POP WEEKEND : BON JOVI CHARMS WITH ITS BLEND OF POP-METAL

It’s a good thing Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre isn’t engaged in the kind of legal battle over sound levels being fought by Pacific Amphitheatre, because Bon Jovi’s Irvine concert Saturday night was delivered at excruciating volume.

Indeed, among the people made happiest by the sold-out show were probably some folks who didn’t even attend: Local ear doctors with small practices. In a way, though, the massive decibels were completely fitting. Most everything about Bon Jovi is tied to exaggerated volume--and not just the sonic variety.

The New Jersey metal-pop band has sold a staggering 7 million copies of its latest album, “Slippery When Wet,” and has packed arenas around the country for the better part of a year. Business was brisk Saturday at the merchandise stands, with T-shirts, posters and other paraphernalia being snapped up as quickly as the clerks could collect the cash.

The key component of the Bon Jovi numbers game--the one that largely explains all the others----is the extraordinary contingent of female fans. Traditionally, heavy metal has been almost the exclusive domain of the adolescent male. But, to borrow the title of the new Motley Crue album, a Bon Jovi audience is pretty much “Girls, Girls, Girls.” (Which, of course, doesn’t exactly repel the boys, boys, boys.)

And it wasn’t the ragged, unkempt variety of fans occasionally seen at other metal concerts; those who attended Saturday’s show were attractive, immaculately groomed and dressed to impress.

So what kind of band attracts this kind of crowd, and inspires this kind of buying frenzy? A sturdy, skillful outfit that has jettisoned metal’s screeching vocals and noisy fret-grinding in favor of a smoother, more melodic approach--anchored by cuddly-cute front man Jon Bon Jovi.

The singer and his four cohorts certainly know how to entertain--and charm--a crowd: They employed everything from flash pots to a huge video screen to dazzling lighting effects, all fairly standard methods of creating a sense of pomp and circumstance. (Mostly pomp.)

Far less standard was Jon Bon Jovi’s trick of traveling on cables above the crowd toward the back of the amphitheater, where he sang an acoustic version of “Twist and Shout” and “Never Say Goodbye.” Suddenly, the cheap seats were the best seats. Is this guy shrewd or what?

He also displayed some wry humor, ticking off the names of people embroiled in recent sex scandals before easing into “You Give Love a Bad Name.” And while he never specifically mentioned the Run-D.M.C./Beastie Boys show taking place at the same time Saturday night at Costa Mesa’s Pacific Amphitheatre, he did make some barbed references to both bands.

First, the quintet played a snippet of “Walk This Way,” but the singer quickly halted that, saying “This ain’t no Run-D.M.C., Jack!” Then he speculated that in 10 years you might open “Billboard magazine and see the Beastie Boys ruined a perfectly good song like this”--tearing into his own “Runaway” to close out the set.

Dolled-up headbangers Cinderella opened the show with a far more conventional blast of metallic fury. The Cinderella-Bon Jovi pairing closes out a three-night stand at Irvine Meadows tonight.