Last Time's a Charm for the Who

Orlando stop on farewell tour was everything the crowd had expected

By Dean Johnson

SENTINEL ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC

Anyone who was within earshot of the Tangerine Bowl Saturday night had to know that the Who had made Orlando a farewell-tour stop.

This typical rock concert had all the traditional elements: The music was on the opposite end of the volume scale from a cat’s purr, and the 64,000 concertgoers were wedged so tightly into position that rain couldn’t have reached the ground.

But it didn’t rain, and the concert lived up to its billing as a rock event as major as the Rolling Stones’ visit to Orlando in October 1981.

The Who were up to snuff after a tour layoff of about a month. Peter Townshend’s aggressive, searing guitar playing, accented by the trademark “windmill” action of his right arm, drove the group. Roger Daltrey pitched his microphone like a lasso, sometimes in rhythm with the Townshend windmill. On stage, Daltrey and Townshend prove to be as much the showy Glitter Twins as Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Kenney Jones’ drumming insisted on being heard, and bass player John Entwistle, almost as laid-back on stage as Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, worked magic.

The group was hypnotic in its togetherness, and the light show — including searchlights that panned across the audience — was awesome. The group’s two hours’ worth of material ranged from “I Can’t Explain,” the group’s first 1960s single, to a medley from Tommy, the Who’s landmark rock opera, to the new “It’s Hard,” the title cut from the band’s latest album. The crowd’s response reflected its respect

Please see WHO, C-6