BIRMINGHAM Robin Denselow

The Who

AT 11 o'clock on Saturday night, in the vast corrugated iron hanger called the Birmingham Arena, Pete Townshend obviously decided that The Who were all right again, after all. Looking suddenly much younger and leaner, in his new short haircut and black leather jacket he thankfully ended not with the expected My Generation, but by joining Roger Daltrey

in singing back-up to bassplayer John Entwhistle in a raucous, chaotic, wildly energetic version of Twist and Shout that they obviously enjoyed as much as if they were a brand new youth club band who'd just learned the chords. "See you next year", said Pete, dispelling the rumours that this might be their last British appearance.

The last time I'd seen the band, at the Rainbow, they'd been a shambling embarrassing mess. Since then, there's been the speculation that they might be about to break up, while the new album, It's Hard, further pointed up their problems. But once they started playing, all that was forgotten – at least for part of the set.

They began in classic style with Substitute and Can't Explain, before tackling a few of their new songs from Entwhistle's solid, slightly predictable Dangerous to Townshend's Eminence Front – which he sang himself against a synthesized backing and chugging, almost funky, guitar chords. This cool, bitter song about pretence was very much a solo effort, and showed how effectively he can now work on his own.

But if Townshend is moving on, the others weren't forgotten. Entwhistle provided two of the first five songs, while Daltrey now actually played guitar (as well as harmonica) after all these years. If the new, dirge-like A Man is a Man or Cry if You Want were a disappointment, then the old Who standards like 5.15, Behind

Blue Eyes and Pinball Wizard, the thinking man's Heavy Metal favourites, were still guaranteed to please.