A NEW WHO

By Russ DeVault

STAFF WRITER

Mansfield, Mass.

Clad only in gym shorts, Roger Daltrey, all blond hair and bronze skin, isn't just basking in the warm New England sunshine as he lolls on the lush grass of the Great Woods amphitheater.

He's luxuriating in his expanded role in the latest revival of the superstar band the Who. No longer just the radiantly sexy vocalist in front of cerebral songwriter Pete Townshend, the singer now refines the composer's work.

"I'm a team player," he says, hours before the band's Boston-area show for a near-capacity 17,000 fans. "It's a relief to sit down and write, but it doesn't come as easily to me as to Pete. I've decided to help him because our relationship is the most valuable thing in my life except my family."

You wouldn't have suspected such feelings years ago, when Daltrey was known for taking out his frustrations on Townshend's prominent nose and the Who routinely smashed their instruments onstage and trashed hotel rooms.

"I came from the street, and the only way I knew was to fight it out," Daltrey says. "I was completely ignorant."

But he's changed, and so has the band. This Who, at Lakewood Amphitheatre on Wednesday, is not some dinosaur lumbering toward the millennium with only classic rock to support it. "I never wanted us to end up doing reruns," Daltrey says, "so, as long as it's an attempt to do something new. . . ."

"Quadrophenia," a rock opera being performed on this tour, may be 24 years old. But what's new is the musical and lyrical clarity with which the story is told by Daltrey, 53, Townshend, 52, and bassist John Entwistle, 52. (Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr, replaces original drummer Keith Moon, who died in 1978.)

Neither Moon's death nor other topics are off-limits with Daltrey, who grins about how the band — once banned by hotel chains — now stays in upscale resort-style hotels. "We lost our hotel smasher-upper [Moon]," Daltrey says. "We still miss him."

The Who is also haunted by the deaths of 11 fans during a wild rush into Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum in 1979. "It was incredibly traumatic to us," Daltrey says. "It still hurts, but I can't change it, and I don't think I could have changed it on the day it happened." (The band wasn't told of the deaths until after the show.)

But life and the music goes on, much longer than Daltrey expected. "Who'd have thought we'd be lucky enough to be playing rock 'n' roll . . . at our age," Daltrey says.

Their age serves them well; these are sly showmen. They paced themselves during the Great Woods show, with Simon Townshend, 36, on hand to capably supplement brother Pete's guitar playing. All the younger Townshend lacks is his brother's windmill guitar licks, which revive older fans' memories and captivate young newcomers.

"The guitar playing was awesome," says Davey LaFromboise, a 10-grader from Ludlow, Mass., "and so was the guy on bass."

The youth was referring primarily to the all-classics encore, which happens after the band plays "Quadrophenia," the story of Jimmy, a mentally troubled 18-year-old who loves the Who, hates his menial job, pops pills and considers suicide before the happy, but vague, ending. Daltrey and Townshend, the latter rankled by the way a short "Quadrophenia" tour in the '70s collapsed, want to refine this show and make it a Broadway rock 'n' roll hit that eclipses the well-received "Tommy," the group's first rock opera.

The set of reworked classics was far from perfunctory. The friendly musical congruity between Daltrey and Townshend shimmered as they leaned against each other and grinned. Townshend slide-stepped far away from the plastic screen that shields the hearing-damaged guitarist from the drums to interact closely — and clearly emotionally — with Daltrey.

Earlier, Daltrey commented on how their relationship has improved during the reworking of "Quadrophenia." "Pete told me, 'I've opened my doors to you,'" Daltrey says. "I can't tell you how much it means to me — an incredibly big moment."

That came after Daltrey, roused at 4 a.m. by a pleading phone call from Townshend, agreed to help stage "Quadrophenia." After redoing what he calls "[expletive] terrible" work on the staging and video by Townshend, Daltrey got the shock of his life. "Pete phoned and said it was [expletive] great," Daltrey says. "Carry on and finish the whole thing."

The relationship between Daltrey and Townshend, who rarely speaks to the media, has been a complex one. "Never in my whole career have I meant to harm Pete," says Daltrey, who has been married 26 years to Heather, a mother of three. "One of the problems with being a young genius, which Townshend was — he'll be a genius forever — is that people around you tend to be sycophants, which is not good for the artistic side. I always tried to call it as I saw it, from the heart."

Daltrey says that Townshend now appreciates his friend's candor. After reworking "Quadrophenia," he recalls Townshend saying, "It's great being back with you boys. Whatever else happened, you can't deny our history and our chemistry."

So this tour may or may not be the final hurrah for the Who, whose first farewell tour came 15 years ago. "You never know with Pete," Daltrey says. "In my mind, we won't do a greatest hits tour, but I like to think we could do something new together… write some music. But that's up to Pete."

THE SET LIST

A chronological song list from the July 31 show outside Boston:

"Quadrophenia" segment "I Am the Sea" "The Real Me" "Quadrophenia" "Cut My Hair" "The Punk Meets the Godfather" "I'm One" "The Dirty Jobs" "Helpless Dancer" "Is It in My Head" "I've Had Enough" "5:15" "Sea and Sand" "Drowned" "Bell Boy" "Dr. Jimmy" "The Rock" "Love, Reign O'er Me"

Encore "Magic Bus" "Won't Get Fooled Again" "Behind Blue Eyes" "Substitute" "I Can't Explain" "Who Are You"

Associated Press

MCA Records

Original mods: The Who's (from left) Keith Moon, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle in the '60s, Daltrey (above, left) and Townshend carry on.

PREVIEW

The Who, with opening act drvincryin. 8 p.m. Wednesday. $45.50 reserved, $25.50 general admission lawn. Lakewood Amphitheatre, 2002 Lakewood Way S.W. 404-249-6400.