Lead Singer’s Eclectic Tastes Push Filter’s Rock Boundaries

Richard Patrick is like any good rock fan: He likes all kinds of stuff. Which explains the singer-guitarist’s willingness to interrupt Filter’s show at the Hollywood Palladium on Friday with several minutes of classic rock riffs by the likes of Van Halen and U2. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

It’s this same love of variety that has helped Patrick turn Filter into a hard rock band with potential to expand. While such hard-rocking songs as “Hey Man, Nice Shot” still rang with more power than Filter’s current hit, the softer “Take a Picture,” both showed the band is comfortable with a healthy diversity of sounds.

The quartet stepped onto the Palladium stage to the Zeppelin-esque chords of “Sand,” and played to a crowd swirling beneath a cloud of fog and bright, colored lights. If some of Filter’s clarity was lost in the live setting, the band’s flair for melodies amid the rage survived.

“The Best Things” was a blend of anger and restraint, and had Patrick’s knees buckling in his leather jeans. Filter’s sound has expanded in meaningful ways since the band’s 1995 debut album, “Short Bus,” but there were surprising moments of repetition across several songs, the same dark, rumbling rhythms from bassist Frank Cavanagh and drummer Steve Gillis.

Even so, Patrick’s enthusiasm was hard to ignore. He twice put down his guitar to dive into the crowd. Just like a fan.