The Who's Pete Townshend Reinvigorated By Recent Live Shows

(Classic Rock) The Who's Pete Townshend says he felt so "excited" that he couldn't sleep following recent shows in Europe and Mexico. The guitarist has previously voiced his dislike of performing live, saying that touring "means nothing" to him and is "a load of crap."

But as he nears "the end" of his music career, Townshend says performing to younger crowds has given him a new lease of life. He tells Rolling Stone: "For me, the last five weeks of the tour we did, before we came to California to do Desert Trip, everything felt very different. I'm notorious for being, I suppose the word is blasé, but also a bit diffident about performing.

"We'll do a good show and afterwards, people will say, 'Were you having fun?' And I'll say, 'No, not really.' They'll say, 'Isn't it great?' And I'll say, 'Well, glad you think so but it's just what I do.' That kind of thing.

"I'm a little bit detached and I put it down to the way that I grew up. My dad was in a band, and I grew up on the road with my dad, and I feel safe on the road. I don't get nervous on the road. I get a little bored on the road. I don't have a lot of hose kind of starry buzzes that a lot of people get when they perform.

"Well, this last couple of months, maybe it's because I can see the end in the distant misty future or maybe it's something else, I started to feel like what I'm doing is of greater consequence. It means more to me, anyway." Read more here.

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