The Who’s Roger Daltrey Says the Band May Never Tour U.S. Again Due to Costs

The Who’s Roger Daltrey says the iconic British-born rock band may not be able to tour the United States again due to high costs and financial risks.

Daltrey says the chances are “very doubtful” that the band will hit the States.

Speaking to USA Today while promoting the band’s most recent live album, The Who with Orchestra: Live at Wembley, the 79-year-old frontman said, ” 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.”

He added, “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.”

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

For those who want to catch the band, The Who has European tour dates slated this summer, beginning on June 14.

In other The Who news, Daltrey recently noted that he has “an actor in mind” for the forthcoming Keith Moon biopic. Moon, of course, was the wild former drummer of The Who, who died in 1978.

Check out the European tour dates for The Who below.

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

Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images