Roger Daltrey has addressed the Roger Daltrey Who drummer problems that have dogged the band since Keith Moon’s death in 1978, admitting candidly that the chemistry Moon brought has never been replicated. Speaking to Life Minute TV, Daltrey said: ‘It’s never been the same since Keith died. I can’t pretend it has. We were firing on all cylinders. We could throw anything out there and make something of it. That kind of disappeared when Keith died.’
A succession problem no one solved
The search for the right person behind the kit has defined much of The Who’s post-Moon story. Moon was replaced by Kenney Jones, former Faces drummer, who held the stool for a decade. Daltrey’s verdict on that arrangement is blunt: ‘We tried Kenny Jones, who is a great drummer, but a straight drummer just does not work with The Who. It just does not work.’
Simon Phillips stepped in for the band’s US tour in 1989. Then came Zak Starkey, who joined in 1996 and remained the closest thing the band found to a solution. ‘Zak Starkey, he’s not Keith Moon, but he comes very close,’ Daltrey says. The implication is clear: close is as good as it has ever got.
The 2025 American Farewell Tour was completed with Scott Devours, an American drummer, behind the kit, after Starkey’s departure from the band. According to Variety, Starkey was handed his walking orders in April 2025, and the parting was anything but soft. Starkey himself addressed the situation with characteristic levity in a July 2025 interview with Variety, declaring: ‘I’m the most famous drummer on welfare.’
Rehearsals and a possible return
Despite the acrimony around that dismissal, the door has not stayed shut. Last week Daltrey told his audience at a solo show at the Encore Theater in Las Vegas that The Who had been rehearsing, with Starkey back in the room. ‘We love Zak,’ Daltrey said. ‘We do love Zak. Sometimes the road doesn’t love Zak. It gets on top of him, so it becomes difficult, but we love him.’
The rehearsals were exploratory rather than confirmatory. Daltrey framed the sessions as a test: ‘We did the rehearsal to see if we can possibly do shows next year, still hit the notes, still get the drive. Who music demands an incredible amount of drive, and without that, it would be like Herman’s Hermits without Herman.’ That qualifier is doing a lot of work. Nothing is booked, nothing is confirmed.
What comes through from Daltrey’s comments is that the Roger Daltrey Who drummer problems are not simply a matter of technique. Moon’s playing was chaotic, melodic and deeply entwined with Pete Townshend’s guitar parts in a way that conventional time-keeping actively works against. A ‘straight drummer,’ in Daltrey’s phrase, cannot hold that tension. It collapses into something more ordinary.
Daltrey on the road solo
While the future of The Who remains unresolved, Daltrey is currently touring the US on his A Great Night Out run. Dates stretch from September through to a November date in São Paulo, Brazil, taking in venues including the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, and The Town Hall in New York.
That solo workload keeps Daltrey active on stage even as the band’s next move is weighed up. The question of Roger Daltrey Who drummer problems will not go away cleanly: Moon’s absence has been felt across nearly five decades, and finding someone who fits the chaos rather than just keeping time remains the fundamental challenge. Starkey rejoining for those rehearsals at least gives the band a working option, even if Life Minute TV‘s interview makes clear that Daltrey holds no illusions about what has been lost. The rehearsals with Starkey are now the next concrete step, and whether they translate to live dates in 2026 is the question The Who are trying to answer.
