POP MUSIC REVIEW : Camp ‘Lollapalooza’ Is Now Open : A sense of ritual, continuity and even tradition marks the third year of rock’s major summer festival.

If you are among the 850,000 rock fans planning to attend one of the “Lollapalooza ‘93” concerts this summer, here’s some advice: Get there on time.

The reason: Rage Against the Machine, the Los Angeles rap ‘n’ roll band that released its first album just last winter, turns in the day’s most captivating set.

The group’s performance was all the more impressive because the band faced formidable obstacles as the opening act in the show Tuesday at Shoreline Amphitheatre here--the first California stop on the tour, which started last Friday in Vancouver, Canada, and is scheduled to end Aug. 7 at Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale.

Not only were a quarter of the 20,000 seats still empty when Rage took the stage at 2 p.m., but the bright sunshine made it a far from ideal setting for tenacious rock ‘n’ roll.

Undaunted, the band played with passion and command, highlighted by the politically charged raps and between-song commentaries of Zack de la Rocha.

Resembling a young Bob Marley with his dreadlock hairstyle, the charismatic de la Rocha combined the captivating presence of Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder with the militant fury of Public Enemy’s Chuck D. in a series of sweeping attacks on apathy and social injustice.

It was the most memorable moment of the traveling festival, which has evolved over three years into a ‘90s version of summer camp for hundreds of thousands of teen-agers and young adults who like their music loud and mostly angry.

Instead of going to the mountains or the country for nine days or so of crafts and character building, the “Lollapalooza” crowd spends nine hours at their local amphitheater or park grounds.

Equipped with backpacks and sunscreen, the crowd began lining up outside Shoreline hours before the music was scheduled to begin.

A surprising number of fans still mentioned the ‘60s cultural landmark Woodstock when asked to describe the appeal of “Lollapalooza” and its emphasis on alternative, cutting-edge rock.

“I hate to use the word, but it’s a happening,” a 19-year-old college student from the East Bay said, pausing by a health drink stand on the festival grounds. “It’s like something of your own--people my age who like the same kind of music and the same kind of politics.”

*

And just like summer camp, many in the crowd reminisced about past “Lollapalooza” shows. Dozens proudly wore souvenir T-shirts from two previous tours, both of which also played Shoreline. This sense of “Lollapalooza” as summer ritual is so powerful that tour organizers experimented in Chicago by putting tickets on sale before announcing the acts on the bill--and the show was a sellout.

The rock industry has embraced the concept as fully as its fans have. “Lollapalooza” is the best promotional device for record companies since MTV, and the marathon affair is a strong draw at a time when the rock concert business has run into a severe slump.

It has already spurred rival multi-act, theme tours. H.O.R.D.E.--featuring six “jam”-oriented groups including Blues Traveler and Widespread Panic--will play more than two dozen cities, starting July 2 in Denver.

Besides music, “Lollapalooza” features booths offering everything from ethnic food and crafts to information on various socio-political issues.

Other attractions range from bungee jumping to a so-called LSD Flight Simulator, which involves watching the sun through a headset with rapidly spinning lenses.

But music remains the festival’s defining element--and fans Tuesday got to hear eight bands on the main stage plus five others on a secondary stage area that has room for perhaps 750 to 1,000 fans. (The second-stage acts included L.A.’s Angst -driven Tool, which will take over Babes in Toyland’s main-stage spot for the second half of the tour, and the delightfully spontaneous Mercury Rev.)

Rage Against the Machine was followed here on the main stage by two much admired bands--Babes in Toyland, the female rock trio from Minneapolis, and Front 242, the techno-dance quartet from Belgium.

Both had trouble gaining the audience’s attention after Rage’s striking set--with Babes, normally a band with personality to burn, coming across rather colorless in the afternoon light, and Front 242 appearing somewhat impersonal despite its highly animated antics.

Arrested Development, the Grammy-winning rap group with a spiritually tinged message far different from the “gangsta rap” style of earlier “Lollapalooza” rap representatives Ice Cube and Ice-T, was warmly received.

Fishbone, the veteran L.A. funk-rock group, also started strongly, but had trouble maintaining momentum after a half hour.

Dinosaur Jr., which was next, is an excellent band that combines introspective songwriting with exquisite, guitar-dominated soundscapes. But a bottom-heavy sound mix neutralized both J Mascis’ vocals and guitar stylings for most of the 40-minute performance. The cult band’s fans cheered, but most of the audience just stared blankly at the stage.

Up next, Alice in Chains, the best-selling Seattle band that represents the metal edge of alternative rock, was a crowd favorite. Layne Staley is an especially intense frontman, though the band’s stark, somber tales about loneliness and pain are often one-dimensional.

Primus, which brought things to a close, seemed to be ideally positioned to steal the show. The band is from the nearby East Bay and its energetic, off-kilter tunes should have brightened things considerably after Alice in Chains’ anguish.

But the band displayed little of the good fun of the records, aside from the goofy, Monty Python touches in singer-bassist Les Claypool’s high-stepping movements both during and between songs.

Hometown heroes or not, by the midway point in the hourlong set hundreds of fans were headed to the exits. Summer camp was over for another year.

What kind of grade do the festival organizers deserve? Strong marks again for efficiency: The closing act actually came on stage two minutes early, a minor miracle for a nine-hour package.

But the talent lineup itself was a bit too safe. How “alternative” is a rock bill when there is no one extreme enough to potentially alienate part of the audience?

Last year’s inclusion of Ministry, the industrial rock extremists, and Ice Cube, one of rap’s most controversial figures, gave the 1992 show more of an electric edge.

The only boos heard Tuesday were during an announcement about upcoming Shoreline acts. The target: mainstream rock veterans Bon Jovi.