No end in sight for aging Who

By Ben Horowitz

Star-Ledger Staff

For all their artistic intelligence and power, the Who have never hesitated to repackage their material if it looked like their fans would buy it.

As the 21st century begins, we find the Who — who have not released a studio album of fresh material since 1983 — touring one more time. Even though the better seats cost an absurd $152, the band had no trouble selling out Saturday night’s concert at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.

Not that the 2½-hour show was bad. Pete Townshend can’t rip out a fast, crackling electric-guitar solo with the dexterity of his youth, but otherwise you got the flavor of a true Who concert. Performing hits from throughout their remarkable first two decades — along with a handful of obscurities — the Who delivered their elegant melodies with the expected fury and verve.

Original Who members Townshend, lead singer Roger Daltrey and bass player John Entwistle were joined by longtime keyboard sideman John “Rabbit” Bundrick and drummer Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr’s son.

Starkey, who has clearly studied the style of the Who’s legendary original drummer, the late Keith Moon, did a credible job of smashing along with the requisite speed and flair. Starkey and the gray-haired Entwistle, 55, — looking positively ancient as he stood immobile at the side of the stage — kept the show moving at a booming rhythmic pace. Daltrey, 56, who looked like an aging, but fit, prizefighter coming back for yet another round, shouted out effectively in a voice that has faded slightly.

Townshend, dapper as ever if rather bald at the age of 55, was at full throttle when he strummed the guitar or slashed power chords with his trademark windmill motion. He occasionally fumbled solos, though, missing notes or playing a little out of sync with the band.

The band sounded great on its more simple songs. Delivered with the melodic force that sets the Who above most rock bands were such power-pop gems as “I Can’t Explain,” “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere,” “The Seeker” and “Pinball Wizard,” which mercifully was the only song played from “Tommy,” the rock opera that has been reissued in a zillion formats.

Wisely selecting a bevy of songs from perhaps its best album, 1971’s “Who’s Next,” the band kept its rocking might intact on these more complex, satisfying numbers. “Baba O’Riley,” “Bargain,” “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” were all triumphs of muscle and melody. On “Baba,” Daltrey performed a surprisingly adept, lively, lengthy harmonica solo in place of the violin part on the record.

Bundrick’s keyboard playing was sturdy and he stood out with his barrelhouse style on “Relay,” an engaging, good-timey obscurity recorded during an in-studio radio session in the early ’70s and included in the Who’s recent “BBC Sessions” release.

Probably the evening’s most tender moments came during the encores, particularly on a new arrangement of “The Kids Are Alright” that emerged as an understated masterpiece. Performed at about three-quarter speed with Daltrey strumming an acoustic guitar, this normally exuberant song had a pensive, sad air that alluded to the problems with kids today. In the middle, Townshend told the audience, “My kids are alright/Your kids are alright,” in a quiet tone that dared the audience to agree with him.

Townshend also expressed sadness over the people who died in the crush at the rock festival in Denmark as Pearl Jam played on Friday, noting that a similar tragedy occurred at a Who concert, when 11 people were killed in a stampede for seats at a Cincinnati arena in 1979.

For their final encore, the Who chose their early anthem “My Generation.” The number began powerfully enough with Daltrey shouting out his stuttered part as Entwistle’s bass and Townshend’s guitar darted playfully around him. But it degenerated into a pointless jam that had many fans abandoning their expensive seats and heading for the exits.

Sure, the tickets and concessions cost way too much, but if people are willing to pay the price, why should the Who stop touring? These songs are too good to discard and no one else is going to play them.

The opening act, the British guitar-rock quartet UnAmerican, offered a tedious, eardrum-splitting set that put a heavy spin on the introspective, mid-tempo mope-rock of the ’80s.

PHOTO BY FARRAH MAFFAI From left, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of the Who perform Saturday night at the PNC Bank Arts Center.