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Cates the familiar riffs while Townshend plays acoustic guitar.

In ’82, after The Who’s “last” tour, it seemed clear they would be remembered as the prototypical arena rock band, a four-piece unit that played thunderous concerts filled with rebellious teen anthems. Now, because they must play at lower volume to protect Townshend’s hearing, the band has been puffed up to 15 musicians to fill out the sound. Besides Townshend and Daltrey and Entwistle, there’s Bolton, drummer Simon Phillips (replacing Kenney Jones, who replaced Moon), a keyboardist, a percussionist, a five-piece horn section and three backup singers.

Before the tour started, Townshend gave interviews in which he seemed to apologize in advance for the band’s performances. In his efforts to “lower the expectations,” he said he might be playing “like John Denver” from inside a plastic bubble.

“In a sense, the name (The Who) refers to the audience’s feeling about what the band means to them,” Townshend told Rolling Stone. “And that’s got very little to do with what the band actually does these days, which is nothing. The band has done nothing in years. There is no band. It’s wrong, really, to call it The Who, because it isn’t The Who. It’s a bunch of session musicians brought together to play Who material.”

Since taking the show on the road, however, Townshend has changed his tune. He has admitted being surprised at — and inspired by — the responsiveness of the hundreds of thousands of fans who’ve turned out. Perhaps that’s why a report from Atlanta Tuesday said Townshend strapped on his Stratocaster before the show was into its second hour and jumped around the stage “like a young springbok at play.”

And it can’t hurt that Townshend and his mates are doing long shows (up to 3½ hours) that offer not only The Who’s greatest hits but also material they’ve never played in concert and cover versions of songs that influenced them.

A recent review from Philadelphia said, “Townshend takes the show in all sorts of surprising directions. He trots out the old Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ tune ‘I Put a Spell on You’ and high-steps his way through a version of Miles Davis’ ‘Walking.’ Even Who stalwarts like ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ and ‘Behind Blue Eyes,’ in the new arrangements Townshend’s cooked up to take advantage of his band’s extended range, sound completely revitalized.”

“The Who Sell Out” is the title of one of the band’s old albums, but it’s also a theme that seems to have followed this tour from city to city. Consider: Why does a band that lost one member to drugs/alcohol (Moon), has another that talks openly of how drinking messed up his life (Townshend) and a third that says beer tastes like body waste (Entwistle) accept tour sponsorship from Miller Brewing Co. and sell the rights to broadcast a live concert to Anheuser-Busch?

Entwistle and Townshend have acknowledged that money was the major reason they agreed to the tour, but not all of it is going into their pockets. The ticket proceeds from the Budweiser broadcast of “Tommy” will go to a fund for autistic children. The Texas Special Olympics will benefit from two later shows, with Miller kicking in $1 million.

In all, The Who are expected to gross more than $55 million (with Daltrey, Entwistle and Townshend splitting $25 million to $30 million) and give away about $6 million.

The “Tommy” live concert, which will feature Robert Plant, Phil Collins, Billy Idol and Elton John (reprising his role as the Pinball Wizard) will be broadcast locally on Viacom’s Viewer’s Choice pay-per-view channel (61) on Aug. 24 and 25 ($19.95). An edited version is now scheduled to air on Channel 13 on Sept. 13.

And Daltrey, who for years pressed Townshend to do the tour, told Musician magazine he had reasons other than money. “I’m doing this for me,” he said, “to put a lot of things to rest, because I thought the way The Who ended felt like unfinished business. … I want the experience of singing those old Who songs again. It’s my passion. I love those songs.”

The tour ends Sept. 3 in Dallas, and Townshend has said he and Daltrey and Entwistle plan to go their separate ways, probably for good. Townshend wants to develop his latest album, “The Iron Man,” into a full-scale musical. Daltrey will continue his acting career, and Entwistle will record solo albums.

This time, the “last” Who tour will probably be just that.