Who delivers hits, if not fury, in respectable Oakland show

By Peter Hartlaub

The Who is responsible for one of the most spontaneous moments in Bay Area rock concert history.

After Keith Moon passed out on his drum set during a 1973 Cow Palace show, the band recruited 19-year-old Scot Halpin from the audience. Even though he hadn’t played drums for at least a year, the instant legend jammed with the rest of the band on its final few songs.

The Who’s show at Oracle Arena in Oakland on Thursday night was pretty much the opposite of that. Surviving members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend provided exactly what everyone expected, sticking to the barely fluctuating tour set list, playing for a respectable two hours and practicing the kind of responsible caution that is pretty much a requirement for rock stars who make it to their 50th year in a band.

The Who already postponed this Oakland tour stop once, when Daltrey was sidelined late last year with viral meningitis. From the moment they started playing on Thursday, no one was taking any chances. While Bruce Springsteen ran laps through the crowd last time he came here, Daltrey and Townshend seemed to be keeping a safe distance from the edge of the stage, as if the audi-