Eclectic jolts

Eclecticism can be a double-edged sword, creating combinations full of surprise and revelation, but also risking disconnected musical sprawl.

Santa Monica public radio station KCRW-FM, which has all but trademarked the “eclectic” tag for its influential music programming, comes up against it every year at its fundraising concert at the Universal Amphitheatre, but on Saturday the concept generated more sparks than slumber, especially after it got an injection of rhythm about halfway through.

Of course it didn’t hurt that this fourth staging of “A Sounds Eclectic Evening” was headlined by Coldplay, one of the most popular and dynamic bands in all of pop. Repaying KCRW for being the first U.S. station to play its music, the English quartet made the station’s showcase a focal point of the intense interest surrounding its return to action after an extended break to record its third album.

After all that studio time recording “X&Y;,” which comes out in June, the band hit the stage with an extra level of energy, like schoolboys bursting outdoors after the final day of classes.

Coldplay’s last area show was at the Hollywood Bowl, so you can imagine how easily the giddily enthusiastic frontman Chris Martin commanded the much smaller amphitheater from the get-go, even though the band opened with a new song rather than a familiar hit -- a swirling rock piece that flashed touches of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and Strauss’ “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.”

The band dropped four other new songs into its hourlong set, including one in which Martin and Jonny Buckland locked their electric guitars into a ringing, U2-like rock clatter. That contrasted with two ballads, one a lilting pledge of devotion, the other a troubled speculation about a lover’s departure.

Fleshed out with such earlier hits as “Clocks,” “In My Place” and “Yellow,” the set was a bracing return, elevated by the effortless sense of community between band and audience and kept light and easy by moments of goofy humor, such as Martin’s backward singing of the refrain from “The Scientist.” It’s nice to hear a big rock star and movie star’s husband announce with innocent delight, “Check this out! This is backwards!”

Coldplay is by far KCRW’s biggest discovery, and the rest of Saturday’s bill was more reflective of the varied, specialized-taste nature of the music that falls under its “eclectic” umbrella, from the retro-pop of the female rock trio the Like, which opened the 4 1/2 -hour show with a short set, to the enormously promising Nellie McKay, whose brief, flu-hampered performance of Laura Nyro-meets-Cole Porter originals rang with intensity and ambition.

If there’s one stereotype that stalks KCRW’s programming, it’s that of overly earnest, excessively tasteful artistry, and Saturday’s concert reached an apotheosis of introspection with a set by Aqualung, the group name used by Englishman Matt Hales. He was engaging in his spoken remarks, but without much charisma and with the limited instrumentation of piano and guitar, his balladry became lugubrious. A later set by Paul Buchanan, formerly with the Scottish cult band the Blue Nile, showed how to make meticulous, confessional melancholy into something absorbing.

But the good thing about eclectic is that something different might be just around the corner. Saturday’s show picked up momentum with an unannounced appearance by Joseph Arthur, a solo troubadour who uses electronics to create on-the-spot rhythm tracks and backing vocals.

Arthur’s solo dynamism was extended by Van Hunt, an Atlanta soul singer who brought the first full band of the night to the stage. It was a welcome wake-up call, and Hunt flashed the rock-informed R&B; that has brought about some Prince comparisons. He’s not in that league, but he and his players built up an impressive head of steam.

If Coldplay hadn’t been on board, Cafe Tacuba would have stolen the show. The Mexican band has never quite managed to convert its stature as an originator of rock en espanol into a real crossover success, but if it could get performances such as Saturday’s in front of more U.S. audiences, it would seem like a cinch.

Singer Ruben Albarran was an intense, engaging presence, and though hardly any of the set’s words were sung or spoken in English, he connected strongly with the audience -- a charming, elfin figure who made his listeners feel they were in on something important with him.

The band played with potent precision, touching on everything from arena rock to soul-flavored pop, ska-punk to some kind of Mexican metal, and at one point four of the five members lined up across the stage and did a silly, synchronized dance that suggested Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Now that’s eclectic.