STACKED with energy, rammed with bolshie attitude and heartfelt sentiment, The Who may have run through a familiar playlist at this British Summertime gig but it’s delivered without compromise.

To chants from the crowd of: “We are the mods,” the band responds full-bloodedly.

The Seeker, The Kids Are Alright, My Generation and Won’t Get Fooled Again get the full treatment from the menacing guitar of Pete Townshend (pictured right) and Roger Daltrey’s soft-power vocals.

It’s a set whose ebb and flow is brilliantly paced and balanced, channelling the epochs and revelry of the band’s back catalogue.

Aside from conjuring up a feisty mood for the mods and free-form reveries for those of a prog-rock persuasion, what hugely impresses is the unadulterated power, emotion and melancholy of Townshend’s lyrics, Daltrey’s voice and the musicality on Love Reign O’er Me and Baba O’Riley.

It’s a stunning, cold-sweat inducing experience. Townshend’s grip on every guitar note is muscular and yet nuanced, from attack mode when required to a sublime restraint at quieter moments.

He’s in blistering form, wildly untamed and at times in a world of his own as he instinctively responds to to Daltrey and ignites a heat storm from a band featuring Zak Starkey on drums and Pino Palladino on bass.

Support Paul Weller (pictured right) sets the tone for this night of raucousness, brilliant songwriting and heavy contemplation.

He belts out the thunder and reckoning of Changing Man and White Sky, a fair sprinkling of Jam tracks and the soulful emotions of the breathtaking Broken Stones and You Do Something Wonderful, along with the single Saturn’s Pattern from his latest album.

A foretaste of the magnificence to come, if ever there was one.

Review by Peter Lindley