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Petey Townshend is on tour once again, hitting the road for a 17-show North American run alongside bandmate Roger Daltrey. At age 80, the Who guitarist said life on the road can be a lonely existence, but he’s very thankful to have work. He and Roger Daltrey are asking themselves what lies ahead for the iconic rock group.

“It can be lonely,” Townshend said in an interview. “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?”

Townshend isn’t sure where to place the gratitude and the exhaustion that goes with a lifetime of performing. It’s been decades since the Who first took the stage, and he knows the group is no longer just a group of four guys. “It’s a brand rather than a band,” he said. “Roger and I, we 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 wor,k is when we perform it. We’re celebrating. We’re a Who tribute band.”

Moon and Entwistle refer to the late drummer and bassist, respectively, and while Townshend and Daltrey will pay respect to the Who’s music and history, there’s more to life. Townshend said the work on stage and the questions it poses can be life-altering. “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.”

Despite 50 years in the spotlight, live performance doesn’t feel rote. For Townshend, rehearsing those lesser-performed songs and having the flexibility in the setlist makes things new. Anything to help a show not feel so predictable?

Roger Daltrey on health, touring, and what’s next

Roger Daltrey is feeling the love as well. The joy and the toil have been rewarding and tiring in equal measure for him. Back in March, he joined Townshend on stage for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity event in London and gave fans an update on his health. “Fortunately, I still have my voice, because then I’ll have a full Tommy,” Daltrey told the audience, gesturing to the titular character from The Who’s 1969 rock opera. Quoting the well-known lyric, he added: “Deaf, dumb, and blind kid.”

Daltrey then opened up about the band’s future in an interview with The Times earlier this month. It was a reminder for longtime fans, Daltrey said of the language that only hinted at what fans have known to be the end. “This is certainly the last time you will see us on tour,” he said. “It’s grueling.”

Daltrey was thinking back to the stamina it took to perform The Who’s body of work night after night, often six times a week. “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 remembered. It was all doable at the time, but at 80, the toll the shows take is more apparent.

Daltrey was less certain about doing concerts outside of a tour. “As to whether we’ll play [one-off] concerts again, I don’t know. The Who to me is very perplexing,” Daltrey said. He doesn’t mean to leave the door open for touring in the future. “It just is perplexing at the moment. We’re having a huge argument about it at the moment. We have a year of shows to do, and I am determined to see them out.”

Daltrey can assure fans he still has the pipes. “My voice is still as good as ever,” he said.

Audiences on both sides of the pond may be seeing the venerable duo one last time. This 17-date tour could be the curtain call for Townshend and Daltrey performing on stage together as the Who. For the artists, it’s a parting and a party — a celebration of the history they’ve made and a recognition of what it takes to get older and what comes with carrying the legacy.

The Who means more than keeping the music playing. At this point in the band’s career, it’s about the lives, the families, and the friendships intertwined with the tunes. For Townshend and Daltrey, the shows are a reminder of survival, creativity, and the life that’s led them to this place. “We’re lucky to be alive,” said Townshend.