The Kids Are Quite Alright

The Who goes on without John

By Leslie Katz

Of The Examiner Staff

Things didn’t get really sentimental at The Who concert until “Behind Blue Eyes.”

It was more than halfway through the seminal British rock group’s Wednesday night show at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View when Pete Townshend introduced the great tune from “Who’s Next,” commenting that the band’s three founding members — including the late John Entwistle — had blue eyes.

It was the first mention of the bassist’s name all evening, and lighters flickered while the near-capacity crowd of mostly aging rock fans drank in the powerful song and remembered the no-frills musician who died an untimely death in Las Vegas last week.

Earlier in the hit-packed set, Roger Daltrey, referring to the passing of his longtime bandmate, said, “It’s one day at a time for us. It ain’t easy. Rock ‘n’ roll was never meant to be easy.”

But the two surviving original Who members, old pros Townshend and Daltrey (drummer Keith Moon died in 1978), went on to make rock look very, very easy in a little more than two hours in what was only the second show since Entwistle passed away. They did solid versions of nearly all their most famous songs — many rock classics — though “I Can See for Miles” and “Magic Bus” were noticeably missing.

On each and every selection, Townshend’s inimitable lead guitar work sounded as fantastic as it ever has, as did Daltrey’s vocals. Both pushing 60, the fellows still pulled off their genre-defining moves, too. More than three decades after becoming the first band known for its over-the-top on-stage antics, Townshend’s trademark windmills and Daltrey’s mike-tossing revved up the crowd.

At the same time, both artists have aged with grace, and the show, happily, was no teenage wasteland (though “Baba O’Riley” was particularly well received). Though “My Generation” simply doesn’t mean what it did back in 1967 and Entwistle was missed on the tune, Daltrey and Townshend performed it with integrity.

I SEE WHO, 8C

Who loves ya: Roger Daltrey can still lead a rock show.