The Who on stage are bigger and better than their “real life” selves, their post-Tommy legend and even their music, and it’s this that sustains them as one of rock’s great bands.

They are a rock ‘n’ roll band with a style that dates back to Beatlemania.

The Who’s show at the Forum last night before an audience of more than 18,000 was the British quartet’s first appearance in this city and they performed one of the more interesting rock concerts seen here in years.

For guys who have changed history with their music, they were mere mortals at a small press gathering earlier yesterday launched by MCA Records of Canada to present The Who with about 20 gold and platinum records for album sales in this country. The records were lined up against the drapes in the swank hotel suite and the group engaged in minimal amounts of chit chat.

Pete Townshend, the spiritual force behind The Who, was thin, nervous, bored, quiet and his face was abnormally pale and sad, and his nose is even larger than photos suggest. Pete is The Who look, an intense fellow who seemed only at ease with his mates.

Keith Moon, the happy jack drummer, is getting stouter as the years roll on. John Entwistle, the dynamite bassist, is a rock ’n’ roll fatty, with his trousers fitted tight and his belly bulging comfortably out of a grey sparkling lounging shirt.

And there was singer Roger Daltry, smaller than expected, looking like he stepped out of an English pub.

The group has one of the tightest sounds of any rock ensemble; the balance of guitar, bass, drums and vocals came across clearly, each member reflecting his own sensibility within the ever glorious hard-rock style of The Who.

Townshend was the most pleasing to watch. He paced and jumped around the stage with a manner that suggested both Chuck Berry and Groucho Marx; he is all concentration.

His leaps to his stinging guitar riffs were beautifully timed and classic. His guitar playing was strong and forceful all night long, although during parts of Quadrophenia there were repetitions.

Other guitarists are able to state themes more economically, but Townshend’s feverish solos are more dramatic. His stance with guitar, and the cartwheel of his arm slamming out chords, was a memorable sight.

Moon was up to his tricks with his flippy drumstick schtick and his machinegun drumming, Entwistle’s bass gave the sound a subtle body and Daltry shouted and hollered out the words and danced, pranced and twirled the microphone.

I Can’t Explain, which was The Who’s first hit, is the philosophy of the music in its most compact form, while the various songs from Quadrophenia follow the trail of the group and its surroundings during the mid-sixties.

The Who fan of that time found the group a form of rebellion, and that is rock ’n’ roll.

Some of the new tunes will get stronger as time passes, but the audience (those that hadn’t been carried out limp to the elements or to first aid) stood up immediately from Pinball Wizard and See Me Feel Me, and awarded them a tumultuous ovation at the end.