The Who’s Peter Townshend showed some old spark with a

trademark windmill guitar lick Sunday at the New World Music
Theater in Tinley Park.

. Daily Herald PhctoIJohn Starks

TheWho’s concert tour
OK if hopes not too high

BY MARK GUARINO
Daily Herald‘fflusic Critic

Orchestras. Broadway musicals
and career anniversaries have given
The Who ample opportunities to re-
package the past since dmmmer

' Keith Moon

_ . . .. died'm1978.

" ' ‘ So the ques-

T' "1e33, (- tion Sunday at

,f' U? i the New World

Q , '.__‘I’.: Music‘Theéatre

_ ,+._ 2. A: .j ‘ in Tin ey ark

. ' :43. \1[\9 was: Would

Q2 ;,'-' "VJ— things be any

"' different or

_ would the audience be fooled again?

It depended on what you came for.

. Indeed, surviving members Pete
Townshend, Roger Daltney and John
Entwistle ran through hits like a wait-
ress rattles off lunch specials, per-
forming the familiar tunes with car-
bon paper precision. Every windmill

: arm twist by Townshend and lasso-
ing mic chord fmm Daltrey “us a sig-

; nal to every air guitarist in the crowd

; that everything was like it once was.

' But of course. that wasn‘t quite
true. The Who tacked the femcity it

, once had and many of the run-

‘, throughs of their FM rock staples

- sounded haggard. Often, the band

- got lost in the middle of songs and it

~ was a conscious undertaldng to find

' a respectable way out.

Daitrey had to be instructed
through “Let’s See Action" by
Townshend‘s prodding cues and
"Magic Bus“ turned into a hazy.
meandering lost trail. not even up to

‘ Dave Matthews Band standards-

When Tovmshend joked they had

“about 15 and a half minutes of
rehearsal," he wasn’t kidding.

The rewands of this recent incarna-
tion were them, but you had to look

for them. For one thing, this tour was
the fiist time in almost a dozen yeais

_ that The Who was a four-piece band

again. Previous tours were large-
scaie productions with antiseptic
background singers and a large
assembly of session men.

With Ringo‘s kid Zak Starkey on
drums Sunday, The Who were back
to basics as a quartet.A1though key-
board regular John “Rabbit" Bun-
drick added flourishes at the side,
the core four had only each other to
rely on and the interplay was often
re markabiy fresh.

The night belonged mostly to
Townshend, who sounded reborn as
a guitarist.

He played with his guitar rather
than Just playing it, chopping out
chords on early Mod hits (“Can't
Explain’) like an overanxious kid
and flashing a Hendrix homage by
dropping to his knees and playing
between his legs (“My Generation").

A strident stylist, Townshend led a
full-ehar e rock attack on “5: 15" and

then fol owed it with the delicate
exploration of a jazz player.

The Who are on tour this summer
with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy
Page and the Black Crowes, who are
preceding them in each city by a day
(Page and the Crowes played the
World Saturday). The groups are
sharing equipment. readies and a
set to minimize costs, although none
of that savings trickled down to the
consumer. The avera'ge ticket price
for either show was close to $100.