"Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss." –Pete Townshend

So proclaimed Roger Daltry in a powerful anthem entitled "Won’t Get Fooled Again," one of the many songs that the Who thrilled their audience with Sunday evening. At the Greensboro Coliseum, the Who once again assumed the role of the new boss of the ever-changing form of expression known as rock music. Pete Townshend, the creative force behind the band, predicted their current status long ago. The Who was once the old boss, they established themselves as the spokesmen for the youth of the early 1960s. Now, almost 20 years later, their young audience hardly realizes the song "My Generation" was not written for them.

Yet a certain timelessness pervades Townshend’s lyrics so that when Daltry announced "People try to put us down," it rang as true to the 14-year-olds as to the 34-year-olds. For more than two hours the onslaught was nonstop. From the story of Jimmy in "Quadrophenia" to the denouncement of drugs in "Naked Eye," the Who gave a show that went deeper than just an evening of music.

An excited crowd and poor gate control panning resulted in the trampling deaths of 11 people outside the Who’s Cincinnati concert. Many saw it as a demonstration of the violence inherent in rock music, but more realistically, the music only reflects the violent conflicts and emotions of growing up. The tragedy at Cincinnati shows the zeal and conviction that both the Who and their audience approach the sound with.

A seemingly limitless supply of energy was shown from the opening of the performance, which began with "Substitute" (a song from the 1960s, strangely enough), to the encore, "The Real Me." Kenny Jones, who replaced Keith Moon on the drums, kept the beat driving. The entire band has taken a more serious approach to their audience since the drug-related death of Moon in 1978. In spite of the seriousness, bassist John Entwistle played his humorous "My Wife," but diverted little attention from Townshend and Daltry for most of the show.

Guitarist Pete Townshend was remarkable to say the least. He has not "grown out of his class" to answer an apprehension in one of his songs. The 36-year-old Townshend leaped, sang, and whipped his hand across the guitar strings as no one else can, unfortunately resulting in a bloody right hand by the end of the evening.

The Who rocked Greensboro to a frenzy with a sound as powerful as it was meaningful. Theirs is the music of identity, "who are you?" The Who have never stopped asking.

BIRTH OF DAUGHTER MOORESVILLE – Mr. and Mrs. John R. McAlpine, IV, announce the birth of a daughter, Melanie Kathleen, on July 12 at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte. The maternal grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Johnson of Dunn and the paternal grandparents are Rev. and Mrs. J. R. McAlpine, III, of Henderson.