NEW YORK – Two months before Roger Daltrey turned 40, The Who broke up. It was not a great birthday present. “I was devastated,” he says. “The band had been my life since I was 14, and now Pete (Townshend) said he didn’t want to go on with it. It took me a long time to adjust to that.”

But adjust he has, a point to be confirmed tonight and Thursday at Carnegie Hall when Daltrey celebrates his 50th birthday with two sold-out concerts saluting the music of Townshend – meaning, primarily, the music Townshend wrote for The Who and which was then sung by Daltrey.

“I’ve realized that’s the music I most enjoy singing,” says Daltrey, who is busy tending to last-minute details of a show that will feature himself, Townshend, Who bassist John Entwistle, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes, the Spin Doctors, the Irish folk group the Chieftains and a symphony orchestra – plus a couple of the proverbial special guests.

Bruce Springsteen has been invited to sing Won’t Get Fooled Again with Daltrey and Townshend, for instance, though Springsteen’s new baby and the California earthquake may keep him away.

For those who couldn’t get tickets, the show is being recorded both for a pay-per-view TV special, to be seen Saturday, and a record due in May. Furthermore, Daltrey says he may take versions of it on the road with different stars and different orchestras.

“I could be doing this for the next year,” he says.

Interestingly, its roots lie in a more modest endeavor: Daltrey’s strikingly reworked version of Behind Blue Eyes for an acoustic Chieftains show a couple of years ago. “People told me afterward it was like they were hearing the song for the first time,” Daltrey says, and so he began to think about looking at other familiar songs from fresh musical angles.

“And that,” he says, “was the genesis of this.”

Townshend himself wavered for a time on participating, perhaps in part because he has been publicly resisting another Who reunion like the 1989 tour. Daltrey, who would love to do another reunion, argues that Townshend has never found

Roger Daltrey will celebrate his 50th birthday with two sold-out concerts.

“It’s gone beyond my wildest expectations. I can’t wait to get out there and sing.”

Roger Daltrey, singer

another voice, including his own, that delivers Townshend songs as effectively as Daltrey’s.

As a result, Daltrey says, his relationship with Townshend has always been intense and close. “Songs are a very powerful thing. ... Which is not to say it’s always been a bed of roses between us.”

Asked whether he thinks Townshend agrees that Daltrey’s voice brought out the full dimension of his songs, Daltrey demurs.

“I wouldn’t want to speak for Pete on that. I don’t know how he feels about it, to be honest.”

What he does know is that he likes this show: “It’s gone beyond my wildest expectations. I can’t wait to get out there and sing.”