The Who's Roger Daltrey Decries the Setlist.fm Era: "The Internet's Ruined Live Shows"

"People forget about surprises"

Photo: Raph_PH

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jun 11, 2024

The availability of setlists on the internet has made reviewing live shows much easier for music journalists, since we can now easily look up titles on setlist.fm when we don't recognize a song. This comes with a cost, however, as the Who's Roger Daltrey has claimed that "the internet's ruined the live shows for me."

Speaking with Billboard about his tour, Daltrey refused to talk about what songs he's going to play. "Too many people reveal songs," he said. "There's no surprises left with concerts these days, 'cause everybody wants to see the setlist. I'm fucking sick of it. The internet's ruined the live shows for me. Who wants to know what's coming next? People forget about surprises. I can't stand it."

He didn't actually mention setlist.fm by name, but as the internet's primary setlist hub, that's presumably what he's referring to.

Speaking of specific Who songs that Daltrey will be playing, he admitted that he won't be doing the iconic scream from "Won't Get Fooled Again." He said, "I'm not gonna do the scream. I'm gonna get the fucking audience to do the scream. I've done that scream for 55 years, and I've had enough of it. I don't even want to try it now; it's brutal on the vocal cords. They can do the scream, and I'll do everything else. I'm more into singing these days. At the age of 80, I think I deserve to be." 

Meanwhile, Pete Townshend has teased that the Who will do one more huge world tour before retiring.

Latest Coverage