The Who brings its farewell tour to Jones Beach

The Who held a news conference in the fall of 1982 discussing its initial Farewell Tour.

“I think we’ve gone as far as we can go,” Who lead singer Roger Daltrey, then 38, said at the event. “We can’t get any bigger than we are and it’s good to go out on top.”

Fast forward 43 years later, Daltrey, now 81, and guitarist Pete Townshend, 80, say they are calling it quits after 60 years of touring. The band’s “The Song is Over — The North American Farewell Tour” hits Northwell at Jones Beach Theater on Thursday.

“It’s got to come to an end one day and it will be great to do it while I can still sing the songs in the same key,” Daltrey said via Zoom at the tour announcement this spring. “Pete’s still playing great guitar and the music has still got a vitality that suits it.”

So what happened? Over the course of the past four decades plus, The Who couldn’t stay away from the stage. Here’s how it played out.

The 1982 Farewell Tour concluded with a live pay-per-view special from Canada on Dec. 17, 1982. Three years went by and The Who decided to temporarily reunite at Live Aid in London for a four-song set followed by an appearance at Britain's BPI Awards in 1988.

In 1989, The Who launched a full-fledged tour of North America and England called, “The Kids Are Alright” from June through November with Simon Phillips on drums.

Seven years passed and The Who returned, celebrating the “Quadrophenia” album with Ringo Starr’s son Zak Starkey on drums. The tour spanned the summer of 1996 to the summer of 1997, covering Europe and North America.

Feeling charitable, The Who lent its talents to the annual Bridge School Benefit at Mountain View, California, held to assist children with speech and physical disabilities, and two benefit shows in Chicago, followed by a pair of Christmas shows in London during 1999. The Who cooked up a new tour of the United States and England in the summer and fall of 2000.

Two years later the band did another round of touring in America and England. However, Who bassist John Entwistle died mid-tour and was replaced by Pino Palladino.

In support of the band’s “Then and Now” compilation album, a worldwide tour took place in spring and summer of 2004.

After releasing its first studio album, “Endless Wire,” in over 20 years, the band toured Europe and the United States from June 2006 to December 2007. Shows continued in North America, Japan, New Zealand and Australia throughout 2008 and 2009.

On Feb. 7, 2010, The Who played the Super Bowl XLIV halftime show. The band returned to touring North America and Europe in 2012 and 2013, then continuing various runs from 2014 to 2017.

By 2019, The Who released another new studio album called “WHO” and supported it with a 56-show symphonic concert tour of North America and the United Kingdom called “Moving On!”

Three years later, “The Who Hits Back Tour” arrived in the United States in 2022 beginning in Hollywood, Florida, in the spring and concluding in Las Vegas during the fall.

The current tour wraps up Sept. 28, when the band takes its final bow in Las Vegas, but who knows?

By David J. Criblez

david.criblez@newsday.comDavidJCriblez

David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday's exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.