A LOOK AT BOTH SIDES OF KENNY ROGERS AT IRVINE

There were two Kenny Rogerses on stage Sunday night at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre: the risk-taking artist and the crowd-pleasing performer.

Rogers has been charming audiences for so long that it’s easy to think of him as a passive, conservative figure, but he has made some noteworthy artistic stretches. His version of Lionel Richie’s “Lady” in 1980 was a step vocally from the commercial country hits with which he had been identified. His decision the same year to release “Gideon,” a relatively uncommercial concept album about the Old West, was even bolder.

At Irvine, Rogers emphasized new and less familiar songs, omitting some hits and putting others in a medley. Chalk up one for Rogers the artist. But he also diluted the impact of two of his most gripping songs with canned shtick. A tedious clapping gimmick offset the dramatic tension of “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” and a sing-a-long took the bitter edge off “Lucille.”

Rogers’ skills as a singer were most evident on an achingly tender version of “She Believes in Me.” They were most irrelevant on bland sing-song pieces like “Coward of the County.” Rogers performs with easy assurance, frequently slipping in self-deprecating asides. His ingratiating manner probably has as much to do with his success as his music. But he shouldn’t try so hard to please that he undercuts his best material.

Ronnie Milsap’s set was tighter and more consistent, a tribute to the caliber of his many hits of the past decade. These range from the confessional ballad “It Was Almost Like a Song” to the rollicking toe-tapper “Smokey Mountain Rain.” The highlight was the nostalgic “Lost in the Fifties Tonight,” which led into a series of doo-wop oldies.

T. Graham Brown and his six-man band the Hard Tops opened the show, exhibiting a honky tonk/bar band sensibility that made them seem like country’s answer to Huey Lewis & the News. The bill moves to the Universal Amphitheatre for four nights starting Thursday.