THE WHO — Rock group on what may be their "farewell tour" appeared Friday night in the Astrodome. Personnel: Pete Townshend (guitar, vocals), Roger Daltrey (vocals), John Entwistle (bass), Kenney Jones (drums), Tim Gorman (keyboards). Opening act, Steel Breeze. Billy Squier. Presented by 97 FM and Pace Concerts.

By Bob Claypool

At 9:02 p.m., a whooshing and wailing noise roared through the Astrodome. It sounded like booing, but it wasn't — it was the collective voice of several thousand people yelling "WHO WHO WHO WHO WHO WHO!!"

And, within seconds, the band they were yelling for was out under glaring spotlights, pushing right into "My Generation" like it was 15 years ago. It was a beginning that has never failed to wake the hair on the back of my neck stand up. But, for all that, if The Who's concert Friday night in the Astrodome proved anything to me, it was, quite simply, that we are all a long, long way from 15 years ago.

Am I depressed now, you ask? And then some! So much so that if I didn't have to type this, I'd probably be using my hands to put a knife to my throat. And all because a band that has always been among my foremost musical heroes has finally let me down.

It's not just them — in fact, it's more a matter of time, place and environment than anything else. If you stayed away from the Astrodome because you couldn't bear the idea of seeing The Who there, bless you — I wish I'd been at your house. Instead, I was in the middle of a typically overblown stadium concert, listening to crummy sound and trying to keep the drunks and dopers from bowling me over. I think that was The Who up there onstage!

The truth is that The Who I first fell in love with would never have played in such a venue as this and left their fans to be treated like cattle. Or expect those fans to pay $18.50 to hear sound that seemed to have been strained through five cement mixers along the way.

Of all the bands to play in that madhouse! And of all the places for an appearance on what is billed to be their "farewell tour!" Down on the main floor, away from the skyboxes and VIP sections, the sound was chunky and muddy even for the Astrodome!

Still, the band that just may be the finest rock group of all time (certainly one of the top two) pushed on, rocking through oldies like "Substitute" and songs from "Tommy," down to newer things like "Sister Disco," "Who Are You" and a large selection from the latest album, It's Hard.

The Who seemed sloppy, even disjointed, for the first few numbers (maybe the stage monitors were as foggy as the speakers we were hearing them on), but when Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend sat down together on the edge of the drum riser in the middle of "Sister Disco," smiled at each other, and pushed the tune home, it was hard not to smile and thank Heaven they were still on the road.

By mid-concert, that initial sloppiness had passed. Daltrey was running in pace frantically, and doing all his patented shoop-shoops with the microphone (slinging the cord out in perilous arcs), and Townshend was leaping all spraddle-legged as in days of old, plus adding some new twists — namely, lots of dancin'-fool stutter steps and spins. Both men seemed to be enjoying themselves, and, thanks to the close-ups on the closed-circuit TV screen, even stoic John Entwistle could be seen cracking a just-barely smile.

And, even though "Dangerous" and "Eminence Front" were merely passable, by the time the band got into some of the oldies, much of the expected power was there — particularly on a churning "Teenage Wasteland," "I Can't Explain," "Who Are You" and views of "Pinball Wizard" and "See Me, Feel Me" had the crowd up and cheering and singing along.

But that crowd was still surprisingly small (maybe 40,000 out of a hoped-for 60,000). And the only people I saw shielded along were young kids, who cheered loudest for the new songs. All the old geezers on the main floor seemed to be as watery-eyed as I was, and it probably wasn't sentiment. I think it was more a matter of seeing the most idealistic band in the history of rock running through a show that b-..d all the trappings of being just one more big, final, irrevocable payday.

Roger Daltrey performs at Astrodome

– Post photos by Audrey Ueckert

Beatings, stabbings reported in crowd at Who concert

By JOHN GRAVOIS and BILL HENSEL JR. Post Reporters

Reports of beatings, stabbings and drug overdoses in a crowd of about 40,000 people marred The Who's Astrodome concert Friday night on the third anniversary of a performance in Cincinnati in which 11 people were trampled to death.

But medical personnel on hand said the violence reported was no worse than at any large concert here.

The concert was part of what might be the British rock group's final tour.

An army of security guards and medical personnel employed by the Houston Sports Association helped avoid potential flare-ups as guards frisked ticket holders and medics watched for people in pain.

Dr. Joseph Coppola, a physician on duty, said more people were treated for heat prostration than anything else because fans were so tightly packed near the stage.

Security workers patrolled the half-darkened Astrodome parking lot in an effort to keep down crime. Some trucks mounted with loudspeakers warned fans against buying counterfeit tickets from scalpers.

As fans arrived, HSA personnel met them at their car doors and directed them to entrances.

Pandemonium was the keynote inside, where at several points during the concert people threw rolls of toilet paper onto the stage and fireworks into the crowd.

Medical personnel said there were no serious injuries, despite two stabbings and several beatings and drug overdoses.

Houston ambulance dispatchers reported one confirmed beating and three drug overdoses that required transportation to hospitals.

A security guard and a medic reported hearing of one rape, while another guard said he had heard several robberies and fights had occurred. But the reports could not be confirmed Friday night.

Security guards frisked everybody entering the Dome. They ran their hands up and down the outside of people's clothing but eventually let women through without a search as The Who began to perform.

The search resulted in confiscation of many knives but no firearms. No major drug arrests were reported.

The Who performed for two hours, ending at 11 p.m., before people ranging from the older Who generation of the 1960s to 9- and 10-year-olds with their parents.

Several thousand fans were jammed in around the stage but an 8-foot-wide alley kept them from the band.

The fire marshal never made an appearance, nor was any order given to keep aisles clear.

People started showing up in small groups more than an hour before the doors were to open at 3 p.m. Several hundred people who had waited to get in for the floor seats were let in in groups of about 20 or 25 at a time.

Eleven people were killed exactly three years ago when a crowd of fans pressed outside an entrance to a Who concert in Cincinnati steam-rollered over some members of the throng to get into the enclosed music hall.

Scores were injured in addition to those suffocated in the trampling.

Blame for the tragedy centered on the use of "festival," or open, general admission seating, and a delay by concert promoters in letting fans into the building.

Shocked by the Cincinnati deaths, band member Roger Daltrey was quoted later as saying The Who in the future would appear before festival seating only at an outdoor concert or in a stadium.

Promoters of the Houston concert said they did not expect a sellout crowd for the 60,000 capacity Astrodome. Besides the 50,000 seats in the stands, room for another 10,000 people was available on the floor.

Pete Townshend tears into a song