Photographer: MIMI FULLER

Guitarists Peter Townsend (rear) and Roger Daltrey of the English rock group, The Who, entertained a standing-room crowd of more than 16,000 last night at Riverfront Coliseum. It was the largest crowd ever at the Coliseum.

The Who: masters of mayhem

By Brad Balfour

Last night was the real opening at Riverfront Coliseum.

It was the night of the Superstar group, The Who, from England. They presented one of their longer concerts, an hour and 14 minutes, to a densely-packed throng of 16,000-plus people.

The Who has masterminded some of the most overwhelming anthems in rock history, such as the songs of their rock opera, “Tommy.”

On-stage, as on records, these tunes sweep the audience into the realm of a shared point of view. The songs unified the crowd into a mass dedicated to glorifying those visions.

Basic passions everyone shares are “My Generation” and “Summertime Blues,” two songs The Who performed with unrelenting intensity and unabashed power.

The Who unveiled their well-equipped powerhouse arsenal of machine-gun guitar (Peter Townshend), booming bass (John Entwhistle), and explosive drums (Keith Moon). Roger Daltrey led the charge with his rallying-cry vocals and swinging mace microphone.

To make their wall of sound unquestionably secure, the volume was at maximum and the subtleties at minimum. Nothing was allowed to distract the audience from The Who’s love for basic rock ’n’ roll.

That they sustained the ability to create such an intense display of energy over the years is remarkable. They still have the capacity to awaken the primal force inherent in rock. Yet their heavy-metal armor showed some chinks from wear.

The way Townshend and Daltrey faced each, vying for attention with flagrant actions, for instance, Townshend used high jumps and guitar gesticulations against Daltrey’s thumping right leg and high-swinging microphone. At times they moved and paced the tunes mechanically.

But the crowd was so immersed by the crashing chords and wails of The Who, these nuances hardly mattered.

It was a different matter for the opening group, Toots and the Maytals. Boos between numbers illustrated the crowd’s rude single-mindedness.

The Toots musicians are masters at reggae, the Jamaican soul music popularized by such records as Eric Clapton’s “I Shot the Sheriff.”

It was the audience’s loss that they weren’t able to appreciate it.

For the musically attuned it was a fulfilling evening, from Toots strutting about to the elaborate light setup and laser beam show during The Who’s “See Me Feel Me.”

The Who concert was a brilliant exercise in fury unmatched by most rock groups.

Return to terror

NEW YORK—Paramount Pictures has signed Roman Polanski and Andrew Braunsberg for immediate production of “The Tenant.”

To be produced by Polanski and Braunsberg and directed by Polanski from a screenplay he wrote with Gerard Brach from a novel of the same title by Roland Topor, “The Tenant” is described as a definitive study of terror and marks Polanski’s return to the type of film that has made him world-famous.

In “The Tenant,” a young man rents an apartment in the poor section of Paris only to become possessed by the soul of its previous tenant.