The Who finally made it to Madison Square Garden, after a day's postponement due to drummer and group cut-up Keith Moon's reported flu attack.

The show's red-hot ticket reputation came partly from the fact the British rock group hadn't played here in two years. It also came partly from the decision of the group's management to sell tickets strictly by mail, giving a lottery effect. Outside the Garden Thursday night, it was definitely a seller's market, with scalpers (who apparently can beat any system) hawking $8.50 and $7.50 tickets for up to $50.

Ticket holders unlucky enough to enter from the Seventh Ave. side found themselves forced to negotiate two unusual single-file ticket checkpoints. For some the jam-up took half an hour, just as long enough to miss the opening act — the Steve Gibbons Band.

The Who worked at giving satisfaction for the excitement generated, playing almost two hours, including a 10-minute encore, a practice they try to avoid at all costs. The group, who have been together 11 years, played a range of their material from their earliest day ("Can't Explain") to the present ("Squeeze Box") with a half-hour tab version midway of what has become almost a chestnut for them, "Tommy." Somehow they found enthusiasm for it.

In the past, they have been known to flatten eardrums with their volume. The sound was more restrained this time, but vocalist Roger Daltrey and guitarist Peter Townshend worked as hard as ever at their physical specialties mike cord twirling for Daltrey, and high jumps and kicks and windmill-armed guitar passes for Townshend — and these antics were cheered as much as the music. John Entwistle, bass man, keeps a low profile, as most bass men do.

The Who have been countering stories in rock publications of personality rifts among them, presaging a breakup, and they were an integrated group on stage, very matey. Some of their songs built to exuberantly high moments, like "Magic Bus," but sometimes there was the disheartening feeling they were pushing themselves, following the title of their new album too closely, "The Who by Numbers."