The Who in Concert

Rock Music Back in Dallas

By David Whitten

To wait a year and a half to see what is generally recognized as the greatest and most explosive performing rock group was by no means easy. But it was made all worthwhile Dec. 2 when Peter Townshend, Roger Daltry, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon electrified and deafened a standing room only crowd of 13,000 young people in Dallas Memorial Auditorium.

This reception was nothing unusual to The Who. As a matter of fact, it was rather routine. For it was eighteen months earlier on June 19, 1970 that I saw The Who in Memorial Auditorium. At that time I was unfamiliar with The Who or their music, but after one song I was definitely a believer in both.

After the very exciting show by MYLON, the warmup band, the stage crew then assembled a mountain of instruments and system amplifiers. Within minutes the lights were turned on behind Keith Moon's drums and a roar followed as The Who entered the stage.

Playing such famous songs as "My Generation," "Pinball Wizard," and the Overture from the rock-opera "Tommy," The Who completely enthralled the crowd, causing many people to push to the front and attempt to reach onto the stage. Townshend did not object to the multitudes at first, but at one point in the concert he stopped in the middle of a song to make the people stay back.

Yet, the highlight of the perfayed songs from their recently released album, Who's Next, The Who were able to reproduce with amazing realism the sounds of an A.R.P. Synthesiser and a VCS3 Organ through the use of specially prepared tapes played through the P.A.

Townshend explained that since he played the Synthesiser and Organ, as well as the guitar, this was the only way to play them both live.

"Behind Blue Eyes" was a splendidly soft contrast to the other hard rock songs.

A note of sarcasm was sounded by Townshend before they played "Won't Get Fooled Again." He referred to the great "revolution" that was supposed to take place but never did. His disillusionment with the "youth movement" and his attitude toward the audience gave Townshend an arrogant air, which offended people at first, but was quickly forgotten as the group played.

At the conclusion of the program an exhausted foursome left the stage, after playing over two hours of true rock and roll to the shouts of a thoroughly exhausted yet believing crowd.