Who fans waited for tickets in a long line outside Jeans Etc. on Forrest Hill Boulevard Saturday morning.

Kirk Lukacec and Rachel Allen sit in comfort waiting for their chance to buy Who tickets at Spec's on PGA Boulevard.

Who fans withstand rough night to see rock show of the year By David Marcus Herald Writer

After a day of high school and work, Robert Whalen, 15, arrived at Peaches Records and Tapes in West Palm Beach at 1 a.m., his wallet bulging with more than $140.

He lay down on the concrete terrace next to his friends Mark and Jessie and tried to sleep.

Others — mostly teenagers — began streaming onto the terrace half an hour later. One lugged a keg of beer. Cups went for $2 each, but Whalen refused to pay that much.

At 4:30 a.m., someone leaned on the store window, triggering a burglar alarm at the home of manager Gail Reed. She sped over to supervise the growing crowd.

By 10 a.m., when the store doors opened, the line of 170 snaked into the parking lot. Like the bleary-eyed fans at 31 other ticket-by-computer outlets in South Florida, they had come to buy $16.75 tickets for a rock 'n' roll concert.

Not just any concert, however. The tickets are for the Nov. 27 triple-bill featuring The Who at Orlando's Tangerine Bowl.

The Who — musical cousins of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones — are one of the longest-running rock bands around. The 18-year-old group has announced that its current tour of America and Europe will be the last, except for sporadic performances.

The British band is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Loudest Pop Group." At a May, 1976 concert in London, engineers 150 feet from the band measured 120 decibels of sound — a level that Guinness says can "cause permanent hearing shift or partial deafness." In 1979, 11 fans were killed as a crowd surged into a Cincinnati auditorium for a Who concert. The show went on.

Health hazards aside, masses of rock fans still want to see the Peter Townshend (guitar), Roger Daltrey (vocals), John Entwistle (base guitar and horns), Kenny Jones (drums).

"The Who is just a great band," Robert Whalen, 15-year-old fan, explained after buying eight tickets.

"It's hard rock and roll but it's not offensive," said Reed.

The band last played Florida at an August 1976 concert in Miami. Saturday Reed wore her faded pink Who T-shirt from that concert.

As she plugged information into a computer tied to the BASS (Best Available Seating Service) network, Reed constantly reminded custom-

Please turn to WHO / 2B