The Who sang only one previously unrecorded song, an unconvincing "Dancing in the Streets." Much of the show's material can be found in the group's films: "Tommy," "Quadrophenia" and the band's film autobiography "The Kids Are Alright" (the latter two are playing at Berkeley's Northside Theater this week): "My Generation," "I Can See for Miles," "Summertime Blues," "Long Live Rock."

Townshend started out in a Napoleon jacket, but soon shed it to reveal a Clash tee-shirt (The new wave band's own "Clash City Rockers" is a direct steal from "Can't Explain").

Daltrey, who is a film star as well as the archetypal rock singer, was in great shape, playing harmonica on "Drowned" (from "Quadrophenia"), adding near-operatic vocals to "Music Must Change," and the greatest scream of all on the political "Won't Get Fooled Again."

Bassist John Entwistle sang his "My Wife." Entwistle is still the excellent musician who remains the cool, unaffected member of the band, standing out of the way in his white-on-white Fantasy Island suit.

New drummer Kenney Jones is a strong and steady player, but he keeps a low profile. The late Keith Moon's personality is sorely missed, for it wasn't just Moon's insane percussion attack that carried the Who's shows, but his humor as well. During the last local show (at the Coliseum stadium) Moon and Townshend had been carrying on like playful children. Now the band is often too serious.

This time only during the selections from rock opera "Tommy" ("Pinball Wizard," "See Me, Feel Me," "Sparks") did Townshend clown around, making funny faces. And, on Friday's final encore, "Magic Bus," Townshend rearranged the rhythm so it sounded like the Knack's "My Sharona."

Except for some lighting gimmicks (spinning lights on "Sister Disco," flashpots on "Won't Get Fooled Again") the show was centered on the charismatic and energetic stage manners of Daltrey, Townshend and Entwistle. The band's fancy lighting rig hovered over them like a "Close Encounters" spaceship, adding much color but never getting in the way of the show.

The band still cares enough about rock music to try to give the best show it can. And it cares about the audience.

Most performance contracts contain riders demanding items such as limousines, cases of this and that beverage. One of the conditions in the contract the Who presented to concert promoter Bill Graham was that 150 tickets be given away to handicapped fans. Some were delegated to Berkeley's Center for Independent Living.

During the '70s the Who music began to rely more and more on Townshend's keyboard and synthesizer work, something easy to do on record because he could overdub his guitar parts. In order to duplicate the sound on stage, the band played along to tape recordings of the keyboard parts, and the songs lost their drive.

Now, with the addition of John "Rabbit" Bundrick on keyboards, Townshend is freed to concentrate on his guitar playing, and such songs as "Who Are You," "Music Must Change" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" (which opened with blinding flashpots and half a dozen kleig lights turned on the audience) were actually more exciting than the recorded versions.

Bundrick, by the way, got his start by adding keyboard melody lines on early Jamaican reggae records (by artists including Bob Marley's Wailers) to make the albums more appealing to English and American ears, provided much of the magic to Johnny Nash's early '70s hits as well as being a key member of the final edition of rock band Free.