The Who are masters

Both concerts by The Who, given on Thursday and Friday nights at Convention Hall, were the best concerts Miami has had in a year — since the Band Concert.

Elton John, The Allman Brothers and others have been good, but none have equalled The Who in talent, energy, creativity and performance. If there are high priests of rock, it has to be the Stones and The Who; and after these two performances The Who may well edge out the Stones.

A performance by The Who is not just an experience in listening; it is complete with lights, sound and theatrics. Nothing stops from the moment they hit the stage. John Entwistle, the bass player who screams ahead of every other bass player with speed and exactness is planted in one spot — except when he is at the mike singing. He is straight man.

Keith Moon on drums, who is probably along with Charlie Watts the best drummer around is full of facial gestures, throwing his sticks in the air, not caring if he catches them or not, constantly clowning with Townshend, yet always right there for every delicate hit of the cymbals or triple and double rolls. Roger Daltrey stands at the other end of the scales from Townshend; balancing every move he makes. Notes and words pour out of his 5-foot-three frame with shattering strength. He can be melodic as in "See Me Feel Me, touch me" or as hard and gutsy in "My Generation." Every time you feel that he could not possibly sing any louder or more gently, he comes right along with another song that blows your brain.

And the master of the stage is Peter Townshend. His guitar work is as intricate as it is powerful. Never is a note or chord slurred or undeveloped, every riff no matter how long or exciting, is perfect. When he looks like a sorcerer swooping down on his guitar to weave a magic spell he creates a moment of dramatic pause and brilliant music. His arm is constantly swinging over his head, he jumps in the air, does splits and pivots on one foot in an ever closing circle.

In doing all of this, he is punctuating the music he plays. He is the focal force of the group, yet there is always balance amongst the four of them.

There is Entwistle, the anchor man, the vertical movements of Keith Moon, the horizontal swinging of Townshend and the dimension of depth in Daltrey’s swinging of the mike, forward and backwards. They are never off, always precise, getting louder and more intense with every song. The Who do not play quiet songs; even when they are softer, they are as definite and full of emotion as the song before.

Their set covered a spectrum of The Who, and with the exception of "Going Mobile," they played everything that was anticipated. Beginning with "I Can’t Explain," "Substitute" and then into Eddie Cochran’s "Summertime Blues" they floored the audience.

From the minute they hit the stage, the bouncing, clapping, stomping and screaming did not stop. Untampered emotions and sounds filled the air in waves. John Entwistle’s "My Wife" and "Baba O’Reilly" (with the taped synthesizer, which is played by Townshend), "Bargain" and "Behind Blue Eyes" demonstrated that the sound created on an album can be more than duplicated. "Who’s Next" would appear impossible to reproduce live, but they did it magnificently.

Townshend’s current political-revolution song, "Won’t Get Fooled Again" completely freaked out the audience. Daltrey’s voice biting out every word, made you feel that ‘fighting in the street with our children at our feet’ was the only logical end. It is a song that can be interpreted as a 1971 “My Generation.” And the truth in the tune was completely felt. As you stood there at the feet of the rock heroes, under the American flag, you felt for that cohesive moment that it had already been won.

The pace of the set was altered slightly with the playing of a Marvin Gaye song, "Baby, Don’t You Do It," which is a song The Who used to play when they were first starting out. The volume throughout all of this was at screech level, and when they began "Magic Bus" it was turned up and by the time they hit "Tommy" it was at crush level. No doubt many earaches resulted, but The Who are here once every three years, and it was well worth it.

The overture to “Tommy,” “It’s A Boy,” “Pinball Wizard,” “Where we’re going to take it,” "See me, feel me, touch me" . . . were followed by the only thing they could be topped by — “My Generation.”

To enumerate on the playing of each song is impossible, excepting to say that they constantly moved in an upward direction. The riffs and the singing were totally unbelievable. You never believed that a group could be as strong and dominant as The Who, yet they are. Townshend, as are the rest of them, is a genius. He makes cohesive music, there is no fragmentation, no noise, it is all music; clear, loud and penetrating.

There are no encores from The Who, for they give all they have from the minute they walk on stage, and after almost two hours there is little more that they can give. By that time the audience is in complete awe and totally suspended by every move on the stage. The Who are a total blending of everything that is good in music. They are the best of the best and very possibly the only group, who get it ‘on’ every time and who are in constant ascension. Just as in a contact high, you can not help but being elated, exhausted and very full after hearing them.