01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, May 23, 2004

BY RICK MASSIMO
Journal Pop Music Writer

MANSFIELD -- With 17 acts in 9 hours, the live-jukebox format of the annual KISS-108 concert (yesterday's was the 25th) meant that no act got more than 35 minutes to show its best stuff.

It's a great way to sample plenty of popular performers in one sitting, and a throwback to the pop package tours of the early '60s. Unfortunately at the Tweeter Center yesterday, many acts weren't even able to fill their meager sets memorably, ranging from the slight (Maroon 5, Mario Winans) to the slighter (American Idol's Kimberley Locke, The Calling). But there were more than a few standouts "and train wrecks" in the smorgasbord.

So here are the headliners, and some other highlights, in reverse chronological order:

Jessica Simpson is happy being Jessica Simpson. It's not clear what else one is supposed to take from her performance, a collection of ballads and dance tunes of affirmation and self-satisfaction sung in her trademark yowl. (The original of "Take My Breath Away" never sounded as good as after having heard Simpson's version.) And between songs, we got to hear more about, and the audience got to ask questions of, Simpson, who apparently feels we don't know enough about her yet.

JC Chasez started with promise: The former NSYNC member, singing to pre-recorded tracks, opened with "All Day Long I Think About Sex" and "Blowing Me Up (With Her Love)," both of which echo the proto-techno of early-'80s disco. But then he closed with "Build My World Around," a saccharine ballad that threatened to undo all the work he's done distancing himself from the boy-band sound, and the annoying, chattering "Some Girls (Dance With Women)." Call it a draw.

Jamaican rapper Sean Paul brought the party, mixing simple chants and handclap patterns with the occasional rapid-fire delivery. Backed by a live band, he raised the roof with a hard-hitting take on dancehall, the high-tech, pop wing of reggae music.

Avril Lavigne's teen-punk image was at odds with the rock balladry that dominated her set. But she was probably the highlight of the pre-dusk performers, the only one who seemed too big for the frame. Her voice, usually not very tuneful, was up to the ballad challenge yesterday, particularly on "Nobody's Home," from her new record, Under My Skin. But of all the would-be punk bands on the bill (including Jessica Simpson's well-scrubbed sister Ashlee as well as the by-the-numbers Frickin'A), hers was the most skilled. And her stand-and-scowl stage presence set her apart as one of the few acts of the day that wasn't trying too hard.