Roger Daltrey (with microphone), Pete Townshend (right) and the band played such Who favorites as "Pinball Wizard."

Two generations see the concert

WHO, from 1-F three times and The Who back in 1972. But last night, it wasn't exactly like the old days.

Joe, 39, and Mary, 38, left the wine and beer at home. Instead, they brought tuna, sardines, carrots and whole-wheat bread — and their 13-year-old son, Chase, attending his first rock concert.

Chase had left basketball camp for the concert. Yet, it was his father's idea to come.

"I thought my son would be interested," said Joe, "and I didn't particularly care for him to come by himself. And with The Who being such a force in rock and roll, I wanted to be with him."

"My 8- and 10-year-olds wanted to come," he added, but with ticket prices ranging from $22.50 to $60, "we can't afford to take them all, so they went to Grandma's instead."

And, speaking of Grandma, Jeff and Connie Stott of Reading dumped their two children and relived their younger days this weekend, catching both the Grateful Dead concert at John F. Kennedy Stadium on Friday and The Who last night.

The traffic was so bad at the Dead concert, they said, that they decided to come early yesterday to get a parking space — arriving about 4 p.m. for the scheduled 7:30 show. They killed a couple of hours sitting on a curb in the stadium parking lot, which was filled with thousands of teenagers and people in their 20s barbecuing, drinking beer and listening to Who music blasting from their cars under the sun.

It was clear that Jeff, 36, and Connie, 34, were somewhat older than most in the parking lot.

"I feel like an old lady," Connie said.

For many, it was a night of family fun.

John Maguire, 37, and his wife, Charlene, 38, of Bellmawr, brought their two children, Shawn, 13, and Nolan, 12, to their rock concert debut.

"This is their first," said John. "And I wanted them to see a classic one."

And just Wednesday, David Tomkins Jr., 14, of Newtown, called his father, Dave Sr., at work and pleaded, "Can we please go to the Who concert?" Fortuitously, one of David's friends had won a pair of tickets to one of the two shows, which were immediate sell-outs, and didn't want to go.

Dad wouldn't have missed it, so there they were, sitting on the stadium floor last night, rocking together. Dad was probably more excited than Junior.

"It's terrific music," Dave Sr. said. "It will last forever."

"I hope Pete Townshend smashes his guitar," said Dave Jr.

For all the talk about Townshend's being old and infirm — all three band members are over 40, and Townshend has significant hearing loss from years of touring — you couldn't tell it from his performance on stage. He was doing his windmills, dancing up a storm, and he really got the crowd going.

Part of the crowd was the Collins family of Malvern, who also came in force — Ken, 41; Lillian, 40, and sons Ken Jr., 16, and Dan, 13.

It was Ken Jr.'s idea to come, and like many other teenagers in the stands, neither he nor his brother had been to a rock concert before.

To prepare for the event, they spent all week listening to Who music — as Lillian will attest — and both were ready last night with binoculars.

Ken Jr. bought a $20 Who concert tour T-shirt as soon as he arrived and wore it for the show.

"Pretty wild," he said. "It's cool."

Ken and Lillian hadn't been to a rock concert in 20 years.

"I can't remember who I saw last," said Ken, tilting his head back and trying to think.

"Wait," he said a moment later. "I saw the Rascals last year in New York. That counts, doesn't it?"

Later, it was clear that the whole clan had gotten into the music. Ken Jr. was singing along with the songs, playing air guitar and dancing. His parents were standing on their seats, dancing wildly.

"It's great, it's great," Lillian enthused.

Throughout the stadium, the enthusiasm was infectious. Almost from the start, people were chanting "Who, Who, Who," holding their fists high in the air, clapping or singing the lyrics to every song.

When the band did "Teenage Wasteland," you couldn't hear The Who for the crowd's singing so loud.

For the Philadelphia show, The Who wasn't quite on first — but almost. The main stage was set up between first and second bases on the baseball diamond, in shallow right field, facing the third-base dugout. Three large-screen televisions — two flanking the stage, one in the infield — beamed the proceedings to the far seats. Spotlights flashed through the crowd.

All around the Vet, Who paraphernalia was selling briskly.

Most popular were the $20 T-shirts with the British flag on the front along with the band's name, the title "The Kids Are Alright Tour" and the names of original members Townshend, Roger Daltry, John Entwistle and Keith Moon, who died in 1978.

On the back were the tour dates.

You could even buy beer in commemorative Who cups for $4.50 or Who soft-drink dispensers for $6.

Still, on a warm summer's night, when the Who song "My Generation" could have been "Our Generations," neither the young nor the old seemed to mind the touches of commercialism.

Classics with renewed spirit

CONCERT, from 1-F

of hits — from the early "My Generation" to the synthesizer-driven "Who Are You" to Townshend's uptempo jump, "Face the Face" — showed how much of the rock-and-roll blueprint can be traced back to The Who.

As for the other questions: Daltrey belted the band's anthems with a vengeful chip on his shoulder, as if to blow away any doubts about his powers with sheer muscle. Townshend relented and played the electric guitar more than once, even unleashing a few of the sweeping arm motions he calls "windmills" on a pulsating cover of the old blues song "I'm a Man." The first one brought blood from his fingertips, but didn't diminish his zest for the music — later, he was hammering chords with an unstoppable fervor.

But the poorly utilized five-piece horn section, added no doubt as insurance against possible sagging energy levels from the principals, didn't contribute to the mix. Reinforcing the thick guitar chords of "Won't Get Fooled Again," for example, the horns sounded redundant, as though shipped in from some Atlantic City "rock celebration." Horn lines designed to ornament the Tommy suite intruded, creating the sound of a fanfare when none was needed.

Throughout the show, The Who paid tribute to the blues. In addition to the phenomenally charged journey through "I'm a Man," songs like "Magic Bus" and even "My Wife" reflected the blues influence that is at the root of The Who's music. Townshend's solo on "My Wife" was an exemplary blend of blues language and rock emotion, an inspiration most guitarists would be proud to have played after weeks in the studio.

Even the gaudy "Goodbye Sister Disco" evaporated into a blues-based exploration: After repetitions of the choruses, Townshend launched a series of acoustic guitar riffs that formed the foundation for duets with Daltrey.

It was more than merely the sounds of survival that kept the crowd on its feet for most of the show. Townshend worked to wholly rearrange some of the songs, and was clearly charged by the possibilities. The medium-tempo anthems often identified with the band — "We're Not Gonna Take It"; "Love Reign O'er Me," from Quadrophenia, and the rousing "Won't Get Fooled Again," which was introduced by a video montage — sounded at once familiar and fresh, as though the band was rediscovering the truth behind the messages after years of dormancy and, before that, perhaps an equal number of years of rote repetition.

Other highlights: A wired, almost frantic reading of "Substitute" and a near-perfect "I Can See for Miles" marred only by off-pitch background vocals. Following a nonstop collection of familiar Who themes in the show's second set, Daltrey dug deep to bring new pain to the ballad "Behind Blue Eyes" and the first encore, a treatment of "Hey Joe." And Townshend's unerringly precise rhythm guitar, present all evening, enlivened the finale, "Summertime Blues."

The show repeats tonight. It is sold out.