The Who, the most enduring madcap band in rock and roll, will make its first local appearance since 1971 Sunday at the St. Paul Civic Center Arena. The concert, originally set for tomorrow night, has been rescheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday because The Who's drummer, Keith Moon, collapsed onstage Tuesday night in Boston due to exhaustion.

The English quartet emerged in 1964 and scored a year later with "My Generation," a song that became an anthem to young people in England. The Who gained widespread recognition in the United States after its appearance at the Monterrey Pop Festival in 1968. The next summer the group triumphed at Woodstock and recorded its now-classic rock opera, "Tommy."

REPORTS OF dissension among the musicians and the release of solo albums by each of them beginning in 1971 had fostered rumors in recent years of The Who's demise. Yet in the last year, the group has enjoyed renewed popularity from

Anticipation

the hugely successful film version of "Tommy," starring The Who's lead singer Roger Daltrey, and the release of a splendid album, "The Who By Numbers." The hit single "Squeeze Box," from the album, and the movie have introduced The Who to a new, post-Woodstock, generation of teen-agers.

From its early days The Who, especially guitarist Peter Townshend and drummer Moon, has been renowned for destroying its instruments onstage. This kind of madcap violence was an extension of The Who's outrageous, exciting, loud rock and roll that dealt with the alienation of youth. The quartet still plays music in that vein, but the musicians reportedly have seldom been moved to their destructive stage antics on the first leg of their current concert tour.

Also appearing with The Who will be the Steve Gibbons Band, an English blues-based rock quintet.

Daltrey