Really, the only reason I felt this cynical was that long before "You Better, You Bet" The Who meant a lot to me, and I was afraid that in 1989, "Won't Get Fooled Again" wouldn't mean diddly.

But it goes to show, you can't always believe what you read. The reality of it was that when push came to shove, Townshend and company were incapable of going through the motions.

Considering the circumstances, the Who was in surprisingly good form. Daltrey, who doesn't look a day older than "Who Are You," has lost nothing of his vocal power. And Townshend, though suffering from tinnitus, can still sing with feeling.

Of course The Who trademarks were all intact: Townshend's flying kicks, Entwistle's thunderous bass and Daltrey's flying microphone, which, amazingly, hasn't strangled him yet.

As expected the band came out in a drizzle and turned "Tommy" into a 40-minute mini-opera with most of the good parts in place. With all its intricacies and overtures, "Tommy" was one of the first pieces of art rock. With a few exceptions, like "Pinball Wizard" and the finale of "We're Not Gonna Take It," the diminutive version last night was uninvolving.

While they were there to beef things up — as if The Who needed that — the horn section had to make Who purists cringe. The intrusive blaring can be compared only to the people who put Beethoven to a disco beat.

Adding to the weirdness of the scene was the foreign element of Steve Bolton, a guitar wizard hired to play leads for Pete. What he did mostly was allow Townshend to strike the power chords and spend more time jumping, kicking and singing. Drummer Simon Phillips was an echo of Moon's old thunder, a drummer who scattered The Who sound much better than Kenny Jones, featured in the farewell tour of 1982.

"Tommy" proved to be a somber beginning compared with what was to follow. Strangely, Daltrey's version of Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy" was one of the first signs that this was really The Who. Trading in his acoustic guitar for a Strat, Townshend ripped into a lead, and for the first time, wound up the windmill.

As darkness fell on the crowd, the volume soared to traditional Who levels, and the band came alive for a streak of meaty beaty hits like "Can't Explain" and "Substitute." Closing out this first set were Entwistle's wonderful versions of "Boris the Spider" and "Trick of the Light," which had an eerie Pink Floyd quality to it.

The second set brought out the core of the four-piece '89 model even more. Thank goodness, the horns got out of the way for songs like "Baba O'Riley."

From "Quadrophenia," Daltrey led the band through stunning versions of "5:15" and "Love Reign O'er Me." And Townshend went off the rails with a screaming version of "Rough Boys."

But of course when they reached back for old glory, it was "Who's Next." The gripping "Behind Blue Eyes" brought the crowd to its feet, leading up to the grandest Who anthem, "Won't Get Fooled Again." By this point in the marathon, whoever this band was on stage — the real Who or not — it was running on emotion and adrenalin. That may explain why those insipid horns had to come alive and drown out one of the most sublime moments in rock 'n' roll — Daltrey's scream.

Despite these stadium-induced overproductions, last night's set of almost 40 Who favorites was a win-win situation for everyone. The crowd went home happy, exhausted and, from the looks of things, hung over.

The band? I think they're surprising themselves to learn that either they're not so old after all, or they're old and it doesn't matter. I happen to notice one line in particular was sung without much conviction: "Hope I die before I get old."

Until the 30th anniversary …

Mark Murphy/Post-Gazette

The power of the Who crosses generations for Joseph Blice and his son, Mark, of Bethel Park, who tailgated in the parking lot before the concert.

The new Who generation

Whether the group was singing "The Acid Queen" or "Mannish Boy" didn't matter to 37-year-old Bill Lunoe of Mt. Lebanon. "This isn't like the Beach Boys or Donny Osmond," he said before the show. "This is The Who!"

He and his wife, Maura, had greeted a baby sitter at 1:30 p.m. yesterday, bade farewell to their three children and anticipated returning at 1:30 a.m. today. The baby sitting alone would match the cost of their two $25 tickets. "These guys are worth it," Lunoe said.

The band that once sang, "Hope I die before I get old" is now, well, older. And while many of the fans are older too, the crowd at the stadium was on the youngish side.

Steve Smock and Dave Wish, both students at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, hadn't even been born when the band — now celebrating its 25th anniversary — was formed. But they put their artistic talents to work and created a striking banner in which the faces of Daltrey, Townshend and John Entwistle rose from a painting of Three Rivers Stadium.

"We just want to have a good time and listen to them jam," Wish said. Smock, meanwhile, was waiting for one moment: "We want to see Pete do the windmill."

And Townshend, who punctuated his performances with scissor leaps and jumps worthy of a man half his age, whipped his arm in trademark circles before the night was out.

The longevity of the group, which has survived turbulent times and changing tastes in music, has made a fan of Ed Yovetich, 22, of Bethel Park. "I like the idea they were doing that then, and they're still doing it 20 years later."

Yovetich was tailgating in the stadium lot with friend Mark Blice, 23, and his father, Joseph Blice, 58. The elder Blice, whose co-workers at USX were astounded when he announced plans to attend the show, echoed the tour theme: "The Kids Are Alright." Except for a few scuffles, he thought the crowd was well-behaved and undeserving of the bad rap often given to rock fans.

Joseph Blice had accompanied his daughter to a ZZ Top show, and when word of The Who reached his household, he told his son to get him a ticket. And he did. "My wife won't go. Older people really don't know they're listening to The Who," he said. If they did, they would realize the richness and rock 'n' roll significance of their music.

Although the fact that stadium parking lots did not open until mid-afternoon cut down on the pre-show partying, Pittsburgh police made a few dozen arrests for public intoxication and other offenses. And a group of undercover enforcement officers with the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement picked up dozens of teens for underage drinking.