TAMPA — I've had my suspicions for quite some time, but now I'm convinced.

The Who were abducted in 1979 and held captive on a spaceship while robot clones similar to those on "The Six Million Dollar Man" took their places. Only recently did the original Who free themselves from their nefarious captors and return to Earth to reclaim their title as one of the best live acts in rock 'n' roll.

OK, so it's a little far-fetched. But how else can you explain Tuesday's concert at the Ice Palace? After 20 years of bloated reunion tours, half-hearted solo projects and embarrassing retoolings of their classic work, The Who — the real Who, the punkish, snotty, loud and brash, take-no-prisoners Who — have returned. With a vengeance.

Any doubts that this would be another boring show similar to that of 1989's "Tommy" rehash or 1997's "Quadrophenia" snoozer were pleasantly dashed from the opening number, "I Can't Explain." Roger Daltrey swung his microphone high over his head, Pete Townshend windmilled his electric guitar and John Entwistle stood to the side, stoic and unmoving. If they didn't have gray hair and wrinkles, you would have sworn it was 1973. Heck, they even had a '60s-era light show on a couple of numbers.

For 2½ hours, the band ripped through 20 songs from throughout its recording career, from 1965's "The Who Sing 'My Generation'" to 1981's "Face Dances." Most of the material came from the 1971 "Who's Next" sessions, including a few cuts — "The Relay," "I Don't Even Know Myself" and "Let's See Action" — that weren't released on the original vinyl LP.

Townshend played the songs with renewed fervor, introducing many of them with a story about their origins. Maybe he was inspired by the recent CD release of "Lifehouse," the famous follow-up to "Tommy" that was aborted and turned into "Who's Next." Or maybe he wanted to play "VHI Storytellers." Whatever. It was refreshing just to see Townshend having a good time again.

Daltrey and Entwistle were also in fine form. Daltrey's voice seems to have improved since the band reunited last year, as he's able to hit the high notes easier

JAMES A. JONES JR./The Herald Showing their old-time fire, The Who bring their full-throttle rock attack Tuesday to the Ice Palace in Tampa. Shown from left are John Entwistle, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend.

Set list

I Can't Explain; Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere; The Relay; My Wife; Baba O'Riley; Bargain; Getting In Tune; I Don't Even Know Myself; Drowning; Behind Blue Eyes; Pinball Wizard; The Real Me; You Better, You Bet; Who Are You; 5.15; Won't Get Fooled Again; The Kids Are Alright; Let's See Action; My Generation

than he did on last spring's live album, "The Blues to the Bush/1999." Entwistle performed "My Wife," his tongue-in-cheek ode to divorce, with delicious relish, and let off a blistering bass solo during "5.15." Holding it all together were old friend John "Rabbit" Bundrick on keyboards and Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr) on drums. Finally, The Who have a drummer who can perform with the intensity of the late Keith Moon.

It was Townshend who acted as frontman, connecting with the audience by talking to them as if they were old friends — which, from the looks of the predominantly baby-boomer crowd, wasn't far from the truth. At various times in the show, he reassured everyone about his hearing,

teased the audience about the Internet ("Don't say I didn't warn ya," he said after "The Relay," a George Orwellian view of technology) and berated a member of the crowd who was screaming for a guitar pick.

But it was his playing that mattered, and he delivered. After hearing Townshend play acoustic for so long, it was easy to forget that it was his groundbreaking electric guitar work that influenced Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and scores of others. And when he struck the pose — you know the one, the pose from the old "Maximum R&B" posters, that famous, hand-above-the-head rock god stance that so many have tried to imitate — it was almost a spiritual experience.

The Who didn't die before they got old (most of them, anyway). And they're not kids anymore, a point Townshend drove home when he changed the lyrics of "The Kids Are Alright" for the encore to "When I wrote this song/I was a kid/Now it's been so long." But they still dusted off their guitars and played, just like yesterday. We met the new boss and discovered it was indeed the same as the old boss.

And we rediscovered that the old boss was really, really cool.