The Who Concert Guide

Heaven forbid that Pete Townshend ever should tear his rotator cuff.

The legendary guitarist and songwriter of the Who might not move with the same abandon he did in the band's glory days of the 1960s and '70s, but as long as he can still get his right arm swinging in that signature windmilling motion, he's not too old to rock'n'roll as one of the best ever.

Townshend proved that again on Tuesday night at the Rose Garden arena, leading the Who through nearly two hours of music for which the term classic rock describes not so much style or era as artistic and cultural stature.

From the opening Mod nugget "I Can't Explain" (the group's first single), through burly hits such as "Who Are You?" and "Won't Get Fooled Again," to a moving suite of excerpts from the pathbreaking rock opera "Tommy" that served as the encore, the show was stirring and impeccably played. If it lacked the sense of barely contained chaos that once set the Who apart, it made up for that with the weight of history these songs carry - a weight which, handled deftly, feels like comfort, not burden.

Singer Roger Daltrey, the band's only other surviving original member, has a grainier voice than he once did, but still sang with the emotive masculinity that brings an extra dimension to the grand architecture of Townshend's songs. Bassist Pino Palladino, grown into the daunting shoes of the late, great John Entwistle, played with a rare blend of fluidity and muscularity, and absolutely nailed the fat tone and bubble-and-rumble phrasing of the solo on "My Generation." And Townshend himself played with undiminished passion, especially in the under-appreciated early '80s song "Eminence Front," in which he bent notes and leaned on them as if he wanted them to cry uncle.

As glorious as the band's history continued to sound here, the Who didn't turn its back on the present. There was much to like, too, in several songs from the forthcoming album "Endless Wire," including a compressed version of "Wire and Glass," Townshend's latest "mini-opera."

After all, however iconic the image of Townshend's windmilling arm may be, it's what keeps turning in his mind that matters most.