POP MUSIC REVIEW : When State Fair Is Nirvana : The alternative rock band plays in a different arena as it kicks off its first U.S. tour in two years. The spectacular 95-minute affair in Phoenix showcases material from the new ‘In Utero’ album.

On the same grounds that you could see Nirvana in concert on Monday, you could also watch a man wrestle an alligator and have your pick of 100 temporary tattoos.

A fall edition of “Lollapalooza,” the annual summer rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza?

Not at all.

It was something even more bizarre--at least for anyone who thinks of the state fair circuit as a place chiefly for country and oldie acts. Nirvana, the most acclaimed band to come out of the American alternative rock scene since R.E.M. a decade ago, kicked off its first U.S. tour in two years by performing at the Arizona State Fair.

Most contemporary rock acts have traditionally avoided fairs the way they skip Las Vegas showrooms. But sometimes something can be so uncool that it’s cool, right? Besides, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain loves contradictions.

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So, for the punk-inspired band that once worried it was becoming too popular, what more unlikely place to open its tour than before 15,000 people in the midst of cotton candy and Ferris wheels?

For the $6 fair admission you could see Nirvana in the indoor Coliseum arena, where Billy Ray Cyrus headlined Sunday and pro wrestling moves in Friday.

However unexpected the setting, Nirvana’s performance was a spectacular 95-minute affair that showcased material from the new “In Utero” album and introduced the band’s expanded tour lineup. The show is expected to reach Los Angeles in December.

The additions are former Germs guitarist Pat Smear, who was on stage for the entire show, and the very un-punklike cellist Lori Goldston, who joined the band on only a few of the nearly two-dozen songs. They bring added richness to the slashing, punk-driven, yet still melodic, Nirvana sound.

Because seating was on a first-come basis, fans started lining up outside the arena for the 6 p.m. concert as soon as the fair gates opened at 11 a.m. The last time Nirvana played Phoenix was in 1991 at a 750-seat club.

After a workmanlike opening set by Mudhoney, Nirvana took the stage and Cobain--who wore tattered jeans and what looked like a striped pajama top--sang with such raw intensity that you wonder how long his vocal cords will be able to hold up.

The slender singer, who is joined in the Seattle-based group by Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl, expresses the idealism and insecurities of youth with such primal urgency that his vocal tone alone is illuminating and liberating.

What makes Cobain so special is that he also writes lyrics that articulate those conflicting feelings. A turning point in rock as dramatic as “My Generation” in the ‘60s or “God Save the Queen” in the ‘70s, Nirvana’s masterful 1991 hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit” changed the face of modern rock virtually overnight.

The single, a blend of pop-rock craft and punk and rock attitude that saluted youth’s vitality and promise while it mocked its apathy, focused the attention of the mainstream rock audience on the creative values, including independence and integrity, that bands such as X and Black Flag championed for years on the punk/indie scene.

Its success triggered the runaway sales of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album and opened the door for the wave of other young bands from Pearl Jam to Stone Temple Pilots, who are now perceived to reflect the same independence and alienation.

As expected, the reaction to “Teen Spirit” was ecstatic Monday as fans bounced around on the main floor of the arena with such energy that you’d have thought they were on a trampoline.

Knowing you can’t top that response, most bands would save such a number for the end. But Nirvana followed with “All Apologies,” a ballad that is one of the highlights of the new album.

In most of his songs, Cobain seems suspicious of lyrics that define too closely. He is forever juggling moments of vulnerability and aggression, which he sometimes weaves into a single line. The result is lines in “All Apologies” like “I wish I was like you/Easily amused,” which he sings with such neutrality that he could be expressing a tender longing for a break from constant worries and doubts. Or he could be delivering a stinging put-down.

Filling his songs with mysteries and teasing clues in a puzzle, Cobain demands as much of his audience as Dylan in his prime.

Like most opening nights, the pacing of the show was sluggish, and the playing at times reflected the tentativeness of learning to work together on stage. But those details can be easily addressed.

When Cobain starts prowling the stage anxiously near the end of the show, waving his guitar menacingly, you know it’s only a matter of time before he lashes out at something. On Monday the target was one of the two life-size human anatomy dummies--the kind that decorate the new album cover. Smashing the guitar has been a cliche in rock for two decades, but there is something real in the sudden violence of Cobain’s swing.

He and his band mates may not have found an original way to express their emotions visually, but they have done something far more important. They have found a compelling and original way to express those feelings in their music.

By choosing to end the set with the softer and more downbeat “All Apologies” rather than the raucous “Teen Spirit,” the band also made it clear that it is not playing by mainstream rules even if it has become mainstream darlings.