`Smokin' Grooves' Needed A Dance Floor

------------------------------- Concert review

"Smokin' Grooves Tour '98" with Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Wyclef Jean & the Refugee All-Stars, Canibus, Gang Starr and Black Eyed Peas, Tuesday at KeyArena, Seattle. -------------------------------

Memo to "Smokin' Grooves": If you're going to put on a five-hour show of hip-hop dance music, ya gotta have a dance floor!

All those seats on the floor of KeyArena just got in the way of fans who wanted to move to the intense, almost nonstop rhythms. Of course, people found a way to shake it in their own confined little space, but the show would have been a lot more fun if there had been room for everybody to really express themselves.

Just last month, the Beastie Boys showed how to do it right with their in-the-round KeyArena show, with no seats on the floor. That hip-hop show turned into a dance frenzy that was loads of fun.

"Smokin' Grooves" was aptly named. The first thing you noticed coming in to the arena was the strong odor of pot smoke. Several of the acts urged concert-goers to light up, and many in the crowd did. During Cypress Hill's funny, entertaining set, the band urged fans to throw marijuana joints onto the stage. They lit some up and packed others into a giant bong, which they smoked onstage.

How many times were variations of the f-word used in the show? Only about a million. It's hard to believe swear words still get a rise out of young audiences, but they do.

So does the old "you're the best audience on the tour" line. Several of the acts used it, and the crowd - less than a third capacity - fell for it.

The evening lost some of its zip when it was announced that Busta Rhymes, one of the wildest, most entertaining figures in hip-hop, had to cancel. He supposedly will be bringing his own tour here later this year.

Headliners Public Enemy, the greatest force in hip-hop a decade ago, brought a lot of flash and energy to the stage, but seemed to be going through the motions. It was a mechanical, 45-minute "greatest hits" set, reprising such familiar raps as "Don't Believe the Hype," "911 Is a Joke" and "Fight the Power." Chuck D's bullhorn voice was intact, and he never stopped moving. Thankfully, he didn't lecture much, although he did trot out his old, mean-spirited (and wrong-headed) attacks on Elvis Presley and John Wayne. And, of course, he had something to say about Bill Clinton: "I woulda lied."

Wyclef Jean was a contrast to the other dance-oriented acts, with more melodic, socially concerned material, emphasizing spiritualism, racial harmony and unity.