Wyclef Jean’s Moves Keep ‘em Guessing

As a live performer, Wyclef Jean runs strictly on instinct and adrenaline, and while the results can be wildly erratic, the Fugees-member-turned-solo-artist is rarely dull. With no new album to support and his birthday to celebrate, Wyclef was free to indulge himself during his late set at the House of Blues on Saturday, playing both MC, party host and Lothario while roaming freely among different styles.

Wyclef could be hip-hop’s Attention Deficit Disorder poster boy. He just can’t get through a show without countless detours and digressions, which can be counterproductive when you’re trying to get your groove on for a horde of booty-thumping fans. Making his entrance in a white suit that was strictly Superfly, Wyclef eased into the set with an unremarkable take on what has become his secondhand anthem, Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry.”

From then on, it was a free-for-all. One minute, Wyclef was wielding a microphone and flowing over songs from the Fugees’ 1996 album “The Score” and his solo album “The Carnival.” Then he was dancing to House of Pain’s “Jump Around.” Then he was doing a salacious bump-and-grind with a hand-picked girl from the crowd.

It was raggedly charming, but made for a choppy, truncated set. Wyclef had better luck when he strapped on his guitar and burrowed into leisurely jams, such as an instrumental take on P-Funk’s “Tear the Roof off the Sucker” and a reggae version of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”