EXAMINER PHOTOS BY CHRIS HARDY

Roger Daltrey gave an eager-to-please performance Tuesday, but the lead singer’s vulnerability has disappeared, along with his patented screams.

The Who

Band now playing more for the money than the music

By Barry Walters

EXAMINER POP MUSIC CRITIC

THE WHO is one of those monster rock bands that has taken on too much historical meaning to easily get at its core: the music. The Who's Tuesday night appearance at the Oakland Coliseum was more about memories than music. There were moments of absolute transcendence, and there was lots of excess baggage. This was a career retrospective of a band reunited only to officially call it quits and make a lot of money.

Who leader Pete Townshend has been explicit in several interviews about the monetary motivation behind this tour. The group stands to take in a reported $30 million, maybe even more. The Who was the most ambitious rock band in rock's most ambitious era, the mid-1960s to early ’70s. Today, the Who — or what has been reconstituted as the Who expressly for this tour — want nothing more than to retire rich. It’s a sad way to end a band that once stressed art and integrity above all else, but it’s a fitting way to close out the ’80s.

Pete Townshend

The Who is trying to go out as gracefully as possible, given its severe limitations. But what’s left of the Who isn’t really the Who; it can’t be. Drummer Keith Moon is dead and Townshend can barely hear. To fill in the gaps and simulate the old magic, Townshend, singer Roger Daltrey and bassist John Entwistle are now joined by a dozen more players and singers. As usual, more is less.

The Who was once a mere quartet that had the power and the glory of a full orchestra. It could create something grand out of limitations, from the basics. On Tuesday night, many Who classics were bent out of shape by too many musicians playing with too little

[See WHO, B-4]