A Journey in Commercial Rock en Espan~ol

The dangerous thing about Mexican supergroup Mana is not its success per se, but rather the possibility that uninformed listeners might get carried away by the band’s impressive sales and think that this is what rock en espan~ol is all about.

A few numbers into the first of the group’s three sold-out shows at the Universal Amphitheatre on Friday, it became evident that Mana is actually a thinly disguised version of the colorless corporate rock acts that plagued Anglo music during the ‘80s. Think Journey, Foreigner or Toto, with Spanish lyrics.

The recipe for the band’s enormous success is easy to figure out: Take every cliche from 30 years of arena rock, add a thin layer of Latin rhythms, make sure to rip off a successful English-language act such as the Police, include politically correct references to environmentalism, et al., and presto: The most marketable Latin rock act on the planet is ready to be consumed.

Mana’s Universal show did shine with professionalism. The musicianship of the quartet (augmented on tour by a keyboardist/flutist) was dazzling at times, especially when drummer Alex Gonzalez performed a long, riveting solo complete with some gong-banging a la Emerson, Lake & Palmer. But even the most dynamic guitar riffs can’t save songs that rarely rise above mediocrity.

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Mana plays Oct. 10 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, 8 p.m. $25-$50. (714) 704-2500.