Pete Townshend has admitted he should have stopped playing with The Who after Keith Moon’s death 48 years ago.
In a recent interview with Classic Album Review, Townshend reflected on the death of his bandmates and how he believes they should have stopped touring decades agi,
“We got this word that three days before we were supposed to move from LA to Hollywood Bowl where we had two shows in LA that John Entwistle had died, and I remember saying to Rog who was in bits ‘Pete, Pete, what do we do?’ And I said ‘Well, if I’m honest Rog, I would love to stop’..” Townshend said, per Far Out Magazine.
Townshend wanted the mod rock band to end after Keith Moon passed away in 1978 of an overdose, aged 32. “I always wanted to stop, I always wanted a reason to stop,” the guitarist added. “When Keith Moon died I should’ve stopped but instead I went on.”
He added: “I felt we didn’t have any options, and [Roger] said, ‘We’ve got a show coming up in two days,’ and I said, ‘I think we have to go on’.”
Townshend cites money as the main reason the “My Generation” band didn’t retire after their tragedies. “We knew John Entwistle had died from sex with a prostitute and a huge amount of cocaine, so we wouldn’t get our insurance, so between us we had to come up with about $30million which was completely out of our scope to pay everybody and make up with our audience and to rebuild the band and come back over again. So we didn’t have the option.”
The band wouldn’t announce their retirement until 2025. When revealing their farewell shows, Townshend admitted “the road has not always been enjoyable for me, it is usually easy: the best job I could ever have had.”
As reported by Guitar.com, the guitarist admitted he kept “coming back” to touring because of the fans and their energy.
“For me, playing to American audiences and those in Canada has always been incredible. The warmth and engagement of those audiences began back in 1967 with hippies smoking dope, sitting on their blankets and listening deeply and intensely,” Townshend’s statement noted. “Music was everywhere. We all felt equal. Today, Roger and I still carry the banner for the late Keith Moon and John Entwistle and, of course, all of our longtime Who fans.”
