In the fall of 1968, a British band, The Who, performed in front of around two thousand high school students during a dance held at Shawnee Mission South high school.

At that time, The Who had only one hit record to their credit, and another one, “I Can See For Miles,” on its way up the national charts.

Ticket prices for that dance were set at 5 bucks apiece, which included The Who and two other popular bands. The price was considered outrageous at the time.

Seven years, five top-selling albums, one movie, and a couple of million more fans later, The Who invaded Kansas City once again last Monday night.

This time it was in front of 15,000 fans crammed into Kemper Arena, just a shade bit larger than Shawnee Mission South high school gym.

The tickets for this show were all but sold out two days after they went on sale, and this time they were 8 bucks, not $5.

There have been a lot of changes since 1968, changes in American people and customs, but last Monday the biggest change since 1968 was The Who themselves.

No longer is The Who the rock n’ roll band that would destroy their equipment amid the hazy cover of smoke bombs at the end of each performance for their “show stopper.”

The Who doesn’t need a show stopper of this kind any longer, their mere presence on stage is enough.

The concert Monday got off to somewhat of a late start. Advertised as starting at 8 p.m., it was almost 9 p.m. before things started going, but most of the crowd didn’t seem to mind because they were stuck in their cars on Interstate 35 in a traffic jam trying to get to the Arena.

Kempers’ parking situation isn’t made for large crowds.

The warm-up band for the concert, Toots and the Maytals, was a rather good Reggae band from Jamaica. They didn’t play too long, only around 40 minutes, but seemed to be very well received by fans who were over-excited about what was next in line.

During the first set though, Toots and the Maytals played one of the strangest and best versions of John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Road” I’ve ever heard. Toots and his band flavored the song with a heavy Latin beat, and their vocals made the song almost unrecognizable from Denver’s original. Toots warmed-up the crowd, and that’s what they’re paid for.

After a half-hour intermission, which included The Who’s manager Peter Rudge coming on stage to ask for a pair of size ten tennis shoes for Who guitarist Pete Townshend because he had forgotten his own, The Who emerged on stage under massive speakers and lights over the stage to the thundering roar of the 15,000 fans.

Starting off their show with two numbers the band made popular in the mid-60’s, The Who seemed to capture all of the physical excitement of the crowd in the very first two songs. Like back in 1968 at Shawnee Mission high school, there was dancing this time, but it wasn’t on a gym floor, it was on top of seats and in the aisles.

But then something seemed to happen. Perhaps too much excitement was stolen from the crowd, or they got over the intensity of seeing the band, because crowd reaction seemed to drop off. No longer was there the stomping, clapping, yelling roar that ended the first two songs. The crowd seemed to quiet down.

And I thought it was a shame, seeing how The Who did some of their finer songs during this time, many of them from their “Who’s Next” album, along with “Magic Bus,” one of their best efforts.

But here were four very accomplished musicians who didn’t stop any of their own energy, even though the crowd did.

The Who, Pete Townshend on guitar, Roger Daltrey on lead vocals and harmonica, John Entwistle on bass guitar, and Keith Moon on drums, are what I consider four masters of their own fields, and they are masters at arousing a crowd.

They are all showmen in their own right, especially Townshend. He moves across the stage like his guitar was part of his body, jumping high in the air and then landing on the stage in perfect time with the down-beat of the song. His arms creating a windmill effect as he rotates them in wide circles to pound out the chords on his instrument.

When you back up Townshend with Daltrey swinging his mike by the cord in huge circles above his head and dancing to every beat, and then the impeccable Keith Moon slamming his drums, it’s quite a sight on stage.

John Entwistle is the only member of the group who doesn’t really do anything on stage. He is stationary, doing what he does best, playing bass guitar.

These four showmen know where their success lies, and they made the most of it.

No sooner did Daltrey mention that their next few songs would be selections

Kemper Arena December 1st

WHO GUITARIST PETER TOWNSHEND – High intensity Rock ’n Roll.

from The Who’s most famous work to date, “Tommy,” than the crowd picked themselves right up again, this time never again to falter.

The last 45 minutes of the concert, which included the selections from “Tommy,” was one of the most enjoyable bits of stage production I’ve ever seen.

During the last song of the medley, “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” while Daltrey was singing the haunting chorus, “Hear Me, Feel Me,” thin streams of laser light beams struck out from the back of the stage into the audience. First over lines of red, then green. And the crowd, mystified by what was happening, filled the arena with ooh’s and ah’s until all of a sudden the back of the stage blazed out with bright spotlights illuminating the seats causing one of the greatest crowd reactions I’ve ever seen. Everyone, including myself, was practically spell-bound and standing up in their seats.

The band had everyone going, and they knew it. Not letting anything stop or lose their moment’s glory, they quickly sprang into a rocking rendition of “Summertime Blues,” followed by “I’m A Road Runner.”

The crowd went wild, and the show could have ended on a happy note right there, but not a chance.

And all of a sudden it was over.

The crowd, quickly realizing that there would be no encore, stopped their clapping as soon as the emcee said “Thank you and good night.”

Then all that was left to do was un-pop my ears and head back out into reality.

With the first notes of “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” the crowd was screaming. Using the laser and bright spotlights for the second time, and with Townshend jumping on the stage in mad frenzy, Daltrey dancing at a furious pace, and drummer Moon busting drum stick after drum stick as he pounded his way through the song, it was by far the best closing act I can remember in quite a while.