It was a huge event. A live worldwide satellite broadcast back before the invention of the World Wide Web. The final show for legendary rock band, The Who.

I thought of that 1982 concert as I passed by an advertising poster in the London Underground last month advertising The Who’s summer UK tour. Forty-one years after that epic farewell, they are still on the road. Indeed, they never left.

The band that told us “hope I die before I get old” has toured pretty much nonstop since they retired. Indeed, two of the four band members have died.

Obviously they weren’t ready for retirement in 1982. I’m not sure what motivated them to hang up their instruments, albeit briefly. Maybe the drug use had taken its toll and they just needed a break. Maybe they bought the illusion that rock and roll was a young man’s game.

Which it was back then. As a musical form barely 30 years old, no-one knew if the youthful rebellion could be translated to something relevant to and for those in middle age and older. Turns out it can.

Jethro Tull once had an album titled Too Old To Rock and Roll, Too Young To Die. Turns out you are never too old to rock and roll.

The Who aren’t the only band to call it quits and then reconsider. Kiss, who are also on tour this year, first retired in 1979. Elton John first retired in 1977. The Eagles took a fourteen-year hiatus.

Some bands really do stay retired, with perhaps the occasional reunion gig for, say, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Sometimes you just need a break from each other and are happy to go back out on the road after some time off

As the Who hit the road this summer (the first show was last night) I can only wish them well. As Pete Townshend once said. Long live rock.