Pop Music : New Wave’s Old Guard Goofs Off

In concept, the “Escape From New York” tour seemed a dubious attempt to turn rock’s new wave into another oldies extravaganza by packaging three musically disparate veterans of the mid-’70s Manhattan rock scene.

But a young crowd turned up on Friday at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre to hear Deborah Harry, the Ramones and an almost-Talking-Heads version of the Tom Tom Club, proving that the new wave’s old guard matters to a fresh generation of fans. The escaped New Yorkers made the show work by playing their 55-minute sets strictly for fun--this was a nightclub, this was CBGB, this was some fooling around.

Harry, the former star of Blondie, established the evening’s light, unpretentious tone with a combination of broad comedy and musical bite. The peak, after some less enthralling Blondie chart-toppers, came with a hilarious version of the Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting for the Man.” Reining in the farce at the end to convey a contrasting hard-edged realism, Harry found a fine way to honor the New York underground tradition without becoming smarmy about it.

Nobody expects the unexpected from the Ramones, who played in the second slot. The band is a long-running cartoon that maintains its leather-jacketed following by blasting out hard, fast monolithic grunge.

For non-cultists, the Ramones’ appeal lies in their ability to wrap their concrete slab sound in a candy coating of bubble-gum pop melody. For half an hour or so, the combination of zippy hooks and single-minded crunch made the set a lark. After that, monotony and an awful sound mix took their toll.

Tom Tom Club, featuring Talking Heads Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison, came out looking as if its set would be a thorough hoot. Done up in colorful togas, robes, tassels and beads, the eight-member ensemble looked like a band of Gypsies after a shopping spree in a Moroccan bazaar.

For a time, mediocre new material kept the Casbah from rocking. But stronger numbers such as Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love,” guest member Harrison’s “Rev It Up” and a troika of Heads hits kicked the show to life with an irresistible funk pulse. The three less famous Heads undoubtedly need David Byrne to carry on the band’s work, but they had no trouble throwing a party without him.

The bill also plays the Greek Theatre on Wednesday, the Palace on Thursday and the Ventura Theatre in Santa Barbara on Friday.