Roger Daltrey Says He’s Going Deaf and Blind: ‘The Joys of Getting Old’

“Fortunately I still have my voice, because then I’ll have a full Tommy,” Daltrey joked, referring to the band’s rock opera ‘Tommy’

Roger Daltrey is getting candid about aging.

During a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall as part of the annual week of Teenage Cancer Trust shows, the “Baba O’ Riley” singer gave audience members an update on his health.

“The joys of getting old mean you go deaf. I also now have got the joy of going blind,” The Who frontman told the crowd, per Sky News. “Fortunately I still have my voice, because then I’ll have a full Tommy,” Daltrey, 81, added, referring to the fictitious Tommy Walker who is deaf, mute and blind from their 1969 rock opera Tommy.

PEOPLE has reached out to Daltrey and has not received an immediate response.

Daltrey previously said he was “very, very deaf” from rock n’ roll during a solo concert in Las Vegas in 2018, via TMZ. “Take your f—ing earplugs with you to the gigs,” he reportedly told the crowd.

Later in the show, Daltrey joked about having a “senior moment” when his voice cracked. “No apologies, I f—ed up,” he told the crowd. The Who’s guitarist Pete Townshend also admitted to the affects of aging.

“Four and a half weeks ago, I had my left knee replaced,” the 79-year-old revealed, noting that the injury came from trying to dance like Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. “Maybe I should auction off the old one,” he joked, per CNN.

Daltrey has been candid about aging and death in the past. In January 2024, he reflected on death while speaking with The Times. “My dreams came true so, listen, I’m ready to go at any time. My family are all great and all taken care of,” he told the publication at the time.

“You’ve got to be realistic,” he added. “You can’t live your life forever. Like I said, people my age, we’re in the way. There are no guitar strings to be changed on this old instrument.”

Townshend also touched upon death in an interview with The New York Times, where he related it back to his 1982 song “Slit Skirts” and The Who’s 1965 song “My Generation.” In the latter, he sings, “I hope I die before I get old.”

“That’s a twist, in a sense. ‘Slit Skirts’ was an honest confession of how I didn’t like what I’d become. When I wrote [‘My Generation’], I was celebrating the fact that I was young — I was 18 and surrounded by old people. Now, everybody seems younger,” he said.

Townshend was 34 when he wrote “Slit Skirts.”

He added, “But in those days, everybody seemed older and they all seemed to be messed up, either miserable or poor or working too hard or complaining about something. The song was about, ‘I’m never gonna be like you if I’m old,’ and I don’t think I am like them. I’m happy and I’m struggling still, and I think I’m operating for the greater good — touch wood!”