N*E*R*D isn't the word as Peas please

n*e*r*d and black eyed peas

AT THE riviera theater

As the fulcrum of production supergroup the Neptunes, PharrellWilliams can be held personally responsible for a preposterouspercentage of recent hip-hop hits. But sometime during his tenure asone of rap's reigning trackmasters, Williams started venturing outfrom behind the boards, first adding his flimsy falsetto to theoccasional hook before eventually founding the rock side project,N*E*R*D, with Neptune-mate Chad Hugo and Shae Haley.

Hugo was absent Thursday night, and Haley vanished during much ofN*E*R*D's set, but those guys could have stood center stage for theduration with their pants on fire and the gig still would have beenthe Pharrell Show, which suited the packed house just fine. Baskingin his still-growing celebrity, Williams, if nothing else, has beenin the game long enough to know the frontman role, how to play boththe sensitive lover and the hip-hop headbanger. What he doesn't seemto know -- at all -- is how to pace a concert.

For a guy who made his name providing innovative, off-kiltertracks for just about every rapper on the planet, Williams foundhimself needing a beat worse than LL Cool J throughout N*E*R*D'ssurprisingly drowsy hourlong set. Drawing equally from 2002'sspectacular "In Search of" and the more exploratory but lessrewarding "Fly or Die," N*E*R*D's rock songs have Neptunessensibilities built into them -- particularly the doodly, Nintendo-worthy keyboard riffs provided by utterly average backing band Spymob-- but they don't have any grooves to build on. Williams' fragileattempts at a Prince falsetto sank "Stay Together," the psychedelia-dipped "Backseat Love" never found its legs, and "She Wants to Move"benefitted from a nice synth line, but never any actual funk. Only onthe set closer, the automatic headbanger "Lap Dance," did Williamsand band ever get within miles of red-lining.

To be fair, Williams had a hell of an act to follow. The LosAngeles-based hip-hop collective the Black Eyed Peas won't score anypoints for degree of difficulty, but their frothy, vigorous set was ahead-nodding joy, a swirl of old-school party rhymers like De La Souland the Pharcyde upgraded with a Roots-like rhythm section and apowerful new vocalist in Fergie.

On floor-fueling tracks such as "Let's Get Retarded," the smoothlystylish Peas -- lead MC Will.I.Am spent the evening in a sweatervest, and Taboo's black-leather suit made him look like he'd juststepped out of Rhythm Nation -- bounded around the stage like laser-focused hype men, and their four-piece band nicely integrated thegroup's original organic leanings into their new party-up vibe.

The addition of Fergie upgraded tracks like "Shut Up," and theinfectious and slyly subversive hit single "Where Is the Love?" asshe let fly with a number of vocal leaps of faith that were rocket-fueled and note-perfect (and in a nice bit of geographic placement,way more effective than the usual "Chicago, where you at?" variety,she slyly dribbled bits of "All That Jazz" into a brief scat improv).

For good measure, an obligatory but rubbery and engaging group jamincorporated bits of the Roots' "Rock You," the Stones' "Miss You"and a glancing crack at the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army," allof which showed you don't necessarily have to crash throughboundaries to put on a banging rock show. If the headliners are tokeep up on the rest of this tour, maybe Black Eyed Peas could lendthem some of their groove.