Roger Daltrey Details Meningitis Struggle Ahead of The Who’s Final Farewell Tour Dates
Roger Daltrey has had a rollercoaster of a year, but he’s ready to take his final ride on the road. The 71-year-old Who frontman is set to kick off his iconic band’s final dates of their final world tour, The Who Hits 50!, but it wasn’t long ago that the rocker was fighting a very scary health battle. In an interview with Yahoo Music, Daltrey talked about his recent battle with meningitis, which put an abrupt halt to The Who’s swansong concert trek last fall. In the interview, Roger detailed the aches, pains, dizziness, and frequent headaches that he at first attributed to old age, but later found out were part of something much more serious.
“I kept getting these strange twinges and headaches, and they got worse and worse and worse. In the end, I was basically on my hands and knees. I was in hospital for a week and they couldn’t find out what was wrong with me. They did bone marrow scans and I had about four spinal taps. I’m actually the most Spinal Tapped rock singer in the world.”
Daltrey told Yahoo that when he was at his lowest point before his diagnosis, he could barely stand up and he didn’t think he was going to make it. The legendary rock star revealed that he finally underwent more medical testing and was stunned to find out that he was suffering from viral meningitis.
“I was shocked when they told me what it was. They immediately sent the anti-virals going and God knows how many antibiotics and how much cortisone. It’s big guns – not pleasant at all. The whole time I was in there, pretty much all I could do was lay there and groan. It’s a weird one and there’s an awful long recovery process, too.”
Amazingly, Roger headed back to the studio after three weeks of treatment, and he says that while it was difficult to head back to work at first, performing has actually helped him.
“It was a little tough to get back in the studio and work, but there was a timeframe that had to be made, so you just knuckle down and do these things. Performing is very therapeutic, anyway. When I sing, everything else disappears.”
Roger Daltrey’s meningitis diagnosis put his band’s tour on hiatus back in September, and it wasn’t the only time The Who’s 50th anniversary tour schedule was sidelined due to his health. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, Roger previously suffered a serious throat infection which resulted in the cancellation of two shows in London earlier in the tour.
Roger Daltrey isn’t the only classic rocker whose health ailments have caused final tour concert cancellations. Last month, Ozzy Osbourne came down with “extreme sinusitis” and was forced to cancel Black Sabbath’s The End concert dates in Edmonton and Calgary. The band announced the cancellation just hours before the Edmonton gig was scheduled to begin.
Although some effects of his viral meningitis may still be lingering, Roger Daltrey and The Who will begin their new set of dates on Feb 27 in Detroit. The iconic band’s final tour will end May 29 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Daltrey has described the band’s final trek as “the beginning of a long goodbye.” Past shows from the tour have featured Roger belting out a set list that includes more than two dozen of the band’s biggest hits, including “Pinball Wizard,” “Baba O’Reilly” and “Behind Blue Eyes.”
Check out the video below to see Roger Daltrey talking about his 50 years with The Who.
[Photo By Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images]
