TORONTO — When The Who casually bounced out onto the stage Saturday afternoon, the 68,000 people that packed Exhibition Stadium were more than warmed up for the concert. They were in a heated frenzy.

And so, with a chilling wind off Lake Ontario blowing into the stadium, and the temperature dipping low, there was the bizarre scene of the stage crew hosing down the sweating crush of bodies swaying back and forth in front of the 40-foot-high letters spelling W-H-O.

Despite the hoses and the buckets of water splashed over the tightly packed masses, many succumbed to the heat and the jostling and the lack of oxygen and were mercifully pulled out by the crew or had their prostrate bodies passed overhead to the front.

The fans who did not survive the booze or the crowd or the cold missed an afternoon of fine rock.

Someone who wished he had missed the day was Joe Jackson, the ill-chosen opening act for the concert. Perhaps aware of Jackson's acerbic chiding of the audience at his Massey Hall concert last Thursday, Who fans decided to retaliate.

Despite strong renditions of his hits, Look Sharp, On The Radio, and Sunday Papers, Jackson and his band were the targets of bottles, Frisbees, hot dogs, and seemingly anything anyone could hurl.

Trying to protect his diminutive female percussionist who was playing bongos and sidestepping projectiles, Jackson told the mob, "If you want to throw things, throw them at me. I wrote this stuff." The crowd obliged and, a few songs later, the singer beat a hasty retreat.

For The Who, though, on a farewell tour of North America, there was nothing but cheers and applause. Singer Roger Daltrey, looking trim and athletic, dominated the early part of the high intensity show, shooting across the stage powerfully singing Substitute, It's Hard, and a string of tunes from a new album. Swinging the microphone over his head, spinning, and then catching it, he set the pace.

A subdued Pete Townshend did not complete The Who's one-two punch until they hit the familiar strains of Who Are You? — when he unleashed his patented windmill strumming and his amazing scissor jumps. Together Townshend and Daltrey set a blistering pace which moved up a notch when the band began See Me, Feel Me, and Pinball Wizard. Now completely in stride, they both bounded around the stage as the cheering thousands rhythmically thrust their clenched fists in the air.

By the time they closed with Won't Get Fooled Again, the band was steamrolling, striking crescendo after crescendo in an explosive finale that elicited a deafening roar from the crowd.

The encore, consisting of Athena, Magic Bus and, ironically — considering the inclement weather — Summertime Blues, was not anti-climactic. In fact, the momentum seemed to build. Bassist John Entwistle and drummer Kenney Jones provided solid backing, but the show belonged to Daltrey and Townshend.

As they left the stage, Daltrey said, "We'll be back", hinting at the band's rumored return in December. After two hours of energetic, furious rock and roll, the exhausted thousands filed out of a darkened stadium, still warmed by the heat of a powerful performance.

ROGER DALTREY Blistering pace