Associated Press

Veteran rocker Roger Daltrey, right, belts out a song with bandmate Pete Townshend in background at the Tweeter Center Thursday night.

THEN AND NOW

Townshend, Daltrey crowd pleasers

By RAY KELLY

rkelly@repub.com

Call them "Who's left." Forty years after The Who's founding, guitarist-songwriter Pete Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey are back on the road.

Thursday night's performance at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield kicked off a 15-city, four-continent tour, which coincides with the release of The Who's CD retrospective, "Then and Now."

Townshend, 59, and Daltrey, 60, provided enough heart and soul to fill the absence of Who bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon, both of whom have died drug-related deaths. Backing the duo Thursday were bassist Pino Palladino, drummer Zak Starkey, keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick and Townshend's brother, Simon, on rhythm guitar.

A fast and furious take of 1978's "Who Are You" (better known to a new generation as the theme from TV's "CSI") opened the 22-song set.

An animated Townshend, with his trademark windmill guitar playing and stage leaps as sharp as ever, dominated the song.

Townshend told the near-capacity crowd that the band decided to launch their tour at the Tweeter Center because it was the last American stop on The Who’s 2002 tour.

Without missing a beat, The Who launched into "Baba O'Riley" from 1971's "Who's Next" and then their first single, "I Can't Explain."

Townshend told the near-capacity crowd that the band decided to launch their tour at the Tweeter Center because it was the last American stop on The Who's 2002 tour.

"I said, 'We'd be back,'" he recalled before leading the band into "Long Live Rock."

Throughout the evening Townshend and Daltrey were in fine form, but the show suffered from some opening night glitches. The sound mix buried Palladino's bass work and muddied some of Starkey's drumming.

The problems did not go unnoticed by the band.

At one point Daltrey wisecracked that The Who's soundman was deaf. Later, he said the band was ready for a soundcheck.

It took The Who a few minutes to get into the groove for "Magic Bus," but once the band was onboard, they provided a high-octane ride, thanks in no small part to Daltrey's bluesy harmonica work and strong vocals.

Throughout the night, The Who paired classics like "Behind Blue Eyes" with rarities such as "The Punk Meets the Godfather" to please casual and dedicated fans of the British band.

Not all of the tracks were vintage Who.

For the "Then and Now" CD, Townshend and Daltrey recorded two new tracks – "Real Good Looking Boy" and "Old Red Wine," the latter a tribute to Entwistle.

The performance of the former was edgier than the studio version and

Please see Who, Page E2