Zak Starkey appears to be back in The Who's fold, months after his abrupt dismissal from the band in April 2025. Roger Daltrey told an audience during a solo gig at the Encore Theater in Las Vegas on Wednesday night that he had recently rehearsed with Starkey and that "it sounded great," according to a review published the following day in the Las Vegas Journal-Review. Representatives for both Starkey and The Who confirmed to Variety that the statements from both camps are accurate.
The news was especially notable given that Daltrey had been widely seen as the band member most frustrated with Starkey's playing or conduct, though Daltrey has since said in interviews that he was unfairly cast as the sole decision-maker in a move that was not his alone.
Starkey, the son of Ringo Starr and a member of The Who for 30 years, confirmed Daltrey's account on social media, posting a screenshot of the newspaper review with the caption: "Nice one Rog x. Lookin forward to tearin it up with The Who again..The rehearsal was great.. I don't think we've ever rehearsed as tough as that .. usually we drink tea and talk about what time we're going home!" He followed with a formal statement to Variety: "We rehearsed for an afternoon and were absolutely on fire. I'm so happy to be back playing the music I love with people I love. It's good to be home."
The Who completed a farewell tour of the United States last October, a run Starkey did not take part in after being let go beforehand. But Daltrey, speaking to the Arizona Republic while promoting his solo tour, indicated the band's story wasn't finished: "It's not over by any means. It's just that was the last tour of America for the Who." He noted the group had recently rehearsed to prepare for a possible farewell tour in Europe, without mentioning at the time that Starkey had been part of that session.
The circumstances behind Starkey's ouster have never been fully explained. Some have pointed to an on-stage disagreement between Daltrey and Starkey during the band's first-ever performance of "The Song is Over," while people close to the group have suggested other issues were really behind the split. After his firing, Starkey said he didn't understand what had happened, even as he remained in regular contact with both Daltrey and Townshend.
In a July 2025 interview with Variety, Starkey wryly called himself "the most famous drummer on welfare." He said he had been asked to claim the departure was his own decision, which he refused to do: "I'm not a rock star and they are, but I'm not gonna let people… make me look fucking bad and them look good because they want me to lie. I wouldn't do it… and then when they did it, I just threw 'em under the fucking bus because it was bullshit. And then my dad stepped up for me, and that was the greatest thing in the world."
He added: "I didn't really enjoy being treated like that at all, because (Daltrey) is my friend, but he was wrong. And Roger is one of them guys that, once he's made his mind up, there ain't going back. And I couldn't believe the amount of support that happened. And then, how many times do you get fired twice?"
Asked at the time about reconciliation, Starkey said, "I feel like anything could happen, but if it doesn't, I'm cool with it, man." He recalled that the day before his most recent sacking, he had told the Sunday Times that being in The Who "is a vocation, man… it's not a job. It's like being a nun, or a nurse," only to be fired roughly 12 hours later. "It's so fucked up. But actually, it's so funny, isn't it?" he said. "If it doesn't come back together, then it doesn't come back together. But wow, what a great 29 years, man. I'd like to make it 30. Whatever it is, it would be great, just because them two guys are in it."
Photo: Kubacheck, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
