Rock veterans bridge the generation gap

If there's anyone out there in the midst of a midlife crisis, they should have been at the Newcastle Telewest Arena this week.

For so-called rock dinosaurs The Who delivered a roof-raising set that proved, despite their advancing years, they are still young at heart.

And with an audience aged up to 60 plus, The Who had all generations rolling in the aisles from the first strains of I Can't Explain to the crashing crescendo of My Generation.

What is so remarkable about The Who is that they are just four blokes belting out rock the way it was meant to be.

How many of us have been to greatest hits gigs and then been hugely disappointed as the classics were ruined with brass, gospel and even rap?

But there's no way The Who were having any of that — they are still the angry teenagers with something to get off their chest.

Close your eyes during I Can't Explain or Substitute, and you were back at Hammersmith Palais circa 1965.

THE WHO – NEWCASTLE TELEWEST ARENA

Pinball Wizard took us to the Isle of Wight in 1969 and Won't Get Fooled Again had us packed out at Leeds.

The Who have been mocked for their 'hope I die before I get old' motto but this week the joke was on the critics.

During the rehashed encore version of Kids Are Alright, Pete Townshend lectured us that growing old was great and that the excesses of youth only make it better.

And just to hammer home the point, The Who ended with a version of My Generation that had all the raw, raucous energy of a teenage band starting out at their first rehearsal.

Anyone beyond the tenth row would have been justified in believing that Roger Daltrey was still in his 20s and only the greying baldness of Townshend and Entwistle gave the game away.