containment zone

You've never been more beautiful Your eyes like two full moons As here in this poor old dance hall Among the dreadful tunes

[close up without the effects layers after the break]

YES anon thank you so much for the awesome ask!!!! this is gonna be a long answer! pete and roger’s relationship is my favourite between any 2 humans who have ever existed. a good two thirds of their 60+ year long relationship was spent in turbulence and uncertainty, but the last 20 years have been filled with nothing but the most genuine and sweet love :’)

i’ll go in chronological order and start strong with woodstock 1969, a foundational text for all poger scholars!

uncut magazine, june 2015 [x]

prior to this pete was quite dismissive and critical of roger, often just referring to him as ‘the singer’ in a band of 3 talented musicians. and poor roger couldn’t do anything but restrain himself and stay obedient like a little dog otherwise he’d risk getting kicked out of the band or getting ostracized even further.

roger’s newfound confidence and assertiveness after woodstock was the turning point in their relationship which led to a fascinating psychosexually charged stage dynamic in the 70s where they were always trying to outcompete each other for attention.

it also led to friction between him and pete, such as the 1973 fight and the mid 70s media feud, but i’m gonna skip those for now and jump straight into the kenney jones era (1979–82) as another one of my fave poger moments.

keith’s passing completely and utterly fucked up the entire band and brought pete and roger much closer to each other. hehe…

unfortunately their on-stage love couldn’t save them and they had to break up the band which led this gem:

rolling stone, november 1982 [x]

the divorce era that followed was super interesting since it got roger on his hands and knees constantly begging pete to reunite the band only for him to be met with pete’s indifference every time. a very different dynamic from the push-and-pull of the 70s and the closeness they had during the early 80s.

my next fave poger moment is their 1998 reconciliation where they managed to save their marriage in a heart-to-heart conversation at pete’s house.

rolling stone, august 2002 [x]

well it was clearly a success since the who still exists to this day!!! i love how it was so intense that it brought them to tears. i would’ve done anything to be a fly on the wall during this.

that leads to my absolute favourite poger moment which is the entirety of the endless wire era (2006–07)!!! i consider this to be a renewal of their wedding vows since it was this time when they realized how much they loved each other.

the guardian, september 2006 [x]

the early 2000s were a really dark period for both of them because of john’s passing in 2002 and pete’s 2003 arrest. but the endless wire album, released 24 years after their previous album, it’s hard, reignited their creative spark and fervour for performing and gave them reassurance that maybe things were finally gonna be okay. they still had lots of loyal fans, but most importantly, they had each other.

i especially adore how some of the songs on the album were autobiographical like “tea & theatre” and “you stand by me.”

both passages from roger’s memoir

on top of that, roger was unfortunately going through some pretty bad health issues during the tour, which intensified pete’s love for him even more:

from pete’s memoir

if you watch shows from the endless wire tour, you can see pete doting on roger and checking up on him and being physically affectionate with him much more than usual ^_^

and lastly i really love their current era which i’d classify from 2019 to the present! i simply can’t resist how they became an adorable old couple. this quote from pete is so heartachingly beautiful:

NY post, august 2019 [x]

and this is something very sweet that pete said about their 2025 farewell tour in an interview with stephen colbert [2:37]:

they love each other soooooo much!!!!!!!!!!! >_<

it is such a gift to be able to witness them grow old and content in a stable marriage. i’d want nothing more than for them to live out the rest of their lives filled with happiness and for them to continue performing with each other :]