GROHL, FOO FIGHTERS LIGHT UP KROQ BASH.

Byline: SAM GNERRE

>LA.COM 

For large chunks of Saturday's marathon KROQ "L.A. Invasion" concert at the Home Depot Center in Carson, this nearly full soccer stadium appeared to have been invaded by rock dinosaurs.

Whether it was Cypress Hill's B-Real toking his way through a blunt on "I Love You Mary Jane," Perry Farrell dusting off Jane's Addiction numbers such as "Jane Says" and "Been Caught Stealing" during his new band Satellite Party's set, or Velvet Revolver trying to conjure the good ol' Sunset Strip hair metal days, retro definitely was in the air.

But it didn't start that way. Paramore's spunky singer Hayley Williams kicked off the concert by repeatedly whipping her flaming red mane metalhead-fashion during the band's brief opening set.

The sound was on the sludgy side, and her mic cut out a couple of times, but "Misery Business" and "Pressure" still gave the sparse mid-afternoon crowd a jolt.

Against Me! redoubled that energy with its fiery 30-minute set. Vocalist Tom Gabel spearheaded the Florida quartet's nonstop attack, scarcely pausing for a breath as the band pounded out compact, aggressive songs such as "Americans Abroad" and "Don't Lose Touch."

Emotional but not emo, punk in attitude but not punk rock, Against Me! were among the day's most intriguing finds.

When Hot Hot Heat took the stage, vocalist Steve Bays' keyboard, placed front and center, plays a crucial role in the band's new wavish pop-rock, though Mays uses it only to play the simplest -- and catchiest -- of riffs. The band's set was at turns chaotic and spellbinding as it attempted a wall of sound on "No, Not Now" and stuck to straight power-pop on "Middle of Nowhere."

After the first three bands, things got dicey. Farrell's Satellite Party included a female dancer/backup singer whose moves could have graced a stripper's pole. The leering Farrell seemed to be having a great time as he pranced and prowled the stage while his band pumped out decidedly non-visionary hard rock. For "Jane Says," he took the bottle of wine he'd been guzzling into the audience and poured it into their waiting cups. That's a new one.

Cypress Hill followed, and yes, its obsession with weed continues. After opening at ear-splitting volume with "Another Body Drops," lead rappers B-Real and Sen Dog settled into a cannabis-fueled groove that included their signature "Insane in the Brain" and, heh-heh, "Dr. Greenthumb."

Soundgarden/Audioslave singer Chris Cornell probably had the best pure voice of anyone on the bill, but he seemed content to squander it on by-the-numbers Led Zeppelin-like squalls. When he reached back to 1990 for Temple of the Dog's "Say Hello to Heaven," a tribute to the late Seattle grunge pioneer Andrew Wood, Cornell's vocals dazzled.

The Audioslave ballad "Like a Stone" was equally impressive, but then it was right back to squall one with "Cochise," and the moment was lost.

There is no rational explanation for the existence of Kid Rock. His set had everything, including -- eat your heart out, Farrell -- four pole dancers who gyrated lasciviously throughout. There was bombast, there was braggadocio, there was hedonistic spectacle. Unfortunately, the only real skill Kid Rock showed was his turntable scratching ability. His new song, "Rock N Roll Jesus," was barely passable reheated boogie, while "So Hott" lived way down, to its title.

One wanted to like Velvet Revolver, the quintet featuring ex-Guns N' Roses members and Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland, but the band's set failed to ignite. Slash's guitar chewed through the mix like a buzz saw, but most of the time the music was more of a dull, thudding roar. Weiland's obsession with using a megaphone and his off-putting stage manner didn't help.

The audience reserved its loudest cheers for the Guns numbers "Patience" and "It's So Easy."

By contrast, everything the Foo Fighters did was magic. In easily the day's most enjoyable set, Dave Grohl and company roared through a batch of the band's hits, including "Everlong," "Monkey Wrench," "My Hero," "Learning to Fly" and a positively scorching "Breakout."

During "Stacked Actors," Grohl took off through the crowd and ran to the mixing board to play a few licks before running back onstage. Such exuberance only intensified the infectious joy that coursed through the band's set.

The newly reconstituted Smashing Pumpkins sounded anything but joyful when it opened its show-closing set with its lengthy new epic "United States." Leader Billy Corgan spun out loud, spiraling sheets of guitar noise that recalled Sonic Youth at its most metallic, while spitting out its lyrics in his dry yowl. The musicianship was impeccable, but the band's iciness melted only briefly on numbers such as "1979" and "Tonight, Tonight."

Sam Gnerre [phone], Ext. 376

[e-mail].

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Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters rocked the house at KROQ's mostly mundane "L.A. Invasion" concert Saturday at the Home Depot in Carson.

SEAN HILLER>LA.COM