The Who was still several thousand seats short of filling the Los Angeles Coliseum at showtime Saturday night (as compared to its contemporaries, the Rolling Stones, who sold out the 70,000-capacity venue twice the day tickets went on sale).

But make no mistake, these elder statesmen of rock, who practically confessed they're doing these reunion concerts for the money as much as the celebration of a quarter-century of music, can still put on one of the most high-energy shows in rock 'n' roll.

True, Roger Daltrey's rock-god voice isn't as defined as it used to be, and he misses catching his whirling microphone occasionally; Pete Townshend doesn't leap as often (or as high) and resorts to acoustic guitar through much of the set as a result of his hearing disorder; and John Entwistle is … well, the graying bassist and basso profundo of the band remains as still and stolid as well as rock-bottom solid as ever. But the ability to stage an incredible live concert isn't something that necessarily diminishes with age.

Of course, the three remaining members of the Who had some help from quite a few friends on this self-admitted "greatest hits" tour — which comes on

REVIEW

the heels of its "farewell tour" seven years ago.

Dear departed and irreplaceable Keith Moon has been somewhat substituted for by not one but two percussionists — master drummer-for-hire Simon Phillips and multi-percussionist Jodi Linscott — although his manic fills and thrills can never be duplicated. Longtime Who and Townshend associate John "Rabbit" Bundrick was along on keyboards, and Steve Bolton, formerly of Paul Young's band, was added to handle Townshend's old screeching electric guitar duties. Three backup singers and a five-man horn section "complete the scene" as Tommy would say.

Meet the new Who. It's not the same as the old Who. And therein lies the secret to appreciating the 1989 edition of the group. "We've got no new product, and we are creatively, clinically dead. So it's just about history," Whomeister Townshend himself said, describing the current Who tour in a recent BAM magazine interview.

When you look at (and listen to) it as three guys who used to be the Who getting back together to reprise some classic Who tunes for their fans, it takes

off the pressure of comparison between live Who '89 and, say, live Who '71 (the phenomenal "Who's Next" tour), to which today's model could never come close.

But as the ex-Who, Pete, Roger and John put on one hell of a fine nostalgic-bent show. The Who is dead. Long live the Who!

The band's opening with a half-hour's worth of the more well-known "rock arias" from its opera, "Tommy," was a dynamically powerful beginning, although it paled somewhat from the recent memories of the guest-laden performance of the opera last Thursday at the Universal Amphitheater (and nationally cable-cast via pay-per-view).

Curiously, the first non-"Tommy" tune performed was one of the weakest Who songs ever, the Townshend-sung "Eminence Front" from one of the group's last (gasp) albums, which sounds like a reject from Steve Winwood's "Back in the High Life" album. But that mistake (music for intermission is what it was) was followed by two of Townshend's best solo songs, "Let My Love Open the Door" and "Face to Face," both of which were given rousing renditions, thanks to the horn and background vocal arrangements, which picked up the pace considerably.

Daltrey got to don a guitar and look Springsteenish for the band's rendition of Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man."

And the Who classics were, well, classic, and consisted of many of the same hits the band has played live for years. "Magic Bus" was done in the skiffle style that always worked best for it, while "Who Are You" worked better than the original thanks to the expanded band arrangement and the singers' Philip Glass-like "Who-AH-ooo-AH-oo-AH-oo …" vocal chorus.

"I Can See for Miles" prompted a mass scream-along, and "Baba O'Riley" worked the audience into an orgasmic frenzy with its steady-building climax and Daltrey's primal shrieks. And, of course, "Won't Get Fooled Again" (the Who's "Stairway to Heaven") brought down the house.

The Who may be through as a creative force, but I've never seen Townshend expend more energy on stage than he did Saturday. If he works this hard for a band he considers dead, I can't wait to see (and hear) him perform new material he cares about.

Tomm Carroll is a free-lance writer specializing in pop, rock and new music.