The Who and friends to play special show in LA
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It's tough being a rock star.
Roger Daltrey, vocalist for the Who, is taking a break from doing "delightfully nothing" for the past year to reunite with bandmate Pete Townshend for a concert in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The British rock veterans will be feted at cable channel VH1's third annual "VH1 Rock Honors," which will be taped at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion and will air next Thursday.
Rock bands such as Pearl Jam, the Foo Fighters and the Flaming Lips will cover Who songs, then the guests of honor will close the event with a 45-minute performance.
"I'm a huge fan of (Foo Fighters frontman) Dave Grohl," Daltrey told Reuters during an interview at his hotel on Thursday. "He's got the mentality of a rock god."
Daltrey, 64, and Townshend, 63, the Who's songwriter and guitarist, are the band's only surviving original members. Bassist Pino Palladino is standing in for John Entwistle, who died of a drug-related heart attack in 2002, while Zak Starkey -- son of Ringo Starr -- is the latest replacement for drummer Keith Moon, who overdosed on pills in 1978.
After the VH1 show, Daltrey will resume his leisurely ways until November, when the Who launches a four-date tour of Japan, only its second visit to that country.
SOLO PROJECTS
Actually, Daltrey's routine involves more than staring at the wall waiting for Townshend to write a follow-up to 2006's "Endless Wire," the band's first studio album in more two decades.
The singer has been jamming with an acoustic band and is thinking about recording his first solo album since 1992's "Rocks in the Head."
"There's other kinds of music I want to explore again," he said. "There's a lot more in me, an awful lot more in me."
His band played a small charity show in March, "and I just really enjoyed doing it -- stand-up bass -- totally different from what the Who is ... It's just really nice to sing in a different way because you don't have to roar all the time."
Its repertoire consists of Who songs, Daltrey solo material and a smattering of covers. But Daltrey has grander ambitions.
"I'd like to find some new stuff to give the band its own identity," he said. "I'm a good songwriter, but I'm not a great songwriter ... There must be some great songwriters out there who can't sing!"
As for the Who, there are no concrete plans for further tours or albums, Daltrey said. He would like to play South America for the first time and return to Australia for what would amount to a working vacation.
"Sadly, it's the economics at the moment," he said, referring to rising air fares and related costs.
