MACY GRAY: HOW SWEET THE SOUND.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

First things first: Yes, that is her real voice, both when she speaks and in live performance. Whiskey over gravel, and, in its own peculiar way, a thing of beauty. At the beginning of Macy Gray's packed show at the Greek Theatre, you have to wonder whether a voice that would kick some serious tail in smaller club venues is going to carry her through at a big house. Of course, by the end of the show, you wonder why you wondered.

In the second stop on a tour that will carry her through the summer, the Ohio-born, Valley-dwelling Gray proved herself to be as capable a showperson as she is a musician. Her 100-minute set at the Greek left a very appreciative crowd with little time to actually sit down and catch a breath. Mostly we were on our feet chanting and swaying, occasionally dancing. Because that's what Macy Gray - or one of her bandmates - was always instructing us to do.

Her brisk-selling first album, ``On How Life Is,'' was the basis for her set, but Gray the performer didn't waste any time telling an audience anything about how herlife is. Rarely did she talk about herself or spend any time setting up a song. If her patter is a window into what she's all about, we get that Macy Gray thinks love is good and sex is often better. Hardly a news flash, since that's the thrust of many of her songs.

In performance, those songs are an adrenaline rush, made even more so by Gray's willingness to juggle tones and beats midnumber, often kicking up the pace or slowing things down. Blending traces of hip-hop, salsa, funk and blues, Gray has quite a few musical styles fighting for space in her act. With 10 band members behind her - including an under-utilized, record-scratching DJ - she seemed to give every genre a quick airing, although the show's main tone was standard pop.

Unquestionably a generous performer, Gray left the stage halfway through her set to give her band a skill-displaying jam session. She reappeared - having swapped her shimmering pant suit for an orange version with yellow boa - to sing chorus on a bluesy ``Que Sera Sera,'' letting her three back-up singers handle the verses. During the encore set, her opening act, the Black Eyed Peas, joined her for a hip-hop song called ``Hey DJ.''

The audience joined in on the choruses of ``Do Something'' (the evening's second number), the chant in ``Caligula'' and ``I Can't Wait to Meetchu.'' The radio prominent ``I Try'' closed the encore set.

Here's wondering what Gray will do as a studio encore, and hoping we won't have to wait long to find out.

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In her Greek Theatre show, Macy Gray offered several different musical styles: hip-hop, salsa, funk and blues.