Roger Daltrey, right, and Peter Townshend, far right, dominate the stage and the music of the Who. They're in their late thirties now and still singing their 1965 anthem 'My Generation' to an audience of equally enthusiastic 1982 teen-agers.

Tribune photo by Bill Knowland

Who are they and why they are

By Larry Kelp

Tribune Music Critic

The 60,000 young music fans who attended the Who's concert Saturday at the outdoor Oakland Coliseum Stadium have nothing but exciting memories of the show.

Tonight the English rock band will repeat its performance in the more intimate confines of the next-door Coliseum Arena, for another 15,000 listeners.

Both shows sold out almost as quickly as they were announced.

Where last year's Candlestick Park shows by the Rolling Stones were hailed as "the rock concert of the year" by "the world's greatest rock band," the less-well-known Who are far more important in the eyes and ears of hard-core rock fans.

The Stones have always garnered the publicity, the glamour and the media attention that have made them known even to the general public. But it is the Who that embodies what rock is really about. Whether you first saw the Who in 1969 (when the rock opera "Tommy" was new), or Saturday, that probably became the standard by which you measure all other rock bands and concerts.

And that's why for the Stones much of the crowd was older, in its 20s and 30s, people who had long ago given up the hassles of going to a rock concert, but were willing to do it this time so they could say they had seen the band.

It was more like a visit to the circus.

The Who experience was like walking up the slopes of Mt. St. Helens and hoping you'll survive. The crowd was very young for the Who, and had come for the music and out of concern that this would be the last tour by one of the oldest English rock bands.

Guitarist Pete Townshend is 37. Singer Roger Daltrey and bassist John Entwistle are 38. They, with the late drummer Keith Moon, recorded their anthem of teen alienation and frustration, "My Generation," in 1965, before half the audience at Saturday's show was born. Yet, its performance by a revitalized band (with current drummer Kenney Jones and keyboardist Tim Gorman), and the crowd's reaction to it indicated that the song is fresh and vital today. More so than the majority of music that passes for rock

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