FALL PREVIEW : Our Critics’ Guide to the Season : Hard Rock to Soft Country

Bruce Springsteen’s appearances Sept. 24, 25, 28 and 29 at Los Angeles Sports Arena, plus Oct. 6 at San Diego Sports Arena, loom as the season’s most critical concerts because he--of the dozens of attractions headed this way--has the most to gain . . . or lose.

U2’s late October return to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Neil Young’s acoustic shows Sept. 21 and 22 at the Greek Theatre and Sept. 25 at Pacific Amphitheatre are among equally promising concerts, but those artists aren’t at turning points in their careers. Springsteen is.

On his first U.S. tour in four years, Springsteen remains a marvelous performer, but the majority of fans now go to see him more for what he has done than for what he is doing.

That’s a line every pop-rock performer eventually crosses, from Sinatra to the Rolling Stones, but Springsteen is still making stirring and insightful new music and he needs to fight more aggressively to avoid becoming part of pop’s nostalgia machine.

There are 24 songs in his two latest albums, and he must include more than the 14 he performed in his recent 30-song New Jersey homecoming shows if he is going to avoid succumbing to the “oldies” tendencies of his audience.

There is, for instance, no reason to keep doing “Darlington County” or “Bobby Jean” or even “Hungry Heart” when you have such endearing new songs as “Book of Dreams” and “Cross My Heart” ready to be added to the set list.

U2 was at something of a crossroads itself before last year’s stunning “Achtung Baby” album. The Irish band had taken its uplifting rock-as-inspiration message and sound about as far as it could go in the Grammy-winning “The Joshua Tree” and the daring but largely misunderstood “Rattle and Hum.”

By the time of “Rattle and Hum” in 1988, U2 had pretty much polarized the rock audience. Hailed by fans for its cleansing, epic sound and lyrics, U2 was jeered by others for being too self-righteous and musically predictable.

So, U2 took a chance in “Achtung Baby” by turning to more contemporary dance-rock textures and to songs that examined darker questions of the heart, including disappointment and deceit. Remarkably, the album delighted both longtime fans and earlier detractors.

The band’s performance at Los Angeles Sports Arena last spring offered a spectacular extension of the album--a look at lost innocence that was at once a parody of and a salute to the show-biz superstar undercurrents that have been present in rock since Elvis.

If anything, the Coliseum setting should be a more satisfying backdrop than the Sports Arena because the stadium’s vastness will make the whole issue of rock celebration and spectacle even more provocative.

Neil Young is way past any career crossroads. He has made it clear since his days with the Buffalo Springfield in the late ‘60s that he sets his own agenda, frequently changing musical direction in ways that perplex his audience.

In the ‘80s, Young took so many puzzling side steps (from techno-rock to rock-blues) that many fans simply gave up on him. But he has bounced back in recent years with two extraordinary albums, “Freedom” and “Ragged Glory,” that pulled in new fans and recaptured many of the old ones. Rather than another of his sonic extravaganzas, Young is doing an acoustic tour this time.

Young’s unruly combination of guitar aggressiveness and lyric introspection has been a major influence on today’s alternative-rock bands, including Sonic Youth, which headlines a concert Sept. 28 at Castaic Lake recreation area. The New York band has been hailed for its guitar-driven albums since the early ‘80s, but the new “Dirty” may be its most consistent and accomplished.

The other fall highlight is the postponed Guns N’ Roses/Metallica package Sept. 27 at the Coliseum, Oct. 3 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and Sept. 30 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Here’s a chance to see two of the ‘90s’ great hard-rock groups on a single bill, the equivalent of the Rolling Stones and the Who together in the ‘60s.

The bands battled to a draw during the long night that I saw them last month in New Jersey. Metallica tends to be very consistent and very powerful. Guns’ firepower depends on singer Axl Rose’s mood. The Pasadena show should be special because he’s been looking forward to playing his namesake stadium for years.

Other pop-rock concerts of more than routine interest: Bonnie Raitt (reliable) at Hollywood Bowl on Sept. 15, Tracy Chapman (thoughtful) at Ventura Theatre on Sept. 16, the Embarcadero Marina Park South in San Diego on Sept. 18, the Pacific Amphitheatre on Sept. 19 and the Greek Theatre on Sept. 20; Kris Kross (frisky) at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on Sept. 25, Morrissey (as much for the audience adoration as for the show itself) at Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 10-11 and the B-52’s (lively) at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on Oct. 24.

Two of country music’s all-time greats--George Jones and Willie Nelson--will be at the Celebrity Theatre in Anaheim, though on separate days.

Jones appears there Nov. 28 with Conway Twitty, while Nelson--rivaled only by Merle Haggard over the last two decades as a great country singer and songwriter--headlines Nov. 29. The Jones-Twitty package also stops Dec. 2 at Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City.

On the contemporary front, Clint Black and Billy Ray Cyrus are the biggest names this side of Garth Brooks, but they aren’t the most promising attractions on the fall schedule.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Black was neck-and-neck with Brooks in a race to see who would dominate country music in the ‘90s, but Brooks has moved far beyond him. Black has a strong voice, but he has limited emotional range. He’ll be at Irvine Meadows on Sept. 19 and Universal on Sept. 20.

Cyrus, the “Achy Breaky Heart” guy, will have lots of female fans shrieking at Pacific Amphitheatre on Oct. 2 and at Universal Amphitheatre on Oct. 4, but his debut album was pretty woeful.

Better country choices are the feisty Travis Tritt and laid-back Alan Jackson, who’ll be at Universal Amphitheatre on Sept. 16 and Oct. 31, respectively.

Old favorites back again include Frank Sinatra with Shirley MacLaine at the Greek Theatre on Sept. 17-18; Chuck Berry, James Brown and Etta James at the Long Beach Blues Festival, Sept. 19-20, and Ray Charles at Universal Amphitheatre on Sept. 19 and at Ventura Theatre on Nov. 15.