Roger recently joined an interview with Billboard and revealed how he plans to sing ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ in his upcoming tour:
“We don’t use a tape loop for the instrumentation. We do it on real instruments. It just takes it off the rails and gives me more room as a singer. I’m not gonna do the scream. I’m gonna get the f*cking audience to do the scream.”
“I’ve done that scream for 55 years, and I’ve had enough of it. I don’t even want to try it now; it’s brutal on the vocal cords. They can do the scream, and I’ll do everything else. I’m more into singing these days. At the age of 80, I think I deserve to be.”
Daltrey talked about his vocal struggles before, too. Earlier this year, he stepped down as the organizer of the annual Teenage Cancer Trust concerts. He explained why he made this decision in a chat with the U.K.’s The Times:
“I have to be realistic. I’m on my way out. The average life expectancy is 83, and with a bit of luck, I’ll make that, but we need someone else to drive things.”
Then, Roger mentioned feeling nervous before some shows:
“We haven’t done anything for seven months, and this winter’s been brutal. I’ve been in hibernation. For the whole of January, I lost my voice completely. I live like a monk, and if I went on tour for a week, I’d be fit as a butcher’s dog again, but tonight, for the first time in my career, I think, ‘Blimey, this is hard.'”
Daltrey’s upcoming nine-date North American tour is under way and ends on June 29 in Highland Park, Illinois. It will feature mostly acoustic versions of Who songs, rare tracks, solo pieces, and other surprises, plus Q&A sessions with the audience.
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