EDMONTON — Hundreds were turned away at the gate, having bought crudely-forged tickets, mostly on the hope somehow of getting inside.

Still hundreds more vacated their behind-the-stage, obstructed view seats to claim squatters’ rights on the floor-level aisles, clogging up the area in front of the stage into one big mass of long hair and denim.

Fistfights — as the minutes between the opening act’s finale and the featured attraction’s appearance turned into a full hour — broke out. Wineskins and liquor bottles were displayed and their contents consumed as openly as soda pop.

But, when The Who finally took to the stage at the Edmonton Coliseum Saturday, it was all made worthwhile.

The English supergroup who built their fame in the mid ‘60s with rock and roll anthems of adolescence like My Generation and I Can’t Explain and then furthered it with the rock opera, Tommy, performed almost two hours of raw, fierce music for the 16,000 who had — at $8.50 each — paid somewhere around $135,000 to witness.

‘We don’t even rehearse’ – Daltrey

Pete Townshend, the guitarist and composer, mesmerized with his madman style of performance: flailing away at his guitar as if his arm was a pinwheel fastened to a torso. Just in case that wasn’t enough, he’d run across the stage, leap high into the air and kick the microphone out of its stand.

Roger Daltrey, lead singer, was not to be outdone. He never stopped moving, pacing in circles between songs like some crazed, caged animal. He whipped his microphone around the arena by its cord, throwing it high and catching it on its descent.

Meanwhile, drummer Keith Moon pounded away and leered at everyone who’d look. Bass player John Entwistle, the calmest, merely stood and played.

“People say we’ve got an act,” Roger Daltrey explained backstage after the show, “but we don’t.

“We don’t even rehearse. That whole thing that goes on the stage IS The Who.”

If it wasn’t rehearsed, it certainly sounded as though it had been. Tempo changes were precise, harmonies close and the playing powerful. The show, 115 minutes long, went smoothly and built to a powerful finish.

For a while before the show though, things weren’t so smooth.

There were problems getting the Coliseum’s electrical power up to the requirements of the group’s laser beams. The colored beams are part of the light show and are used at the end of excerpts from Tommy.

Electrical crews scrambled to make the necessary adjustments, delaying the concert so that it began one-half hour after it was supposed to start. And there was the lengthy delay between the opening act, Mother’s Finest, and The Who’s show.

While the electrical problems were being worked on, at least 200 people holding forged tickets were turned away at the gate.

“I just turned away six kids from Saskatoon,” Don Clarke, Coliseum manager said before the show.

“They weren’t too upset. They said they’d go back to Saskatoon and settle it themselves.”

Most of the fans holding worthless tickets didn’t put up much of an argument to try and get into the building. Most realized they had phony tickets and, when it was pointed out to them, “they faded away” one observer said.

Fans blocked aisles for better view

As if to guard their own seats, the people inside the building, the ones with the good tickets, barely moved from their seats during the show. After a dull set by Mother’s Finest, hardly anyone moved. Fans held their ground.

Except for those who had bought “obstructed view” seats behind the stage.

When Mother’s Finest finished its show, these fans hopped the arena boards and moved into the aisles to get a better view. Efforts by ushers and police to move them failed.

When The Who finally came onstage, the crowd, having waited for so long, seemed somewhat awed.