The Who became liberated and, according to Townshend, reinvigorated.

Yet, Wednesday night the band clearly missed Moon. In the group's three previous appearances in the Twin Cities, Moon demonstrated more personality than any other drummer in rock. Moreover, few can rival his powerhouse style. And his madcap manner truly inspired the band.

The kind of craziness Moon promoted was missing this time around. His successor, Kenney Jones, formerly of the Faces, was a serviceable drummer at best. He lacked Moon's flair, power and ability to move his colleagues.

Other personnel changes also colored the performance. New, versatile keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick, a Houston native who has played with Johnny Nash, Free and others, provided a new texture and fuller sound to a band that had been largely guitar-oriented. And a three-piece horn section, which appeared intermittently, added a brassy, soulful texture to some songs and simply cluttered others.

Despite the musical changes, the music was very familiar. The program was simply 18 songs that made The Who famous in the past 15 years. There were early hits—"Substitute" and "I Can't Explain"—and recent hits—"Who Are You" and "Sister Disco." But there was no new material even though Townshend just released a solo album and the band has been working on a Who record for more than a year.

The sellout crowd of 17,500, which was dominated by fans too young to have seen The Who at Woodstock, responded most enthusiastically to material from "Who's Next," the classic '71 album which introduced the synthesizer as a major rock instrument. But it was The Who's anthems to adolescence and tunes from the band's rock operas—the landmark "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia"—that stood out.

After performing for about 45 minutes with checkered success, the band began to gel on "Drowned," a number from "Quadrophenia" that ended with a raved-up blues jam featuring singer Roger Daltrey on harmonica. The intensity began to build on "Who Are You," a '78 hit, and, finally, on "5:15," a horn-driven rocker from "Quadrophenia." The Who started to rock with abandon and spirit.

Next came about 35 magical minutes as the band played one rock anthem after another, something few groups can do. First came a medley from "Tommy," featuring "Pinball Wizard" and "See Me, Feel Me," as the fans clapped along forming a sea of waving arms. Athletic singer Daltrey twirled his microphone like a lariat, which really psyched up the audience. And at the end of the medley, he even dragged the mike against the strings of Townshend's guitar, a throwback to the band's wilder days.

"Long Live Rock," a gritty, spare rock tune that was the band's most recent hit, helped recall the camaraderie of old as Daltrey swung his arm around Townshend as they sang together. And before the song was over, the two were dancing in unison around the stage.

Daltrey, the group's sex symbol whose curly blond locks have been shorn in favor of a closely cropped hairdo, shifted into full gear on "My Generation" as he ran around in circles. The tune, the band's signature and its first major hit, featured a nifty call-and-response vocal exchange between Daltrey and Townshend and a solo by stoic bassist John Entwistle.

Then Townshend tore into some raunchy guitar power-chords on "I Can See for Miles," another Who chestnut, before he showed his remarkable facility and versatility with the instrument on "Underture," one of the band's instrumental favorites. It was just like the old days: Townshend, rock's most animated and fun-loving guitarist, leaped around the stage and performed a few of his patented windmill, guitar strums.

A sluggish version of "Won't Get Fooled Again," which was noteworthy for its spectacular display of lights and smoke bombs, and an uninspired "The Real Me" closed the show.

The boisterous crowd seemed disappointed that The Who performed only one encore. The fans, most of whom stood for the band's entire performance, had been rather rambunctious all night.

As soon as The Who walked on stage, concertgoers rushed the stage. At least three times, Daltrey urged the fans on the main floor to step back. He seemed quite annoyed and even raised the specter of The Who's concert in Cincinnati, at which 11 people were trampled to death trying to get into the concert.

"It's getting ridiculous down in front," he said before the band played "The Music Must Change." "You're getting trampled. You could kill each other. People in the aisle should take three steps backwards."

The crowd retreated, but before the night was over a couple of fans had to climb on stage to escape from the press of the bodies. And Daltrey even shared cups of water with a few fans in front, some of whom tossed caps, shirts and masks to the musicians.

By contrast, outside the Civic Center there were no crowd-control problems. The police and private security personnel reported no major incidents. Even St. Paul Councilman Ron Maddox, who has been a critic of rock concerts at the city-owned arena, described the crowd as "good."

Ticket scalpers seemed to be having a difficult time unloading tickets. One speculator was willing to settle for $7 for a ticket that cost $12.50. The addition of a second Who concert Friday at the Civic Center seems to have met the demand for tickets. In fact, a few hundred tickets are still available for the show.

Opening the concert was Blackfoot, a banal boogie band from Florida that played mostly songs made famous by other groups. How Blackfoot, which had a minor hit this year called "Highway Song," landed a choice spot playing on The Who tour is a great mystery.