The Who’s Pete Townshend Announces One Year Sabbatical

The Who guitarist Pete Townshend is going on a sabbatical. The 72-year-old rocker announced he will take one year off from “all the things I normally do in my career.”

Townshend stated his upcoming plans in a Facebook post he shared from São Paulo, Brazil ahead of The Who’s headlining set at São Paulo Trip. Here’s Pete’s post about his sabbatical:

Sunset in São Paulo. Tomorrow we rehearse here for our first show in South America. This has been a varied year for me. A lot of the usual things happening, and there are many new things a fairly long way in the future for me. I am preparing to take a one year ‘sabbatical’ from all the things I normally do in my career. The dictionary describes this thus: a period of paid leave granted to a university teacher for study or travel, traditionally one year for every seven years worked. I very doubt I will get paid as much as I do when I work with The Who, but this is really necessary for me. I so desperately need to do something new and different – and yet I don’t really have a plan for what I might do. It will emerge I suppose. The obvious problem for me working in The Who is that I am constantly playing music I wrote a long time ago – most of it over 35 years ago. I’m lucky in many ways, but there is little piece of me that has an unusually loud voice. When I’m on stage it sometimes says “…..you were so brilliant young Pete……”. At other times it says “…..when are we going to play something difficult…….?”

Don’t worry, I know I’m lucky.

In a separate post Townshend revealed his marriage to Rachel Fuller. The couple have been together for more than 20 years and were married last December.

[Hat Tip – Ultimate Classic Rock]