Strutting, jumping, offering that old-time rock flash that we now usually associate with the glory days of the late ’60s, The Who accounted for the latest British invasion of the Spectrum on Tuesday night. A near capacity crowd of more than 19,000 put up no resistance.

Indeed, they paid good money to be conquered one more time.

The Who, of course, is among the last working representatives of rock’s Golden Age. Their music thunders over a super-powered system; the rhythms throb.

But there was more to The Who than electronic energy. Lead guitarist Peter Townshend and lead singer Roger Daltrey— aided and abetted by John Entwistle on bass and Keith Moon on drums—were putting on spectacular stage shows long before these theatrical approaches to rock music were turned into the “new wave” of rock music by the likes of David Bowie and Alice Cooper.

Far more important, though, The Who had turned out much of rock’s finest music. And the group has even shoveled out more than a little new

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ground.

It began with several of the old songs—even beginning the show with The Who’s first single record, “I Can’t Explain.” The band moved on covering the past several years, including material from the rock opera, “Tommy,” right up to their newest album, “Quadrophenia.”

Speculation that this could be the last American tour ever undertaken by The Who is, of course, rampant—mostly on the basis of little hints thrown out by Townshend during a recent interview on the West Coast.

But then you never know about The Who. It has been solidly established that these lads love to play games; games that sometimes get a little rough and tumble. Just check around with some of the world’s hotel managers. (The Who allegedly did $6,000 damage to Montreal’s Hotel Bonaventure after their Sunday night concert in that city.)

However, if serious consideration is being given to calling it quits, the high-flying ride of The Who would turn out to be a comparatively short trip, considering that the group’s roots date back to the early ’60s, but undisputed rock superstardom did not arrive until after the release of “Tommy” in 1969.

Only those who took their rock quite seriously realized the significance of this breakthrough when The Who arrived quietly in Philadelphia on a Sunday afternoon in late 1969 to perform “Tommy” in its entirety at the long-gone Electric Factory.

There were hit records by The Who prior to “Tommy,” but total acceptance had always eluded the band. The “self-destructive” image always seemed to come to

mind before the merits of the music.

But “Tommy” arrived as not only rock’s first opera, but an extraordinarily excellent piece of work. There were even those who labeled it superior in pop music importance to the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper” milestone.

But the times change, naturally, and there is always the chance that individual musical aspirations no longer fit within the framework of a rock band.

Maybe it is farewell to The Who. But don’t bet too much on it.

Peter Townshend, leader of The Who