SAN DIEGO—The scene before the Who stepped on stage Tuesday night at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium looked grim for anyone who has ever cared about the legendary British rock group.

Many longtime Who fans, in fact, have been anxious since hearing the news that the three surviving members of the band—guitarist Pete Townshend, singer Roger Daltrey and bassist John Entwistle—were going on the road again.

This return—seven years after a highly successful “farewell” tour—conjured up visions of a veteran prizefighter who, driven by either ego or money, just can’t call it quits. So he ends up stepping into the ring one time too many and gets humiliated by the lightning jabs of a younger and stronger opponent.

In the Who’s case, there was no chance these musicians, all in their mid-40s, would be upstaged by some young rock ’n’ roll hotshots, because there is no support act on the tour, which includes stops tonight at the Universal Amphitheatre and Saturday night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

But the group’s performances would invariably be weighed against the greatness of the band’s shows back in its prime, when the Who was rivaled as a creative force in Britain only by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Could the Who—now celebrating its 25th anniversary—still stand tall against that memory?

The outlook wasn’t good at the start of the evening because of all the commercialism surrounding the show.

First, huge banners advertising the tour sponsoring beer covered the banks of speakers on both sides of the stage. Then,