Pop Reviews : Guitar Demigods Tune Up and Rock Out

Presumably to capture an audience that is aging along with him, I.R.S. Records Svengali Miles Copeland has spent the last couple of years signing up seemingly every out-of-work demigod in the late-’60s/early-’70s guitar-hero pantheon. The package tour of his recruits Steve Hunter, Robbie Krieger and Wishbone Ash played Bogart’s on Sunday and proved to be all tuned up with nowhere to go.

While a Jeff Beck may have the style and personality to let his strings do the singing, Hunter (who has nimbly backed everyone from Lou Reed to Alice Cooper to Peter Gabriel) and ex-Door Krieger chiefly recalled the extended vamps and intros that precede the real star’s entrance. Aided by Krieger, Hunter’s distinctive, staggered-riff version of “Day Tripper” was the only standout to his set.

Meanwhile, Krieger alternated between faceless fusion romps (briefly elevated by a humorous quote from “My Sharona” after ex-Knack drummer Bruce Gary’s drum solo) and meandering versions of “The End” and other Doors tunes, displaying only hints of the intuition and originality that marked his playing on the originals.

The British group Wishbone Ash, though rightly all but forgotten in rock history, was considerably more focused and enlivened as it ranged from such macrame-era anthems as “The King Will Come” to the current “Why Don’t We,” which benefited from its unabashed pop melodiousness. Guitarists Andy Powell and Ted Turner still turn in sharply honed solos and Allmans-like harmony lines, but their efforts seemed clinical, culminating in little emotional effect.

The bill moves to the Ventura Theatre on Wednesday, the Wadsworth Theatre on Thursday (joined by the still-lively Spirit) and the Coach House on Saturday.