The powerhouse of rock and roll came to Tidewater for a brief visit Monday night, and the Hampton Coliseum is probably still shaking.

The powerhouse is rock group The Who, and seeing them in concert is not just a musical experience — it's more like a musical immersion.

Of course, that's the way it should be. The group has in many ways dominated the rough-and-ready world of high-energy music for 15 years.

(A Daily Press Review)

The band has literally fought its way to the top since the psychedelic days of early rock, and members haven't stopped hustling a second.

The Who broke into the musical world in 1966 with their first album, "The Who Sings My Generation."

They've been the standard bearers for a generation ever since, a generation that just keeps getting bigger and letting more people in.

Maybe they've calmed down a little in the last few years. Nary a guitar string was destroyed Monday, but even if the group has toned down a bit, they still haven't stopped generating a sound so filled with energy OPEC would like to harness it.

Monday's concert was a party covering the group's 15-year history.

From the opening chords of "Substitute," the Coliseum crowd was enthralled. While policemen regularly tried to clear the aisles, fans just kept on dancing.

To say The Who are a tight group is a musical understatement.

After 15 years of playing together, there's nothing this group can't do. And they haven't had much trouble getting used to new drummer Kenney Jones. He plays with all the power and intensity of the late Keith Moon.

The whole group was in fine form.

Vocalist Roger Daltrey warbled, wailed and screamed through two hours of material, with lead guitarist Pete Townshend and bass guitarist John Entwistle spurring him on.

The Who has a knack for starting with slow, rhythmical chords that build in gut-wrenching form to a musical peak.

An excellent example of this was "Behind Blue Eyes," a tune that built to a crowd-roaring crescendo.

Other highlights of the show included "Baba O'Riley," a lament on the rough teenage years, and "Music Must Change."

The Who don't just play to a crowd.

They lure the audience into their show with their fast-paced sound, stage antics, and well-placed lighting effects.

Monday night, they used a rotating circle of spotlights to bathe drummer Jones in a pool of light.

During "See Me, Feel Me," they flooded the audience with a mood-lifting wash of yellow. And if that wasn't enough, they turned on a strobe light with rainbow-colored beams during "Won't Get Fooled Again."

No one was sitting down by this time, and after a standing ovation that may have deafened passers-by. The Who calmly left the stage and kept fans in suspense for 15 minutes of agony.

But The Who weren't about to disappoint anyone. Giant spotlights spelling out the word "Who" lit up as they returned for the encore, playing a three-song set that included a gutsy "Twist and Shout."

And the audience definitely was. For some, this is the kind of energy that keeps them going. And Tidewater now has a few more believers too.