POP MUSIC REVIEW : Pre-Fireworks Concert: More Fizzle Than Sizzle

A few years ago in one of the now-splintered republics of the Soviet Union, a radio interviewer asked this writer how people in the United States celebrated their independence. I proudly told her, “Mostly we get drunk and blow things up,” little guessing that the republics would one day be so taken with the idea that they’d make a daily practice of it, with mortars and tanks, no less.

Meanwhile in the States it seems you can hardly light a sparkler any more without the fire marshal’s vengeance raining down on you. Nearly all the cities in Orange County have banned “safe and sane” fireworks, and the insane illegal ones--the type with labels like “Caution: emits shower of death”--seem to have dried up as well.

Many communities now offer public aerial fireworks displays as an alternative, and one of the more extensive free programs was held Saturday at Laguna Niguel Regional Park, which had a mini rock festival leading up to the fireworks.

There are several good things to be said about the show: All of the acts donated their talents, the sound by Anaheim’s Spectrum Audio was excellent, and the greenery of the park was a nice relief from the deadening tract-home universe that surrounds it.

But, as much as rock music is a truly American invention, the examples offered by the show’s headliners Midnight and Storm Ryders weren’t especially representative of the spunk, spirit and individualism that this country is rumored to exalt.

The locally based Storm Ryders, rather, were a generic-label hard-rock outfit, with all the group’s professionalism and drive going toward sounding virtually identical to any of hundreds of other aspiring L.A. club-scene bands. It was all there: the buff swagger, the dive-bomb instrumental solos, the “sensitive” metal ballad. It’s sadly revealing that the liveliest thing they did was a rote cover of Steppenwolf’s 1968 “Magic Carpet Ride.” The quartet’s encore tune was aptly titled “Going Through the Motions.”

Midnight is a group led by British guitarist Stuart Smith, a fellow who was easy to pick out during the day since who but a British rocker would wear leather pants in an Orange County park in July? Smith was formerly lead guitarist with the group Sweet, though he joined several years after the band’s 15 minutes of fame with “Ballroom Blitz” and other ‘70s pop rockers.

He put the Midnight aggregation together specifically for the Laguna Niguel show. It included singer/guitarist Paul Shortino and bassist Sean McNabb, both ex-Quiet Riot members, drummer Jimmy Lands and keyboardist Ray Phillips.

With only a couple of rehearsals under its collective belt, the band didn’t aspire to anything original, but it did play its British-based blues and hard rock with a fair amount of personality. Singer Shortino particularly stood out, with a powerful voice suggesting bits of Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers and original Robin Trower vocalist James Dewar. The latter comparison seemed especially direct on “Midnight Blues,” a Trower-esque, minor-key blues that also featured some of Smith’s tastiest soloing over Phillips’ atmospheric organ work.

The combination of Shortino’s voice and Smith’s guitar also worked well on a spiky version of Gary Moore’s “Still Got the Blues.” Not everything was as focused: B.B. King’s “Rock Me Baby” sounded more like a cellulite-laden rendition of Z.Z. Top’s “Tush.” And there’s little anyone could do to rescue Deep Purple’s “Highway Star”--which featured guest singer Chuck West from the group Hard Knox--from its pump-heeled pomposity.

While an invasion of ‘70s British rock may not be the ideal way to salute the Fourth, the group had to be admired for its tenacity. The members put a lot into a performance that was only viewed by a few dozen people (though hundreds of other persons scattered through the park doubtlessly heard the music, whether they wanted to or not). And, with things running a bit late, the last part of Midnight’s show was played in the dark, as there were no stage lights.

That may not be quite as discouraging as the Spinal Tap nightmare of getting second-billed to a puppet show, but it comes pretty close.