Friday night Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena played host to The Who as their 1973 album Quadrophenia finally received the attention it should have gotten 23 years ago.

The album tells the story of the coming of age of a teenager named Jimmy in 1960s London, encompassing the Mod sub-culture that existed at that time in England. Overshadowed by 1969’s Tommy, Quadrophenia has never been played in its entirety in a live show until this year.

The Who played concerts in London and New York City with an all-star cast earlier this year in order to properly present the album in a more or less theatrical style.

Guest stars participating at these shows included Alanis Morrisette, Billy Idol and Gary Glitter, among others.

The current tour employs the talents of Glitter and Idol as well as featuring a total of 15 other musicians on stage, including of course the three surviving members of The Who: Roger Daltrey (lead vocalist), John Entwistle (bass guitar) and Pete Townshend (lead guitarist) who was the principal songwriter in the band. For this particular tour, though, it was Daltrey who had a hand in adapting some of the lyrics in the song cycle to a live presentation.

The challenge the band faces on this tour is in explaining Mods to an American audience that doesn’t understand what exactly a Mod is or has never even heard the word before. When The Who started out back in 1964, as The High Numbers, they were a Mod band. Their original moniker, in fact, alluded to their status as Mods. A “ticket” was the Mod of lower status, while being considered a “number” implied a higher status. A “face” was the top of the hierarchy, a hero for others to look up to and emulate. Though not exactly a club or organized group, Mods can be most easily identified and grouped together by their lifestyle, an individual Mod being someone who simply embraced this lifestyle.

Typically, they were youths of England’s working class who were fanatical about their clothes, who listened almost exclusively to American soul music, and who consumed large quantities of pills taken to keep them up for an entire weekend spent partying.

They rode around on Italian scooters and would confront anyone they saw who appeared to be a “Rocker,” the antithesis of a Mod. Rockers were teens who wore leather jackets and heavy boots, rode around on motorcycles and who listened to American rock and roll such as Gene Vincent or Eddie Cochran. Historically, riots between opposing Mods and Rockers actually occurred at places like the vacation resort at Brighton Beach.

As the lights went down Friday evening, the audience roared in anticipation as the band and supporting musicians took their places on stage.

Three film screens were used to assist in telling the narrative, with film clips being shown between each song of the Quadrophenia section and during other important moments in the story, as well as being used for close-ups of the band performing on stage.

Clips of waves breaking over rocks on a shore line were shown as “I Am the Sea,” a taped recording of vocals lifted from other songs on the album, was played before The Who blasted into “The Real Me.”

Jimmy, the protagonist of the album, was shown on the screens talking about how he was told by a psychologist that he had four different personalities. The instrumental title song, “Quadrophenia” and “Cut My Hair” followed with Townshend taking lead vocals on the latter.

The lights went down, and a spotlight appeared to the left of the stage where a studded leather-clad individual was holding a microphone stand above his head, swinging it around his body like a battle axe as the opening guitar to “The Punk and The Godfather” assaulted the audience. With hair standing at least six inches straight up above his head, Glitter looked more like something out of a Mad Max movie.

He sang the refrain to the song while Daltrey roared back at him singing the verses. A rather long and pounding bass solo by Entwistle ensued as he showed the audience his dexterity and creativity on the instrument.

Then the spotlight fell on Townshend alone as he played the anthemic “I Am One” on guitar, unaccompanied by the rest of the band, treating the audience to an emotional ballad about how Jimmy feels that his awkwardness and individuality are strengths rather than weaknesses.

Throughout most of the show, Pete played an acoustic six string, leaving the electric guitar slot to be filled quite ably by his brother Simon Townshend. Songs that followed, “The Dirty Jobs,” “Helpless Dancer,” “I’ve Had Enough” and “Is It In My Head,” further developed Jimmy’s character while allowing Simon to take lead vocals on the first shop and bringing Billy Idol on stage on the next song.

Idol was on the far left of the stage sneering at the crowd and wearing a light blue suit with narrow lapels in the distinct fashion of a Mod. For “Is It In My Head,” he was joined by Daltrey, Townshend and Glitter in singing portions of the song.

Each represented a quarter of Jimmy’s character; Glitter foreshadowing the bellboy who appears later, Daltrey the “helpless dancer,” Townshend the lonesome teen struggling with his own identity and Idol materializing as the Mod. This was most definitely the theatrical climax of the show as the spectrum of Jimmy’s personality was presented as a chorus asking “Is it in my head/ Or in my heart?”

The musical climax occurred as the energy of Quadrophenia was upheld when Jimmy leaves home on a train headed back to Brighton Beach where he was earlier involved in a spectacular brawl between groups of Mods and Rockers. “5.15” began with veteran supporter John “Rabbit” Bundrick (who has played live with The Who since 1976) playing the song’s opening piano segment.

The horn section drove through a brilliant workout on this number and received a justifiable standing ovation. The audience, who was probably most familiar with “5.15” as it has been on the song list for nearly every tour since it was recorded, sang every refrain back to the band louder than Daltrey could through a microphone.

It was with this one song that The Who won over anyone in the arena who was still cynical about the album or its strength as a theatrical production. As “Sea and Sand” followed, the audience began to experience Jimmy’s downfall.

His scooter had been demolished in an accident, he was kicked out of his parent’s house and had grabbed all the pills he could find and ended up on the beach in Brighton.

At one of the most stirring moments in the show, the spotlight again fell on Townshend alone as he accompanied himself on an acoustic guitar singing “Drowned.”

see THE WHO, page 12