SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. (AP) – Between 27,000 and 30,000 rock-music fans jammed the highways into this resort community Monday evening, to pack the Saratoga Performing Arts Center amphitheater and its surrounding lawns for an explosive performance by The Who.

Famed for their precedent-setting rock opera, “Tommy,” and their audio-electronic gimmickry, The Who — a seven-year-old quartet of British musicians — were every bit as frenzied in their singing as most of the fans were in their appreciation and pushing.

No serious injuries or incidents were reported to officials.

Medics at an ambulance outside one gate to the sylvan concert setting said “quite a few” cases of drug-abuse reactions were treated but they were unable to give a figure. A spokesman at Saratoga Hospital said at least six drug overdoses were treated there and one person was brought in after being hit in the head with a bottle.

At least two dozen “fender-bender” accidents were seen on the roads leading to and from the center, including along the Adirondack Northway.

Among those injured by causes other than drugs was a stagehand whose identity could not be obtained. He was kicked in the groin late in the concert by Peter Townshend, leader of The Who, who ran across from his far-side microphone when the production-crew member fought with a youth attempting to get on the equipment-packed stage.

Minimal frisking at the entrances failed to keep out either cameras or alcoholic beverages, both specifically prohibited at SPAC, or the marijuana, hashish, beer, wine and Frisbees openly enjoyed among the crowd.

There were several brief fist fights in the stands, broken up by participants’ friends.

The spectators, almost all of whom were of student age and “hippie” appearance, rushed the aisles of the reserved-seat section as soon as a group preceding The Who began playing. Efforts by young ushers and, later, management representatives, to clear the aisles and extricate fans who took seats others had paid for were futile. Cries of “Sit Down!” became an integral part of the evening.

The SPAC officials delayed The Who’s act in an attempt to clear the amphitheater aisles and move the general-admission fans back onto the lawn — a sea of blankets, picknicky groups and litter, dominated by an American flag brought by a spectator and a new closed-circuit television screen.

But that move was greeted by jeers, paper airplanes, obscene gestures and little movement backwards. The Who came on, finally — to cheers as loud as the music, amplified through at least 10 microphones and close to 30 speakers.

Still it did not seem enough for the thousands — sitting on rafters, in aisles, on each other, on the lawn, in the trees, in cars outside the fence; making love; listening in awe, or dancing every bit as intensely as Drummer Keith Moon; seeking a light from the patrolmen, who apparently decided to avoid the amphitheater in order to keep control on the lawn.

Before and after, it was one huge traffic jam of smiling people … and police calling all problems “minor.”