POP MUSIC REVIEW : UB40 Concert at Irvine Meadows: Spark but No Ignition

The biggest room in reggae’s mansion belongs to UB40 nowadays, and it is decorated in soft, pastel shades.

The racially integrated English band currently has the nation’s No. 1 single with its pop-reggae reworking of the Elvis Presley ballad, “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Its new album, “Promises and Lies,” debuted recently in the Top 10. And close to 15,000 of its fans packed Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on Friday night.

UB40’s room was a nice place to visit in a show carried by catchy melodies and moderate but steady beats that kept the house bobbing and swaying, if not exactly rocking. But the band’s music lacked the intensity and seething sense of struggle that the best reggae has been able to express along with lighter concerns.

Standard-setters such as Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh and vintage Black Uhuru all could play music that spoke of the laboriousness of life, and the difficulty of the struggle to make it more just. UB40 is best known for the breezy covers of old pop, reggae and soul nuggets that have helped fuel its career since its 1983 breakthrough album of cover tunes, “Labour of Love.”

In fairness, UB40 regularly has addressed issues of social injustice, poverty and racial oppression in its own songwriting--including several songs from “Promises and Lies,” that it included in its nearly two-hour show. But the band lacks the dark fire required to make those meanings vivid.

Ali Campbell’s distinctively reedy, mellow-yet-piercing voice is well-suited to a narrow band of gentler feelings on the plaintive, sweetly melancholy side. But he’s not the guy you want out there prodding the world’s haves to take consideration of the wrongs done to its have-nots.

That theme resided in the lyrics of several songs in UB40’s set list, but the meanings never came across in those pastel performances. It was enjoyable, in a superficial way, to hear the band move jauntily through “It’s a Long Long Way,” one of the set’s liveliest numbers (it featured vocals by Astro, one of three band members who occasionally spelled main-man Campbell by taking turns on lead vocals--an astute move, considering Campbell’s extreme reticence as a showman).

The song’s lyrics are full of mockery for wealthy, comfortable people who live in ivory towers “a long long way” from harsh social realities they choose to ignore. Given UB40’s inability to put an edge on its music, the song might as well have been a celebration of the pleasures of building sandcastles.

If you were willing to settle for this lighter shade of reggae, UB40 delivered nicely.

After a dull beginning hampered by murky sound, the 10-piece band (two extra horn players augmented the regular eight-man lineup) began to connect by playing it extra-sweet-and-mellow during a long stretch of pleasantly wafting love songs.

Campbell gave just the right bittersweet cast to “Bring Me Your Cup,” a caressing and comforting song whose tone echoed Marley’s immortal “No Woman No Cry” (but without the roiling undercurrent of determined political struggle and the rich evocation of a ghetto’s community life that make that song one of the grand pop achievements of the past 20 years).

UB40 wisely included “Can’t Help Falling in Love” during this mid-set sequence of romantic songs, placing it where it fit the flow of the show, rather than grandstanding by saving the big hit until the end. It still had strong cards to play in the encore, including the cheerily affirmative “Sing Our Own Song,” an anthem that featured the band’s brightest and punchiest playing.

UB40’s rotation of singers proved helpful. When it came time to pick up the pace late in the show, the dreadlocked Astro, with his singsong, toaster-style delivery, and the bouncy, husky-voiced percussionist, Norman Hassan, took over for a couple of numbers and raised the energy level in a way that was beyond Campbell. Campbell was a likable enough fellow with his boyish good looks and shy smiles, but his place in UB40 is clearly secured by his singing talent, not his sizzle.

On the few occasions when he stepped down from his usual perch on the band’s triple-tiered riser to work the stage-front, Campbell kept his head down and sang only to the front rows instead of projecting outward. He was a mild, pleasant singer for a mild, pleasant band that turned in a mild, pleasant show, a nice evening out.

But if UB40 stands at the pinnacle of reggae, what does that say for a tradition whose definitive figures could summon the ferocity of prophets?

*

The Gin Blossoms, who opened, were making their fourth swing through Orange County this year. Practice must make perfect, because the guitar-rockers from Tempe, Ariz., were as sharp as you could wish in delivering a catchy, solidly rocking repertoire inspired chiefly by the Byrds and R.E.M.

Sweet harmonies and crisp lead guitar work complemented Robin Wilson’s wistful-yet-muscular singing. Wilson still needs lots of work on his stage presence and his between-songs banter, which made him come off like a smugly ironic game-show host.

And, unless he is acutely photosensitive, he might consider allowing himself to be spot-lit while he sings, instead of lurking in shadows, often with his back turned.