‘Acoustic’ Boys’ Night Is Surely No Silent Night

There was hardly an acoustic instrument, nor much holiday cheer, on stage during Saturday’s six-hour installment of KROQ’s “Almost Acoustic Christmas” concerts at the Universal Amphitheatre. Still, the crowd was primed for a long winter’s night of rockin’, and the radio station delivered: Its seventh annual gift to listeners was a holiday Whitman’s sampler of modern alternative rock, from Republica’s crunchy techno pop to the Presidents of the United States’ punk-funk bonbons.

While the revolving stage’s festive rooftop backdrop came complete with a smoking chimney, a Christmas tree and Santa in his sleigh, only a few of the nine acts really got into the spirit of the season. The members of Eels bounded on stage in their pajamas and tore wrapping paper from their instruments before playing their set. The trio also brought an audience member on stage to play bells during a Christmas tune. Beck chose a campy Hanukkah theme, “for all the Jewish people in the house.” He and his band wore white suits and yarmulkes, and menorahs dominated the stage during their performance. For the most part, however, this could have been any concert at any time of the year.

Furthermore, despite the presence of a couple of acoustic guitars, Beck’s harmonica and the trumpeter in Cake, this show wasn’t almost acoustic--it wasn’t acoustic at all. So it didn’t seem weird that one of the most exciting sets was by British electronic dance music duo Orbital, which wrung from its equipment racks a mini-dance program that was well-paced and surprisingly varied in tone.

This being the “boys” portion of KROQ’s two-night program (except that Republica has a female singer), the lineup was heavy with wanky testosterone rock from such acts as the Presidents, 311 and Cake. Each had its own twist on that uninspiring, grooveless hybrid of punk and funk: The Presidents blended it with an overly precious pop sensibility, Cake added an irritating lyrical bent that was meant to be quirky and 311 went for a unity theme, lacing its vanilla funk with reggae beats and whipping the crowd into a frenzy with rap-style vocals and stage moves.

Primed by 311’s high-energy performance, the audience exploded with excitement when headliner Bush took the stage. Playing a 55-minute set that was the night’s longest, the quartet offered favorites from its brooding punk-pop repertoire, a hybrid of the Pixies and Nirvana, highlighted by frontman Gavin Rossdale’s crowd-pleasing solo rendition of “Glycerine.”

Although nothing short of the Grinch could have dampened the crowd’s enthusiasm, one glitch must be noted: Social Distortion was listed on the lineup but didn’t play, and no explanation was given. The hosts plugged the gap with lame DJ introductions and antics, derailing the show’s momentum.

(The Wallflowers, who opened the show, are not reviewed here because the press tickets arrived late to the box office, causing reviewers to miss the band’s set.)