A DATE WITH CRAMPS

Opening their Saturday soiree at the Hollywood Palladium with the one-two punch of the “2001” theme and a deconstruction of Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” the Cramps commanded the packed house’s rapt attention for the next hour-plus. From vocalist Lux Interior’s gold lame suit and guitarist Poison Ivy Rorschach’s harem-girl outfit to songs titled “Hot Pool of Womanneed,” and “Aloha From Hell,” the Cramps extract the essence of rock ‘n’ roll the same way that small rodents’ sex glands are turned into perfume.

The quartet’s first local show in two years drew mostly from their latest “A Date With Elvis” LP, spiked with things like a bone-chilling take on Ricky Nelson’s “Lonesome Town” that stuck a fun-house mirror under the late artist’s nostrils. The only drag was a sound system as rude ‘n’ crude as the Cramps themselves, which obscured the detailed craftsmanship that makes them America’s foremost trash compactors.