If ever there was a classic English rock and roll band, The Who would have to be it, and just as they did a few years ago, they reminded Memphis of that last night before a sellout crowd of 12,000 at the Mid-South Coliseum.

It isn't a matter of silly comparisons with other bands (including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones); it is simply acknowledging that The Who's music in all of its classic proportions is decidedly British, more so than any other group to come out of the period when one could distinguish between American and British artists.

There is both a tone and an overall atmosphere to The Who's music that is not based heavily on American forms. It seems more to come from the band's personal experience — and that, of course, is across the sea. There is a universal statement in what The Who says, but in building its own music rather than expanding so much on American riffs, they are rare.

And in retaining that creativity for an extraordinary 15 years, the band has created a body of music that is inclusive as it is individualistic. Last night The Who began, as usual, with "Substitute." Although it is a song recorded long, long ago, it was as virile last night as any other song they performed.

The mixture of old and new was, if one could separate from the emotions of the show long enough to think about it, pretty astonishing. It was, however, difficult to take on any such intellectual considerations while watching The Who move from height to height. Remember any definitive Who song and it was there last night in the two-hour-plus set.

Also joyously present was that group feeling, that celebration of "We're all alive and together," that The Who have always evoked. There have been diversions in the last decade and a half, but the band has never seriously lost that continuity with its audience.

Seeing Roger Daltrey in his punk jacket and T-shirt, Pete Townshend's windmill assault on his guitar, John Entwistle's mysteriously solid stone-face and new drummer Kenny Jones' personal relationship with his instrument, it is sometimes easy to get distracted at a Who concert, as this new and then that one draws the attention.

But it is as a group that The Who erupts into its fullest force. It is, foremost, a band, and that togetherness and its immediate translation to the listener are what made last night's show everything that we have come to expect from The Who.

But The Who were not the only pleasure last night at the Coliseum.

With an attraction that seemed to have enough potential to someday rival that of The Who, opening act Willie Nile backed up every hint of passion his debut album holds. The New York-based rock and roller released that album just a few months ago and though it died quickly in the arid atmosphere of Memphis radioland, it is one of the best American albums this year.

Nile's songs and voice are both great examples of expressing depth with a minimum of drilling. His songs rely on short but finely honed brush strokes, provoking a sense of almost mystical rock and roll.

"Old Men Sleeping on the Bowery," with its shift between the people in the title and a young couple on a roof top, is sparse and reaches no conclusions. But precisely because of that, it opens the listener's imagination to all manner of connective thoughts. "Sing Me a Song" is a tremendously seductive number with its pattern of ebbing and flowing power, while "It's All Over" is a story flooded with memories of many stripes.

Nile's music, with a reliance on rhythm guitar as much as any lead instrument, sets up his rolling-screen images with an equally rolling background.

Nile himself seems to be a genuine performer, sometimes pushing his songs to an effect by mere stage presence. Unfortunately, some of that presence appeared lost within the Coliseum's vastness, and just as unfortunate, Nile only got to do about seven songs.

But the electricity of his music was unmistakable and his artistry undeniable.

Two Rogues Arrested At Concert

Two Memphis Rogues soccer players were arrested last night at The Who concert at the Mid-South Coliseum — one accused of dropping his pants and the other of being disorderly.

Bob Stetler, a Rogues goalkeeper, was charged with open and notorious public lewdness and public drunkenness. An arrest report said a private security guard saw Stetler "standing in front of his seat with his pants down exposing himself."

Rogues forward Paul Cannell was charged with disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. The arrest report on him quoted a security guard as saying Cannell banged on a glass door and threw a soft drink bottle at guards when they asked him to stop.

Both players are to be in City Court Division 7 at 9 a.m. today.

In separate incidents, one youth was arrested in the Coliseum and two men were arrested at Airways and Scottwood, all charged with attempting to sell T-shirts without permits. Several other T-shirt sellers were not arrested, and Lt. B. W. Nelson said City Councilman Oscar H. Edmonds Jr. questioned police about why they weren't. Nelson said he explained they had peddler's permits.