The Who may be known for their live shows, but it turns out Pete Townshend may not exactly be enjoying his time on the stage.
In a new interview with Spain’s RockFM, Townshend shares that he doesn’t necessarily love performing.
“Most musicians are not like me. Most musicians do two things that I don’t really do or don’t enjoy doing. One is they love performing,” he says. “I don’t love performing. I don’t like being on a stage. I don’t mind being on a stage. I don’t hate it, but it doesn’t fill my soul in the way that you see some performers, just their soul is filled through being on the stage. That’s not me.”
The other thing he doesn’t love to do is collaborate with other artists, sharing, “For me, collaboration is something that I find very difficult.”
“If I was in a studio, like with a really, really great musician, or with a group of really great musicians, I think I would find it very hard. I often do find it very hard,” he says. “I find it difficult to collaborate. I find it very difficult looking in the eyes of another musician. I find myself looking to my own energy to express myself. So, I’m very different to most musicians in that respect,” although he notes that he does “admire the process of collaboration.”
While he may not love performing, Townshend will be doing just that in July. The Who have two shows coming up, both in Italy: July 20 in Padua and July 21 in Milan.
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