The Who rehearse with drummer Zak Starkey after their bitter split

The Who have rehearsed with Zak Starkey for a possible European leg of their Song Is Over farewell tour, a little over a year after the band fired him, rehired him three days later, and then fired him again the following month.

Roger Daltrey broke the news himself during a solo show at the Encore Theater in Las Vegas on August 26. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he told the crowd the rehearsal sounded great and that the band wanted to be able to consider dates in Europe.

Starkey shared the review on Instagram. "Lookin forward to tearin it up with the Who again," he wrote, adding that he did not think they had ever rehearsed as hard, and joking that they usually drink tea and discuss what time they are going home.

In a statement to Rolling Stone he was warmer still, saying the band spent an afternoon rehearsing and were absolutely on fire, that he was happy to be playing music he loves with people he loves, and that it is good to be home.

The split began at the band's Teenage Cancer Trust shows at London's Royal Albert Hall in March 2025, where Daltrey stopped The Song Is Over complaining he could not hear over the drums. Starkey has said he came in four bars early himself, blamed the drums, and turned it into a social media row.

Starkey's own account of the aftermath was blunt. He said he was told a couple of weeks later that he was being fired, that the message was vague, and that he holds no grudges, calling the Who the maddest band there has ever been.

Scott Devours, previously Daltrey's solo drummer, replaced him in May 2025 and played the North American farewell run, which ended in October 2025. Devours was onstage in Las Vegas when Daltrey told the crowd about the rehearsal. Daltrey has since told the Arizona Republic the band still have to say goodbye to Europe, and that the American run was the last American tour rather than the end. He is currently out on his own A Great Night Out tour, and the band remain a rock institution with a habit of reversing itself in public.