Peas’ Fergie steals the show from Daughtry

MANSFIELD, Mass. — Fergie, the frontwoman of the Black Eyed Peas, didn’t headline the KISS-108 pop festival yesterday at the Tweeter Center — that honor fell to Daughtry, the by-the-numbers pop-grunge band led by American Idol alum Chris Daughtry, the leather-lunged angst-boy with black eyeliner, a woolen hat and a heart of gold. But she stole the show easily.

Even more so than after a Black Eyed Peas set, last night it wasn’t easy to describe exactly what the heck you’d seen. Fergie embraces the ridiculous like few others in pop, and steals from everywhere. Moving quickly from Bollywood-seasoned pop (the Peas’ “Don’t Punk With My Heart”) to sweet guitar pop (“Big Girls Don’t Cry”) to an authoritative cover of Heart’s “Barracuda,” the entire set was sort of like the one-handed cartwheels she turned while holding a mike and singing the latter song — thoroughly unnecessary, completely showy and irresistible.

As for message, well, particularly given that she mixed in some Peas songs, if you were looking for much more than schoolyard chants (“London Bridge,” given a heavy-guitar reworking) and snotty, humorous egotism (“Fergilicious,” “My Humps”), you would be disappointed.

You’d also be missing the point. Much of the rest of the nine-hour festival felt like strained attempts to fill market niches, but most acts had some interesting aspects to take home. Dashboard Confessional’s raw rock anthems such as “Vindicated,” “Stolen” and “Screaming Infidelities” were self-serious and self-conscious but also self-effacing and well-crafted.

The Gym Class Heroes mixed an off-kilter, neurotic sensibility with a bouncy rap-rock hybrid reminiscent of Outkast and a dollop of ’70s reggae.

And surprise guest Akon lit up the early going, his smooth, reedy delivery and energetic stage presence, on hits such as “Smack That,” “I Wanna Love You” and “Don’t Matter.”

Robin Thicke (who plays at Lupo’s, in Providence, tonight) showed an impressive voice and hip-hop beats over his blue-eyed soul. Hometown heroine JoJo (originally from Foxboro) performed with a full band, which gave a richness to songs such as “Get Out (Leave)” and “How to Touch a Girl,” though the hit “Too Little Too Late” was still brittle and synthetic.

Now that she’s not lip-synching anymore, Hilary Duff’s new electronic-based material suits her thin voice better in live performance than her earlier anthemic pop, and the mix of electronic and live drumming yesterday proved surprisingly springy.

And Katharine McPhee showed promise in kicking the American Idol disease of singing like someone’s keeping score, though her songs were mostly weak. Omarion followed Fergie with a frustrating set in which he actually sang exactly one song (a raw, effective “Ice Box”) and spent the rest of the time exhorting the crowd and dancing through short excerpts of other songs. Paula DeAnda’s R&B was forgettable; so was Lumidee’s.