Zak Starkey has rejoined The Who.
The 60-year-old drummer was let go by the band last year before being welcomed back and then dismissed once again, and it seems he has now been welcomed back into the fold after frontman Sir Roger Daltrey revealed they had been rehearsing together.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Roger told the audience at his solo show at Las Vegas’ Encore Theater on Wednesday (26.08.26): “We had a rehearsal recently to make sure we can think about doing some shows in Europe.”
He noted Zak had been on the drums and added: “It sounded great.”
Zak later shared a screenshot from the news report on Instagram and wrote: “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! Fantastic vocal from Roger here on his song ‘Certified Rose.'(sic)”
The drummer admitted it feels “good to be home”.
He said in a statement emailed to Rolling Stone: “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 update comes a year after Zak – who has performed with The Who since 1996 – admitted he was baffled by the state of affairs.
He told The Independent: “I don’t know what the f*** is happening.
“The thing is, this is The Who, man. The most unpredictable, aggressive, arrogant people, lovely people who are my family, but you never know what’s gonna happen, and that’s why it’s The Who. They have an addiction to friction.
“If you look at The Who through the years, all the way back, there’s four completely opposite people. One of them writes all the songs and thinks the other three are an art installation. And they don’t know what that means. They are the craziest, weirdest group there’s ever been.
“That’s what’s great, isn’t it, that they’re so untraditional with everything that they’ve ever done.”
Zak was the drummer with Oasis from 2004 to 2008 and confirmed he had talks about being part of their reunion tour, but was ultimately unable to commit to the gig.
He said: “It was discussed with Noel, but I was in The Who.”
The Mantras of the Cosmos rocker – who is the son of Beatles legend Sir Ringo Starr – adored his time with Oasis.
He said: “It was just f****** great fun and fantastic rock’n’roll, start to finish… We were the greatest live band in the world, I think, at that time. It was like a f****** comet coming at you.”
