The Who Look

Kevin Manning/Post-Dispatch

Who members Roger Daltrey (left) and Pete Townshend (right background) performing the tune "Tommy," from the group’s legendary rock opera of the same name. The performance was Friday at Busch Stadium.

‘Who Fever’: 50,000 Turn Out For Anniversary Tour

By Phil Linsalata, Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

West County resident Ed Garrett used to sneak out of his parents’ home to catch rock ’n’ roll acts like The Who.

But on Friday night, Garrett, 40, and his wife, Cheryl, showed their son, Greg, 12, that he wouldn’t have to sneak.

The family was among almost 50,000 fans at Busch Stadium for one stop in The Who’s 38-show tour, “The Kids Are Alright.”

The 40-song three-hour concert was a celebration of 25 years of survival for the band, led by singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend and bass player John Entwistle.

Greg, in a Batman T-shirt and wearing a Mercedes-Benz emblem that resembled a peace symbol, said he thought concerts today were safer than they were when his parents were teens.

“There isn’t as much as of this,” said the boy, making a motion as though he were inhaling a joint, or marijuana cigarette.

“This is his first concert, and I think it’s a good start,” his father said.

Beach balls, symbolic of the tour’s pinball motif, bounced through the crowd as the stage was readied.

Josh Sachs, 15, waited patiently. He had ridden 246 miles from Louisville, Ky., for the show, so a little more waiting was no bother.

He said he had caught “Who fever” from his brother, Adam, 19, a veteran of five earlier shows on this tour.

“Let’s see, there was Cleveland, Kansas City and three nights in Atlanta,” said Adam Sachs, who has been sleeping in his car or “in cheap motels.”

A liberal-arts student at Tufts University in Boston, Adam Sachs said The Who’s message was “a lasting one.”

He disagreed with Townshend’s

See WHO, Page 8