasters, will be the special guests for the Sunrise show.  


The Who. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, August 16, at Amerant Bank Arena, 1 Panther Parkway, Sunrise; 954-835-8000; amerantbankarena.com.