POP MUSIC REVIEWS : UB40, MIDNIGHT OIL WARM UP AT IRVINE

England’s UB40 certainly deserves credit--and some respect--for succeeding in selling reggae to a white teen audience that largely ignores the genre’s most creative talents. The secret to that success could be found Friday at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, where the 10-man multiracial band turned in a modest set that served as background music for a 90-minute dance party.

UB40 plays what is essentially generic reggae: lilting and rhythmic but for the most part undistinguished. One problem is that the group’s original songs are constructed on limited progressions that make each successive tune sound cloned rather than created fresh. Another factor Friday was that the vocals from the band’s trio of lead singers were mixed so closely with the instruments that they were frequently unintelligible.

But the fault wasn’t entirely UB40’s. Almost any band would have seemed tame following the breathtakingly dynamic opening set by Australia’s Midnight Oil. Naturally, most attention was focused on the group’s 6-foot-6, shaven-headed lead singer Peter Garrett, a riveting front man who careened about the stage like an android gone berserk.

With a power only hinted at on their two U.S. albums, the five Aussies forged the manic energy of punk, the bravado of heavy metal, the accessibility of mainstream rock and the relentless drive of dance music into a distinctly original and compelling whole. Garrett’s flat vocal style, often punctuated with a tension-filled tremolo, provided the appropriate otherworldly delivery for the group’s apocalyptic, politically pointed lyrics. Hold on, Elizabeth, this could be the big one.

UB40 was also scheduled to play Sunday’s Splish-Splash reggae festival on Catalina Island. Midnight Oil will headline Wednesday at the Hollywood Palladium.