FALLING: THE WHO

Going … It's the eighties. Pete Townshend suffers from tinnitus. Roger Daltrey is a country squire. Rock 'n' roll, it ain't.

Going … June 1996. The dangerously titled Mastercard Masters Of Rock concert at Hyde Park features "Pete Townshend and friends" — not The Who, guv'nor — performing Quadrophenia, the Mod odyssey. Daltrey almost loses an eye when struck by Gary Glitter's microphone stand.

Gone … Last night, at Earl's Court in London, they got Quadrophenic again, the band who, as they wished, artistically died before they got old. The one-time noisiest group in rock just can't bring themselves to shut up. It makes you envy the deaf, dumb and blind kid who sure plays a mean pinball.