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Legendary guitarist Pete Townshend is back on the road, this time in a 17-date tour of North America with his old bandmate Roger Daltrey. At 80 years old, Townshend says life on the road has been both lonely, and thankfully, a time to perform while the duo figures out what comes next.

“It can be lonely,” Townshend told NME 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?’”

His sentiment sums up both the gratitude and tiredness that can come with decades of performing. Even now, Townshend says he doesn’t take for granted that The Who is a much larger brand than a band these days. “It’s a brand rather than a band,” he added. “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.”

The late drummer Keith Moon and The Who’s original bassist John Entwistle are in good company: while Townshend and Daltrey say they continue to honor the music, the interview with Townshend also opened up questions of what comes first after a long career. “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.”

Even after more than 50 years in the spotlight, then, the thrill of the stage performance hasn’t worn off completely. As Townshend points out, even rehearsing the less frequently played songs from their extensive catalog can re-energize the act and keep the experience from being humdrum.

Roger Daltrey on Health, Touring and What’s Next

His longtime bandmate Roger Daltrey has had an equally fulfilling and, in many ways, draining experience touring and performing with The Who for so long. During a performance with Townshend at the Teenage Cancer Trust charity this past February in London, Daltrey also gave fans an update on his health.

“Fortunately, I still have my voice, because then I’ll have a full Tommy,” he said to the crowd of the title character from The Who’s seminal 1969 rock opera. Daltrey then directly quoted the Tommy lyric and joked: “Deaf, dumb and blind kid.”

Daltrey also opened up about what comes next in an interview with The Times earlier this month. For fans who have spent decades supporting the band, his words also carried a sense of finality for the future. “This is certainly the last time you will see us on tour,” he told the outlet. “It’s grueling.”

He went on to reflect on what it was like performing the Who’s storied catalog night after night during the band’s prime and how the physical toll of putting on that show back then (think belting out “My Generation” for 3 hours, six nights a week) was, frankly, exhausting. “I was working harder than most footballers,” he said. “At 80, I just can’t do that.”

As for playing one-off concerts in the future, Daltrey isn’t sure. “As to whether we’ll play [one-off] concerts again, I don’t know. The Who to me is very perplexing,” he told The Times.

He added: “My voice is still as good as ever. I’ve always said that I’d like to walk away before it isn’t as good as it is now. We’re coming to the end of a cycle.”

For fans across North America, then, this 17-date run may be the last time Townshend and Daltrey get to share the stage as part of The Who. For the musicians themselves, then, it is both a farewell and a thank you, both a recognition of the decades they have both spent in music history and a reckoning with what it means to age in place while living an iconic legacy.

At this point, The Who isn’t just about keeping the music alive. It is also about celebrating the lives, the families, the friends, and the friendships that have been made through the songs, after all. For Townshend and Daltrey, the performances are a nod to survival, creativity, and the extraordinary journey that has brought them both here today. “We’re lucky to be alive,” Townshend said.