Santa Claus roamed amicably around the sold-out arena. It was a surprise when he accepted an illegal cigarette and puffed away.

It also typified the Who's concert Monday evening in St. Louis. The group has earned a niche in rock 'n' roll history not only for its talent but its legendary feats. Early Who concerts were famous not only musically but for guitarist Pete Townshend's destroying his six-string on a loudspeaker and the late Keith Moon drop-kicking the drum set.

Well, the group is still legendary. It can still sell out the 18,000-seat Checkerdome to an enthusiastic, youthful audience at $15 a ticket. And it still puts on an excellent show – from the computer-controlled lighting above to the crystal-clear, yet deafening, sound system below.

Yet the band didn't deserve all the applause it received Monday – much of it was earned years ago.

Even so, it didn't really matter. This was the last chance – the band has announced that this is its final tour.

Maybe it was age – all the band members are in their 30s, ancient in rock circles – or more likely it was exhaustion, as the four-month tour draws to a close, but it took four or five songs before the entire band began to show much energy.

Townshend did his patented leaping around and windmill guitar playing, but he seemed to be just going through the motions. Lead singer Roger Daltrey can still twirl a microphone cord better than anyone, but, at first, he sounded like someone imitating Roger Daltrey, not the real thing.

It was left to the band's rhythm section to provide heart and a soul to the evening. Bassist John Entwistle and drummer Kenney Jones, who replaced Keith Moon in 1979, are as subtle as Daltrey and Townshend are loud.

Entwistle provided the first real entertainment of the evening with his song "Dangerous," the third song of the first set. Backed by his driving bass, Entwistle stood stoically at center stage and rasped out the words. He was top form.

Even when his bass went out of tune, he managed to amuse the audience by holding the instrument in different positions in a valiant, albeit futile, attempt to retune it.

The Who tried some new material, such as "Drowned," "Eminence Front" and the title track of the new album, "It's Hard." These and even Who standards like "Dr. Jimmy" and "5:15" drew only polite applause despite strong performances.

This audience was here to hear the Who and its best-known songs, "Pinball Wizard" and "See Me, Feel Me" from Townshend's rock opera "Tommy," as well as "Behind Blue Eyes," "Who Are You" and "Won't Get Fooled Again." The band ran through these songs with no surprises, churning them out a beat faster and much louder than the studio versions. Still great stuff and just what the audience wanted – but they weren't the best.

Guest keyboardist Tim Doren, partially hidden behind the speaker bank to the right of the stage, began the show's magic moment with the quiet synthesizer of "Baba O'Reilly," the Townshend-penned anthem of youth.

Townshend finally found his enthusiasm and ripped into the opening bars of the song while Daltrey began to sing like Roger Daltrey, not a discount imitation. Entwistle drilled out the bass line as always, but Kenney Jones made this song, and every song, go.

Jones played with much more confidence than the group's last U.S. tour in 1980. Then, he was still under the shadow of Moon, a self-proclaimed madman famous for destroying hotel rooms while on tour.

The drummer came out on the Checkerdome stage Monday night and eclipsed Moon with a consistent, sturdy performance. While the fans watched Daltrey and Townshend, they felt Jones.

Jones' confidence spread to the rest of the band. Daltrey strayed from the beaten path on "Love Reign O'er Me," taking chances with his voice and making the gamble pay off. Townshend stepped out of his little world and turned in some epic guitar work on "Love Reign…." and "Long Live Rock."

On "Twist and Shout," the final song of the night, the Who gave a performance that made the Beatles' version sound like chamber music. Entwistle took center stage once more and proved himself to be quite capable of singing above a rasp.

The factor that seemed to click on some songs and hurt others was that the band did not always play like a band. On the songs early in the show, it was four separate individuals onstage, highly talented individuals. But by the end of the evening, there was one unit, composed of four integrated parts performing like a well-tuned stereo.

Christmas didn't really come early to the Checkerdome on Dec. 6, but there was no coal in the stocking either.