Zodiac Mindwarp & Love Reaction Rev It Up at Ford

The smoky scent of black leather hovered over the John Anson Ford Theatre Saturday night as a full house gave a sweat-soaked, rowdy welcome to Zodiac Mindwarp & the Love Reaction. This eau de biker, however, was a prefab, manufactured essence--on both sides of the stage. The difference was that the raunchy English band exuded fun and theatrical sarcasm, while their bad-boy audience took itself too seriously.

Vocalist Zodiac Mindwarp is a slithering, sexual presence who commanded attention with his metaphysical fakery and blunt commentary on preachers, politics and (his specialty) male-female relations. While this tongue-in-cheek sorcerer conjured up images of thundering ecstasy and sleazy excess, the Love Reaction pounded the point home with a brutal double-guitar attack that was insolent and unsubtle. A band that hits you broadside, like this one does, needn’t worry about the finer points--the louder and cruder, the better. The Love Reaction’s energy burst at the seams and never ran low.

Legal Weapon, the opening act, once had as many hard edges as Zodiac’s gang, but these L.A. club veterans have added a polish and a poseur element that detract from the band’s inherent honesty.