The Who’s Pete Townshend: “I don’t love performing – it doesn’t fill my soul”

The Who’s Pete Townshend has revealed that he does not love performing live on stage, saying it “does not fill my soul”.

The rock legend was speaking to Spanish outlet RockFM, explaining that there are “two things” that are common in many of his fellow musicians that “I don’t really do or don’t enjoy doing”.

In the interview, the video of which you can watch below, he said: “One is they love performing. I don’t love performing. I don’t like being on a stage. I don’t mind being on a stage, I don’t hate it, but it doesn’t fill my soul in the way that you see some performers, [where] just their soul is filled through being on the stage. That’s not me.”

He went on to explain that the second thing he does not enjoy is collaborating with other musicians, which he said he “finds very difficult”.

“If I was in a studio, like with a really, really great musician, or with a group of really great musicians, I think I would find it very hard. I often do find it very hard. I find it difficult to collaborate. I find it very difficult looking in the eyes of another musician. I find myself looking to my own energy to express myself. So I’m very different to most musicians in that respect.”

Townshend was talking ahead of the new ballet reimagining of The Who’s 1973 album Quadrophenia, which has its opening performance in Plymouth’s Theatre Royal on May 28.

“What inspires me is trying to do something that has a slightly more ambitious thread,” he told NME about the ambitious project last year. “It’s not me being pompous. It’s just something that seemed to fit more into the dis-conjunction that I felt when I left art school and ended up in the band. It felt like there was unfinished business for me, which was the art.”

In the same interview, he opened up about his feelings about playing with The Who and whether it is likely they will be more to come. “I’m pretty sure there will [be more]. I can’t really see the point of making a big deal of [last Who shows], apart from the fact that it might help sell a few tickets. When we started the last US tour the year before last, some of the seats were not filled. An easy way to fill seats is to say ‘We’re not coming back’ or ‘This could be the last set of shows’.”

“What I would prefer was that the band adjusted itself to the audience that wants to see it, rather than just saying ‘We need to fill arenas in order to go home with enough money to make the whole thing worthwhile’. The story of the end of The Who is gonna be when either Roger or I drop dead or can’t function anymore on the stage.”

That followed on from previous comments in which he said the band have “one final thing” to do before they “crawl off to die”.

“It feels to me like there’s a final tour where we play every territory in the world and then crawl off to die,” he said. “I don’t get much of a buzz from performing with The Who. If I’m really honest, I’ve been touring for the money. My idea of an ordinary lifestyle is pretty elevated.”

Townshend has also revealed over the last year that he has “suicidal” thoughts when he wakes up every morning, explaining that his experience with “chemical depression” is ongoing.

Meanwhile, The Who’s longtime drummer Zak Starkey appeared to believe he had been fired from the band earlier this month, only for Townshend to later confirm that that was not the case.

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