The Who Fairfield Hall, Croydon. By Peter Cole

The Who's opera, Tommy — the story of a deaf, dumb and blind boy — is the only pop work, as opposed to song, of any significance to have appeared.

It is musically and verbally a coherent whole rather than a collection of songs.

The Who performed almost all of it last night to a packed Fairfield Hall. They were superb.

Having heard it before in the Albert Hall and on the Isle of Wight, I was able last night to appreciate the opera with good acoustics. And it was so much better.

The group played non-stop for over two hours giving us a selection of their old hits as well as Tommy. This only served to underline how far they have come.

They have the stage act to back their musical brilliance and the combined effect is, in a nutshell, mind-blowing.