POP MUSIC REVIEWS : FANS EAT UP ELP

Midway through Emerson, Lake & Powell’s show Thursday at the Greek Theatre, as the near-capacity crowd gave a wild ovation for a relatively pedestrian musical passage, keyboardist Keith Emerson shook his head as if to say, “I can’t believe these people still eat this stuff up.”

Believe it, Keith. The dinosaur lives! Little besides the drummer (Cozy Powell replacing Carl Palmer) has changed since ELP’s mid-’70s heyday.

Emerson’s equipment may be state-of-the-art digital now, but he still favors the same trumpetlike tones and classic Hammond organ sound he played on relatively primitive hardware way back when.

Lake still uses his round, resonant voice to intone such lines as “death is life” as if they meant something. And though Powell brings a bit more rock power to the music than Palmer did, even the trio’s new material still relies on the same pseudo-classical pomp as the old stuff.

Yet, with ELP’s former progressive peers like Yes, Genesis, et al. having moved largely to schlocky pop fare, this revival came off as no less unlikely than the Monkees reunion, and it shouldn’t be taken any more seriously.

Unfortunately, much of the show was presented with a good dose of self-importance that was matched neither by the music nor the flashy yet unimaginative staging. But Emerson’s knowing smirk and some witty repartee during his dexterous solo piano segment helped undercut the weighty tone.

The most fun came during the encore, when Emerson resurrected his old Hendrix-of-the-keyboards routine. While running roughshod over Dave Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo a la Turk,” he brutally battered an old organ, plunging daggers into the keys to hold notes and pulling the instrument over on top of himself as he played. Now that’s entertainment.