Foo Fighters Add an Edge to the Celebratory Mood

Lanky, self-effacing and chock-full of enthusiasm for fluid yet scrappy garage-pop, Dave Grohl is a frontman who’s easy to like.

Upping his likability is his status as the underdog who made good: He emerged from the shadow of Nirvana after Kurt Cobain’s suicide with a new band, the Foo Fighters, delivering an album whose combination of wry, enigmatic lyrics and delirious riff-rock remains intriguing a year later.

On Thursday at the Hollywood Palladium, the Foo Fighters moved from Beatles-esque dream-pop to Cheap Trick-style rave-ups in a show that was all about good, clean fun. What else can you make of an outfit that rallies an entire ballroom around dopey, delicious lines such as “Ritalin is easy / Ritalin is good”?

While the overall mood was celebratory, the band--erstwhile drummer Grohl on vocals and guitar, lead guitarist Pat Smear, drummer William Goldsmith and bassist Nate Mendel--seemed far edgier than it is on the “Foo Fighters” album, with Grohl’s voice gruffer and the guitars a lot nastier. Grohl felt like a true heavyweight as he flicked his hair and leaped into the air with his guitar, but sheer volume and high spirits kept this show lighthearted.

The crowd fell right into the band’s groove, having been fully prepped by second-billed quirk-rockers Ween and then egged on by Smear, who wielded his guitar over fans’ heads as if spraying them with a machine gun.

A far cry from the head-wound-inducing mosh pits that Nirvana inspired, the Foo Fighters’ audience buoyantly crowd-surfed and skipped--smiling--to “Big Me’s” taut guitar jangle.

For all his contagious good spirits on stage, however, Grohl does give the impression that he’s hesitant to fully reveal himself. He allowed his stagy showman veneer to crack only once, during a plaintive new song called “How I Miss You,” which was easy to hear as a message to Cobain. Overall, though, the Foo Fighters didn’t need to veer into danger, destruction or even emotional self-revelation to be volatile on stage.

* The Foo Fighters play tonight at Crawford Hall, UC Irvine, 7 p.m. Sold out. (714) 824-5000.