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He’s on tour again. The Who will hit the road for a 17-date North American run with long-time musical partner Roger Daltrey. The 80-year-old guitarist is returning to touring life despite the feelings of loneliness that go along with the job at this stage of his life.

Touring at 80 can be lonely, and it’s work, so he feels good that he still has the chance. Of course, he’s working through what the future might look like for The Who. He was honest and forthright during an interview.

“It can be lonely,” he said. “I’ve thought, ‘Well, this is my job, I’m happy to have the work, but I prefer to be doing something else.’ Then I think, ‘Well, I’m 80 years old. Why shouldn’t I revel in it? Why shouldn’t I celebrate? “

Pete Townshend’s comments reflect his gratitude but also his fatigue after 50-plus years of doing what he loves. The Who, after all, have become a brand unto themselves, something much bigger than the work of four young musicians in England in the 1960s. “It’s a brand rather than a band,” he said. “Roger and I have a duty to the music and the history. The Who [still] sells records — the Moon and Entwistle families have become millionaires. There’s also something more, really: the art, the creative work, is when we perform it. We’re celebrating. We’re a Who tribute band.”

Pete Townshend’s reference to late drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle is a nod to the band’s history. While Daltrey and Townshend must continue to honor the music, Pete’s comments also hint at more significant and more challenging questions about their personal lives. “It does whet an appetite to think about how we should bow out in our personal lives — what we do with our families and our friends and everything else at this age,” he added. “We’re lucky to be alive. I’m looking forward to playing. Roger likes to throw wild cards out sometimes in the set, and we have learned and rehearsed a few songs that we don’t always play.”

As Townshend is quick to point out, it hasn’t always been that way. Touring a long-running rock ‘n’ roll band has the risk of making every night feel the same. Rehearsing songs that they may not have played in years and playing with a setlist helps break up the monotony.

Roger Daltrey On Touring, Healt,h and The Future

Like Pete, Roger Daltrey is honest and straightforward, a combination that has led to The Who being one of the most significant bands of all time. When Daltrey recently took to the stage with Townshend in London for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity event, he was very open about his health.

Fortuitously, he has his voic,e as he would be able to perform the entire Tommy with it, referencing the name of The Who’s concept album released in 1969. Quoting the lyrics from the opera’s well-known final number, he added, “Deaf, du,mb and blind kid.”

Interviewed by The Times earlier this month, Daltrey is forthright and sincere, particularly when addressing fans about what the future might look like after this tour. His words carried finality for those who have watched the band for years or even decades. “This is certainly the last time you will see us on tour,” he said. “It’s grueling.”

The 80-year-old thought back to touring and the toll of performing the band’s music night after night, particularduring at the band’s most active years. “In the days when I was singing Who songs for three hours a night, six nights a week, I was working harder than most footballers,” he said. The toll is more apparent than it used to be.

As for playing occasional concerts, the future is uncertain. “As to whether we’ll play [one-off] concerts again, I don’t know. The Who to me is very perplexing,” he admitted. The band’s legacy is often that way: A relic, both myth and in some ways history.

But as he looked back on what was certainly a career-defining band and one of the most significant cultural movements in rock music, he was happy to point out that his voice is still as strong as ever. “My voice is still as good as ever,” he said.

For fans of the band in North America, this 17-date run could be the last time to see The Who. Of course, for Townshend and Daltrey, it is both a goodbye and a way to honor a half-century or more of their life in rock music. The Who is not only about keeping the music alive but also about being thankful that they are around to see the people and places that have meant so much to them in life. After all, as Townshend said, “We’re lucky to be alive.”