What's Pete Townshend up to these days?
The rock star who wrote “Hope I die before I get old” is now 66. Pete Townshend of The Who tells Simon Garfield about life in a “celebration machine”—and the moment that was nearly his downfall
By Intelligent Life
ROCK music in 2011 is not quite what it was in the mid-1960s. For one thing, it is full of challenging coincidences, such as the one reported by Pete Townshend in a recent e-mail. “I was supposed to be sailing in the St Barth's Bucket Race on March 24th,” he wrote. That's right: the writer of “My Generation”, “Substitute” and “Won't Get Fooled Again” now spends part of his time as a yachtsman in the Caribbean. “This was arranged last August,” he added. “In a challenging coincidence Roger Daltrey will be performing ‘Tommy' on that very day for Teenage Cancer [Trust] at the Royal Albert Hall.”
More than most rock stars, Townshend notices what is going on in the world, and he felt he was meeting the challenge in the only decent way he could. “In these straitened and tragic times I have decided I have to do something useful rather than try to enjoy myself on a yacht while so many people are in trouble, and I am going to see Roger today at his rehearsal studio to offer my services in some way. I hope I will be able to perform with him, possibly sing ‘Acid Queen' as I did when The Who played at Woodstock.”
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