Entertainment

The Who was the band, the What was the halftime show of Super Bowl XLIV, and you already know the Where and When. But the Why is a little trickier to answer.

The easy answer is that since 2005 and Paul McCartney's performance, Super Bowl organizers have adhered to the lesson they should have learned after U2's triumphant 2002 appearance. The big game's big halftime show works best with one big group giving a mini-concert.

After all the N'Sync/Aerosmith/Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson-and-her-breast fiascos, the Who was the latest super group to be the singular star. Of course, super groups aren't what they used to be and just as Paul McCartney was a Beatles reunion of one, the Who really means singer Roger Daltrey, 65, and guitarist Pete Townshend, 64, the only two original members still alive and rocking.

This year's speed-reading of greatest hits kicked off with "Pinball Wizard." Almost immediately, it was clear this would not be a time-machine trip back to the band's – and the band's fans – glory days. Daltrey sounded strained – and judging from his singing, straining to hear himself – and Townshend looked and sounded desperate. He can still windmill his guitar, but he wasn't so much singing as shouting.

The stage was the most exciting part of the show. It featured a circle of radiating lights that achieved all kinds of cool effects. By the time the group got around to singing "Who Are You?" the title's question had taken on a pointed irony it didn't use to have: Who are the Who now?