Two-and-a-half thousand cheering voices gave a thunderous welcome to the travelling electric circus that is The Who, at Trentham Gardens last night.

The four Londoners — Daltrey, Townshend, Entwistle and Moon — left the vast audience in no doubt that after eight years they are still the greatest rock and roll band in the world.

They arrived in the Potteries yesterday in a convoy which included three five-ton trucks loaded with nearly £30,000 worth of sound and lighting equipment.

Performing under a battery of multi-coloured lamps and surrounded by amplifiers, the group soon had the fans dizzy with the sheer dynamic brilliance of their act.

Peter Townshend, lead guitarist, lyricist and intellectual driving force behind The Who, leapt and cavorted about the stage, swinging his arm in the familiar windmill-like circle.

Classics

Daltrey, singing Who classics like "My Generation", and "Pinball Wizard" (from Townshend’s opera "Tommy") swung his microphone like a lasso, while drummer Moon flailed and thrashed like a Dervish.

As well as a passage from "Tommy," the group played "Baba O’Reilly," in which they used pre-recorded taped electronic synthesiser.

During one number, Daltrey strayed near the edge of the stage and a flurry of hands grabbed him and brought him to his knees, to be promptly rescued by a hefty "roadie."

Townshend who in previous tours often concluded by smashing his guitar, refused to respond to cries from the audience to do so last night.

In fact he told the audience in rather colourful terms, just what he thought of the suggestion-

Later, he told the Sentinel that although audiences were excited by his guitar-smashing routine, it interfered with the act.