Beat’s Holiday Cooldown: tepid

It isn’t a good sign when a crowd craves to see singers gyrate their hips and simulate lovemaking more than hear them perform their hits. That was the case at the overwhelmingly disappointing 100.3 the Beat Holiday Cooldown on Wednesday at the Shrine Auditorium.

The largely female audience, and occasionally the performers, seemed bored throughout much of the four-hour concert, which featured an uninspiring and uninspired crop of today’s popular R&B; singers. It was as if the crowd was perpetually waiting for something exciting to happen -- i.e., clothes to be shed or hips to be swiveled.

Ginuwine did the best job of catering to the crowd during his energetic 40-minute set, which was the most professional and choreographed of the bunch. Even though he gave a noble pledge not to call the women of America degrading names, he made his biggest splash by simulating sex acts, much to the delight of the women he didn’t want to offend. (Clearly he didn’t.)

Mario, a classy teen singer, was out of place on this male revue, and the serviceable singer Avant got the best response when he rubbed his crotch. But the most glaring example of this sex-over-music equation was the evening’s closing performance from Marques Houston, which featured the marginal singer stripping “Naked” (the title of his hit single) in a sort of magician’s chamber.

Other than opening act Jazze Pha and Cee-Lo Green, two well-dressed, rotund rappers and singers who delivered a charming 10-minute routine, the first half of the evening was an uneven hodgepodge that was a sign of things to come.

Newcomer Ne-Yo had an unremarkable four-song set before Jaheim hit the stage. The rugged singer, easily the most powerful and captivating vocalist featured Wednesday, treated the performance like a sound check. Barely mobile and apparently unwilling to showcase his husky voice, he was timid and reserved during his 20-minute set.

He must have noticed that the crowd seemed a bit perplexed by his lack of flair. After acknowledging that this was no more than his fourth show in the last few years, he said, “This is almost like a teaser tonight.”

That point was glaringly obvious when his recorded backing music started skipping during his set-closing rendition of the saucy “Everytime I Think of Her.”

Unlike Ashlee Simpson on “Saturday Night Live,” Jaheim was actually belting out his vocals. At least he had that going for him.