Mid-way through an electrical sound-storm a guitarist with The Who suddenly bolted at a microphone stand and knocked it down.

The Stampede Corral audience gasped in disbelief.

The music reached a higher pitch. Singer Roger Daltrey crouched like a cat in front of the throbbing drums. Without warning he leaped up and began pounding the cymbals with his fists.

People craned their necks. Some of the nearly 4,000 member audience stood at the front of their seats.

The music became faster and more furious.

Guitarist Peter Townshend picked up a microphone stand and began using it as a bow across his electric guitar strings.

He appeared displeased. He hurled the fixture violently to the stage. Turning around, he ran back to his amplifier and began clubbing it with the neck of his guitar.

A panel from the front of the amplifier fell off and he hurled it back towards the centre of the platform.

* * *

Guitarist Townshend threw his instrument into the air and let it crash onto the stage. He did it again. And again. Then, gripping it by the neck, he began pounding it on the stage until the guitar broke into splinters.

The noise was over. Rather than be anti-climactic, The Who shuffled off the stage in silence, picking their way through the splinters, broken strings, microphone stands, cymbals and drums.

They had a smashing good time, but the audience seemed largely of another two minds, half shock and half disbelief.

It was an appropriate ending to an equally violent and frantic concert by The Who, who certainly cannot be criticized for a lethargic stage presence.

* * *

The outrageous conclusion is traditional to The Who. British critics, in fact, once considered the group to be in the pop art field because of their wanton destructive tendencies.

The price tag for this portion of the program was quoted at about $200 by The Who’s road manager, although the damage at times has exceeded well over $1,000.

One of the group’s real showmen is vocalist Roger Daltrey, who led the group through its well-known hits Happy Jack, My Generation, Poison Spider and I’m A Boy.

Dressed entirely in white (lace shirt, skin-tight slacks and high-heeled boots), he danced and moved to the music like it was going out of style.

He used his hand microphone like some men use a bolo bat, whipping it around on the end of its cord like a propeller.

* * *

The initial portion of the program was presented by Graham Waifers, a group from Edmonton that shows an unusual amount of promise.

They performed all original material, including a 20 minute song entitled Jenifer’s Career and Death that is as good as any Canadian pop creation I have heard.

The group unfortunately experienced difficulty with their amplifying equipment in both concerts, and had difficulty projecting lyrics.