'The Who' Was Fantastic, The Question Was 'When?'

The Who is spectacular. The four British rock musicians hit Melody Fair Sunday evening with an explosive show that threw the capacity audience into frantics when they finally got on, that is.

The musicianship of these young men is primarily instinctive, but all their instincts are right. The energy of drummer Keith Moon is nothing short of fantastic, and his concept of beat division incredible.

Their vocal effects, while often raucous, are equally as often quite beautiful, such as a chant-like effect in something called "The Spider."

All four are complete showmen — perfect timing, unlimited energy, and subtle humor, except for the very end, which consisted of a total bashing of instruments and amplifiers, which may or may not have been real.

The Who are beautiful people. And their show was so good that we and the rest of the audience nearly forgot our anger at the handling of the evening. The first half of the program featured Caesar and the Romans, a local group lacking talent of any kind.

Aside from the fact that young listeners didn't plan to pay top-dollar to hear such a minor group, their billing was not advertised.

On top of this, the intermission was one hour and 10 minutes long with no explanation, and The Who's amplifying equipment completely blocked the vision of one section of the tent, for which tickets were sold.

An adult audience might have reacted far differently. This young audience was patient and polite, which seemed more than the situation warranted.