Exposed

Barenaked Ladies and Korn may be worlds apart when it comes to musical style, but both bands’ success is rooted in a feisty commitment to their fans.

In fact, BNL, through years of touring methodically, has built a following as enthusiastic--if not quite as large--as Korn’s, mostly on the strength of its quirky, over-the-top stage shows rather than from any media hoopla over its music.

The piqued crowd that filled Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre about three-quarters full on Wednesday was treated to an evening of excess, BNL style.

Not content to simply play an assortment of tunes for adoring fans, BNL strives to make every concert a multimedia pop-comedy revue.

Wednesday’s two-hour production included a couple video-enhanced interludes: a solo ode to baked beans by multi-instrumentalist Kevin Hearn (recently rejoining his bandmates after a bout with leukemia), and a “Saturday Night Live”-style backstage setup for a Devo homage that featured the band garbed in matching white coveralls and hard hats performing “Some Fantastic (Ivory And Ivory)” on hand-held keyboards.

Lead singer Steven Page, with his geek-oid lounge-lizard appeal, and clean-cut guitarist-singer Ed Robertson were an effective comedy team, whether bantering facetiously about fashion trends and the dearth of celebrities in the audience or cavorting through a Blues Brothers-like dance routine that culminated in a big cartoony kiss.

Although BNL has played the H.O.R.D.E. Festival and sometimes gets lumped into the “jam band” category with the likes of Phish and Blues Traveler, musically the ensemble sticks to the straight and narrow. The group generates hooky, succinct ditties that pack enough innocuous pop appeal to linger in your brain, but not so much that they overstay their welcome.

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Underscoring the evening’s wacky antics was some sharp musicianship--from the earnest, bittersweet yearning of “The Old Apartment” to the smart-aleck rambunctiousness of “If I Had a Million Dollars.”

As a rule, BNL keeps any improvisational impulses in check, limiting such displays to spontaneously generated songlets and flurries of cover-tune snippets--which on Wednesday included bits of Melissa Manchester’s “Don’t Cry Out Loud” and Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” rendered as an acoustic pop number.

Bassist Jim Creeggan was allowed to hog the spotlight for a solo medley--a low-end, fast-moving metal montage featuring Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” and Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train.” Such “Stars On 45” outbursts were at times amusing, at others annoying, but in any case never lasted long enough to detract from the band’s material.

BNL works hard at pleasing crowds, and though the band may not be all things to all people, it struck a chord with most everyone in the house Wednesday.

Semisonic’s opening set also featured a strong comic undercurrent, courtesy front man Dan Wilson, whose bemused monologues and good-natured audience baiting were almost as sassy as his guitar work.

But it was the trio’s music that made the most impact--driving power pop that held a strong middle ground between supercharged musicianship and melodic song craft.