It has spanned 30-plus years, dozens of albums, hundreds of fights, millions of dollars.

And this series of concerts makes it three official Who reunion tours.

Yet after all that, guitarist Pete Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey — the core of The Who’s creative friction — still can’t agree on why they’re getting back together for yet another round of Who shows, this time a full-blown run-through of the 1973 epic “Quadrophenia” album, along with other Who classics.

The upshot: Both insist they did it as a favor to the other.

Townshend said he wanted to develop “Quadrophenia” — the story about coming of age during England’s early ’60s Mod era — into a traveling road show and eventual Broadway play. In the process, he figured, he could lend an old friend a hand.

Daltrey, Townshend said, is a “major rock star celebrity” who is adrift “like a number of other people, who may be slightly disenfranchised by their bands breaking up earlier than they would like.”

“It might turn out to be a really strong vehicle for Roger,” Townshend, 51, said, noting that Daltrey and Who bassist John Entwistle lost $1.5 million on the “Daltrey Sings Townshend” tour of 1994. “But we’ll have to see about that.”

Uh… as if, Daltrey said.

“Basically, he asked for my help in getting it together, and I wanted him to realize his dream,” Daltrey said in a separate interview. “I got involved in it and, as usual, when I commit to something, I commit.”

No matter what the real reason — and these Townshend-Daltrey spats can last for years with no resolution — for Who fans it means a chance to see the band in an arena for the first time since the ’70s. The band’s “farewell” tours of ’82 and ’89 were stadium-size sellouts.

And while “Quadrophenia” will be performed in its entirety, this is definitely a Who show with Who songs. Not nostalgia, Daltrey insisted.

And despite Townshend’s plans for “Quadrophenia,” the band certainly hasn’t gone Broadway.

“It’s not Broadway,” Daltrey, 52, said with a sneer. “It’s first and foremost a rock ’n’ roll show. It’s definitely not even semi-Broadway. That would be the wrong thing to say indeed.”

Though guest stars such as Billy Idol and Gary Glitter will be playing roles in the staging of the show, it’s purely rock ’n’ roll, Daltrey said.

“Pete loves Broadway. I hate it,” Daltrey continued. “I know ‘Tommy’ was fairly successful, but it compromised itself much too

It becomes pretentious, that’s the problem.

“There’s something about rock ’n’ roll where you have to have a rough edge about it… that you cannot get on Broadway. All it does on Broadway is it gets very loud.”

Concert in Albany

The Who is coming to Albany.

The legendary rockers — Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle, at least — are back together after a seven-year split.

They’ll play the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany on Nov. 18.

Tickets, priced at $45, $35 and $25, go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Knickerbocker box office, TicketMaster locations and by phone charge at 472-0700.