There were parts of The Who's opening concert at Madison Square Garden Thursday night that were so euphorically exciting that I thought I would faint from pleasure. Those moments more than compensated for the occasional excursions into elaborate arrangements that were not as adventurous as they might have been. There are shows tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday, all of which are sold out.

The first peak experience came three songs into the set. The refurbished band began its set with The Who revisiting some of its earliest tunes, dating back to the mid-1960s. Roger Daltrey swung the microphone like a gaucho aiming his bolo on the opener, "Substitute," while Pete Townshend’s arms imitated a ferris wheel gone amuck, descending into a visually magnificent guitar downstroke on “Can’t Explain."

It was already clear that Kenny Jones, a former member of Rod Stewart's band, The Faces, was an able replacement for Keith Moon, the band's frenziedly flamboyant drummer who died last year of an apparent drug overdose. Jones’ forceful and disciplined playing allowed bass player John Entwistle (long used to having to anticipate Moon's unpredictable swings of stick) to create a rhythmic focus for the band of unusual consistency.

The pieces jelled in song three, "Baba O'Riley." This ode to Townshend's spiritual mentor Meher Baba began with dramatic synthesizer notes played by supplementary musician John (Rabbit) Bundick while Townshend attempted to put his fist through a tambourine. The song built to a resounding climax as the playing spiralled hypnotically.

The audience began cheering wildly as Daltrey sang Townshend’s line about the "teenage

Pete Townshend

wasteland." No insult was intended. The Garden was a teenage wasteland, and not only did all of them know it, they were proud of it. When Daltrey shouted, "We’re all wasted!" the assertion was echoed by 15,000 ecstatic, wasted voices.

Later in the set, a medley from the rock opera “Tommy” showed more evidence of the spirit that had made "Baba O’Riley" so moving. “Pinball Wizard” was not only strong on character and plot, as any good work of fiction should be; it also featured the musicians playing some classic chord changes with such spirit you'd think they were inventing rock and roll.

Since the band had been concentrating on film projects for the last few years ("The Kids Are Alright" was released this summer; “Quadrophenia” will be out in November), there weren't many new songs to fill out the show. There were, however, new arrangements.

“We’re gonna do this for the rest of our lives; we’re gonna keep changing,” Townshend told the audience. It was his way of "apologizing" for the horn section that has been accompanying what was always a three instrument band on its tour. The song they played was called, appropriately, “The Music Must Change.” The horn section, as well as the presence of Bundrick on keyboards, gave Townshend the opportunity to play driving single-note leads on guitar, rather than the combination of lead, rhythm and distortion control that had always been his responsibility before.

The playing was just a bit self indulgent at certain points, most notably on “My Generation,” the band’s 1965 anthem of England’s Mod teenage lifestyle. But whenever it seemed that the band was getting lost in an improvisational Bermuda Triangle, common sense and an instinct for survival would bring the set back to basics: Townshend injecting some "Gloria" into “My Generation” or “La Bamba” into “Summertime Blues.” The new Who arrangements showed some hesitancy, but you can’t help but look forward to hearing them worked out, as they will be, in time. /II