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Veteran rocker Pete Townshend is once again back on the road this month. The former member of the Who will embark on a 17-date North American tour with fellow bandmate Roger Daltrey. He recently admitted that, at his age and after all these years, life on the road can be lonely. But with tours almost in the rearview for now, both Daltrey and Townshend are reflecting on the importance of the Who to them in their personal and professional lives.

“It can be lonely,” said Townshend in an interview earlier this month. “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?’”

Touring the world as a professional musician is a business that can be extremely isolating for many. And when the Who was at its peak in the 1970s, with its live performances known to get out of hand, it’s not a stretch to think that Pete Townshend and his bandmates had no shortage of fans. Decades after the band’s initial success, Townshend was quick to add, “But it’s a brand rather than a band.” He explained, “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 Who Tour Dates: Meet the New Moon and Entwistle

Moon and Entwistle are references to the late Who drummer Keith Moon and Who bassist John Entwistle. Both members of the iconic band died in 1978 and 1979, respectively. While Townshend and Daltrey have a sense of the past and how the work they do honors the lives of their late bandmates, there are other personal priorities at play. In his way, Townshend hinted at the spiritual undertones of what it means to get older for rock stars, saying that the work also begs the question of how we, in general, bow out in our personal lives. He shared, “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.”

Touring as the Who after so many years and decades together as musicians and friends can’t exactly replicate the experience of earlier tours. The music itself is familiar, but the act of performing has its power. At 80, Townshend can still gain something by taking the stage and going through music that he or his bandmates don’t always perform live.

Roger Daltrey on Surviving and Touring the Who at 80

Daltrey, for his part, admitted that he and Townshend, now 80, had given thought to what is left for the Who as a touring act. The singer took the stage at the Teenage Cancer Trust benefit earlier this year in London and dropped some hints to his fans about what’s to come. “Fortunately, I still have my voice, because then I’ll have a full Tommy,” he told the crowd in an interview with the Evening Standard. “It makes me think we can play a bit of Tommy.” The singer was referring to the title character of the Who’s 1969 rock opera Tommy, and again quipped with a famous lyric, “Deaf, dumb and blind kid.”

Daltrey, also 80, seemed to double down on this promise in an interview with The Times published earlier this month. In no uncertain terms, Daltrey made it clear that this was most likely the final tour. “This is certainly the last time you will see us on tour,” he said. “It’s grueling.”

Touring with The Who as a performer and constantly returning to the same set of songs may have its dedicated music history following. It was exhausting even at the height of the band’s early success. As Daltrey shared, “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.” Now, at 80, it is another story. There were also comments about the band, whether should they continue with them after this tour, or if they have any plans for one-off concerts 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.

For fans of The Who, Daltrey had this message to say about his ability to hold his signature voice. “My voice is still as good as ever,” he said. For now, it is unclear what these final shows will mean for the band, the tours that it will go on in the future, or even what that could mean. But what is certain is that Daltrey, Townshend, and everyone who grew up around the band or with its music have reached the point where, quite literally, they are still grateful to be alive.