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The Who is on the road again. Guitarist Pete Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey will kick off a 17-date North American tour on Friday. Townshend, who just turned 80, said touring at his age can be lonely despite being grateful for the chance to do it.

“It can be lonely,” he told The Sunday Times in a new 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 admitted to being both grateful to be able to play and burnt out from having spent so much time on the road. He also realized that The Who was much more than just a band after all these years. “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.”

Townshend was referring to the late bandmate Keith Moon and former Who bassist John Entwistle. In the same interview, he added, “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. 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.”

The Who had been working on these new arrangements and had already had a successful show in London. Despite 50 years in the spotlight, Townshend said they still get nervous before performances. “The funny thing is, after 50 years of performing, when we get in the wings we get nervous again,” he said. “Nervous about whether people will turn up, whether they’ll like the setlist. These are wild thoughts at 80.”

Roger Daltrey Hints That The Who Will Tour No More

Like Townshend, Roger Daltrey is also 80 years old and just as exhausted by life on the road. During a March performance with Townshend at London’s Teenage Cancer Trust charity, Daltrey gave an update on his health to the audience. “Fortunately, I still have my voice, because then I’ll have a full Tommy,” he said, referring to the main character from The Who’s 1969 rock opera. “Deaf, dumb, and blind kid,” he quoted the famous line, to the laughter and applause of the crowd.

In a more recent interview with The Times, Daltrey was more somber, dropping the finality bomb on fans who have seen the band over the decades. “This is certainly the last time you will see us on tour,” Daltrey said. “It’s grueling.”

Daltrey admitted that the current run is the last time fans will see the band on tour due to how taxing it is to perform The Who’s music every night. “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,” Daltrey said. That work has become more punishing over time, with the singer noting, “At 80 it’s more so.”

Daltrey’s comments did leave some room for one-off shows in the future. “As to whether we’ll play [one-off] concerts again, I don’t know. The Who to me is very perplexing,” Daltrey said. “The last few years have been a bit of a question mark.”

Daltrey, however, made clear his vocal chords are still intact. “My voice is still as good as ever,” he said. “It’s one thing I can rely on.”