The Who have often been described as the first punk band. While I never really bought into that idea, they’ve long been my favorite of the British invasion groups. I enjoy The Beatles lush harmonies and The Rolling Stones bluesy swagger, but I prefer Pete Townshend’s fuzzed out guitar and Roger Daltrey's primal howl. Pete and Roger are in their 70’s now, and I was curious to see if they still had any bite left. Fortunately, the answer is yes.

I had actually seen The Who once before, way back in the summer of 1989. It was the second concert that I ever went to without my parents. That show was at Alpine Valley, an enormous 40 thousand seat outdoor venue in southern Wisconsin. I won the tickets from a local Milwaukee radio station. It was during the era that Townsend was badly suffering from tinnitus, and he was relegated to playing the acoustic guitar. What I saw was a 15 plus piece band playing the then 20 year old Tommy rock opera, as well as other hits. (That tour was chronicled on the double live album Come Together.)

As much as I enjoyed that show, I always felt a little cheated not to have seen Townsend on electric guitar. My chance to right that wrong came 28 years later on Tuesday July 25th at the Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids. Better technology and in ear monitors long ago allowed Townsend to reclaim his lead guitar duties. Unfortunately, original bassist extraordinaire John “Thunderfingers” Entwistle passed away in 2002, leaving only Townshend and Daltrey. (Original madman drummer Keith Moon has been dead since 1978.)

I was joined by my younger brother and a friend for the show. We decided to skip the unknown opening band in favor of enjoying a few extra cheap beers at a nearby bar. (It’s what Keith Moon would have done.) We were easily able to make it to our cheap seats before The Who came on about 8:45. Rather than starting the show with a bang, they sort of eased into it. First the backing band took the stage, and then Townshend and Daltrey joined them. They greeted the crowd and spoke to them for a couple of minutes before launching into the first song.

They opened with fan favorite “I Can’t Explain”. The early part of the show was largely devoted to their 1960’s material including “The Seeker”, “The Kids Are Alright”, “I Can See For Miles”, and of course, “My Generation”. About two songs in, I was already glad I came. Watching Townshend choke those power chords and leads out of his stratocaster was worth the price of admission. His unmistakable tone was front and center. He still even pulls out the big windmill strum pretty regularly. Big screens behind the band showed footage of them as young men and other colorful, psychedelic images. Townshend was quite charming and had an easy rapport with the audience as he talked about coming to Michigan for the first time in 1967.

The Who’s famous rock operas were also represented. There was a three song mini set from Quadrophenia, with the crescendo being Daltrey perfectly nailing the scream from “Love, Reign O’er Me”. Daltrey sounded great all night. The only song he struggled with was the quiet and melancholy “Behind Blue Eyes”. He’s not the prototypical, shirtless frontman that he once was, but he still gets the job done. He plays a lot more guitar than he used to, but can still occasionally be found whipping his microphone around over his head. There were four songs from Tommy, including, of course, “Pinball Wizard”. (When they played “See Me, Feel Me”, I could only think of The Dickies.) There were also a few songs from the late 70’s/early 80’s like “Who Are You”, “Eminence Front” and “You Better, You Bet”.

My favorite Who album, 1971’s Who’s Next, was well represented. First we heard “Bargain” and “Behind Blue Eyes”. Then they closed their set with “Baba O'Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, two of the greatest protest songs of all time. We all waited with baited breath to see if Daltrey could land the scream on “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. He absolutely crushed it. Everyone in the crowd knew it and was floored.

Townshend joked that most people come to their shows nowadays hoping that one of them will keel over so they can say they were there. We had joked about that very thing before they started playing. The truth is, these guys still put on an entertaining show. It was two straight hours of good stories and great music, although the ending was a bit unorthodox. There was no encore. After the last song, Townshend introduced the band. Then Daltrey introduced him. They shared a warm embrace and took a bow. That was it. Since the death of Entwistle, what was once a very contentious relationship has become a warm friendship. It was actually a beautiful ending to a wonderful night of music.