POP MUSIC REVIEW : Low-Voltage Outing for New Kids : Concert: The pop phenomenon fails to harness the energy of an adoring sold-out audience.

New Kids on the Block operated like a true American industry on Wednesday at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa: The kid-pop phenomenon from Boston made plenty of money, but it wasted a great deal of energy.

A considerable resource was on hand waiting to be harnessed--a sold-out house of nearly 19,000 fans, the vast majority of them deeply infatuated girls just tingling with potential energy.

New Kids, the object of one of the most pervasive outbreaks of puppy love in pop history, didn’t have the foggiest notion how to focus that abundance of adoration and make it explode. Oh, the girls screamed like little Beatlemaniacs the whole time. But this was a crowd primed to scream at almost anything--even the stagehands’ pre-show adjustments to a tarpaulin covering the set caused an uproar.

Instead of concentrating and multiplying their fans’ hysteria, the five New Kids (who headline Dodger Stadium tonight) gradually drained it during a plodding, two-hour show that wasted considerable time on disorganized patter and antics. Maybe the group’s members, who range in age from 17 to 21, figured that a tightly-organized, quick-paced performance would confirm that they are just pale markings on their producer Maurice Starr’s blueprint for a white Jackson 5. So they decided the way to establish some personality of their own was to hang loose, investing the show with a playground feeling that involved lots of yakking and hollering, not to mention interminable stretching of songs.

But pacing and high energy were New Kids’ only hope. With its repertoire of Starr-written sweet-nothings that skim the surface of teen romance, this bunch certainly wasn’t going to climb any expressive peaks on the strength of its material.

The chief slacker was stubble-faced Donnie Wahlberg, who spent considerable time carving out an oh-so-calculated, bad-boy persona. He quickly went overboard and managed to make himself truly obnoxious. At one point, Wahlberg picked up a stuffed toy tossed his way as a gift offering and heaved it back into the audience with this peeved admonition: “You oughta stop throwing things.” Maybe the fans and their parents ought to stop throwing away money on New Kids paraphernalia bearing this lout’s likeness.

The New Kids launched most of their best ammunition at the start, with fire-pots flashing, lasers glowing and all five members engaging in some energetic hoofing. But after a brisk opening 15 minutes or so, the time-killing began with a long, laborious introduction of the group’s five-piece backing band. After that came an extended series of solo and duo turns by all the New Kids except oldest member Jonathan Knight, a serious candidate for the Andrew Ridgeley Award for superfluous presence in a pop act.

If there’s any real promise cocooned in New Kids, it lies with Jordan Knight, the 20-year-old singer who carried most of the show’s musical load. Knight, the handsomest and by far the most talented New Kid, turned in a solid performance that showcased a generally assured falsetto, some limber dance moves and an appealing, earnest personality. Nobody else in the group came close to cutting it vocally. Danny Wood’s grating, off-key singing was about as bad as it gets on a major stage.

Judging from this show, accusations of lip-syncing leveled against the New Kids have been exaggerated--or perhaps those accusations have caused the group to become more honest. As the abundant flaws made clear, this singing was live, except for some incidental (though still unacceptable) use of taped backing vocals during the more fevered dance numbers.

Before anyone starts congratulating New Kids for their probity, it should be noted that the show was preceded by a video-screened McDonald’s commercial, courtesy of the New Kids’ tour sponsor. Remember just a few years back when the mere appearance of a corporate logo on a banner was considered a sell-out? If music fans don’t express a distaste for commercials at concerts, we’re sure to see them all the time.