Crowd pleaser

For fans and promoters alike, that's just as it should be. KISS 108 has long been Boston's number one music station (only the all-news WBZ outperforms it in the ratings), and the KISS Concert is meant to demonstrate the station's pre-eminence, to validate its diverse Top 40 format of R&B, pop, and rock, and to confirm its reign as permanent (especially now that both KISS and Jammin 94 have been taken over by the huge Evergreen Corporation). Many of the concertgoers seem to respond to that aura as much as to any individual performer. This year, tickets ran from $30 for the lawn up to $150 for the "golden circle" nearest the stage. Despite these prices, most of the audience members with whom I spoke weren't major fans of any particular performer. Jodi, a 26-year-old woman from Brookline who just completed her master's degree in counseling, was the most disarming: "I came to find out who sings all the songs that I like on the radio." Nineteen-year-old college student Colleen Jamieson from Hudson, New Hampshire, put it most succinctly: "It's the biggest concert of the year. I came for the whole shebang."

Me too, though I began to regret my decision when I saw the line-up list the week before the show. The 24 acts included minor sensations, brand new hopefuls, former sensations, and a generous sprinkling of outright stars. From my perspective, however, it was unblemished by a single act of major interest or importance. In theory, 11 hours of unrelentingly mediocre pop could make root canal look good, but since the sets turned out to be abbreviated 20-minute dollops, even the worst performers barely had time to bore or annoy me before they were off the stage. And thanks to the clever use of a drop curtain, the roadies were able to set up one act while another performed, an innovation that actually enabled the show to run ahead of schedule. In the end, the whole shebang was surprisingly enjoyable.

For the artists, however, it was harder work than headlining (and for no money -- this is a charity concert). Most of the acts were there to promote upcoming tours or new releases. Lisa Loeb's appearance was telling of the effort. Although I missed her set, backstage she looked tired and uncomfortable in a micro mini that she kept trying to hike down half an inch. These radio shows were "exhausting," she admitted, "because you play less than normally and talk a lot more.

A few artists barely bothered to perform at all. Cher sang only two songs -- one from an upcoming album and her mini-hit "If I Could Turn Back Time" -- and both of these she appeared to lip-synch. ("But you gotta admit, she looks great," said the guy next to me with the binoculars.) Others seemed annoyed with the KISS audience's indifference to their stature. When Joan Osborne's imitation of Bonnie Raitt imitating Janis Joplin left the crowd nonplussed, she sneered a sarcastic, "Thank you so much for that reception." Lenny Kravitz went even further. After three or four attempts to get the audience to sing his choruses with embarrassingly little response, he ran into the crowd to get people on their feet. A few loyal fans mobbed him, but it was largely ineffective, and he soon stormed off stage.

Overall, though, professionalism ruled the day. Gloria Estefan dutifully sang all the lugubrious hits that have weighed down her career, but she packed them into a short medley, then said, "All right, it's party time from here on out," and let her 18-piece band loose on a variety of black and Latin dance numbers. Seal's set was crisp and pleasantly understated, Harry Connick Jr. actually overcame his usual smugness, and so it went into the evening until the real headliner of the festival came out, Melissa Etheridge. She worked her hamfisted hard rock for all it's worth, and for the only time in the day the whole audience roared into life. Bryan Adams was yet to come, but after Etheridge much of the audience wisely made their exit. In truth, she and Adams have a lot in common, but what kind of hit has he had lately?